Morning Wire XX
[0] When I came back, what I have really tried to do is to return to our roots, which is, remember, we have to entertain first.
[1] It's not about messages.
[2] Disney Chief Bob Iger admits that Disney's shows and films are misaligned with public taste as Elon Musk pushes back on the entertainment giant.
[3] I'm Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Vickley with Georgia Howe.
[4] It's Friday, December 1st, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] Saudi Arabia is attempting to take the reins in the Middle East.
[6] East, offering money to Iran if it will de -escalate its terror operations.
[7] The Biden administration has essentially instructed our partners and allies in the regions, including Saudi Arabia, to work out their relationship with Iran and extend Iran's role in the region.
[8] And pediatric pneumonia is spiking in Ohio after similar outbreaks in China and the Netherlands.
[9] How concerned should parents be?
[10] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[11] Stay tuned.
[12] We have the news you need to know.
[13] Recent Disney movies have flopped at the box office, and the company's stock has struggled.
[14] The company's annual SEC report admits that its environmental and social goals could be turning off consumers.
[15] Here with more on Disney's woes and whether the company may course correct is Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham.
[16] So, Megan, we've talked before about how the 2023 box office hasn't been great overall, but Disney in particular has seen some big disappointments.
[17] How bad is it at this point?
[18] Well, it's not good.
[19] The Pixar release this year, Elemental, featured Disney's first so -called non -binary animated character, and it had the worst opening in Pixar history by a long shot.
[20] Marvel also had its worst opening with the Marvels since the start of the MCU 15 years ago and then Wish the big holiday movie that Disney was hoping would raise its annual box office tally.
[21] Well, that's also failed to draw audiences.
[22] So it's really kind of been one theatrical failure after another here.
[23] And then when you look at the stock price, it's down by more than half of its March 2021 high.
[24] So then the price was $202 a share.
[25] Now it is 93.
[26] So that's obviously a massive swing.
[27] Now, is it about the quality of the films or is it the perception that the company has become inappropriately political and or both?
[28] Well, you know, the quality of the films is subjective.
[29] So it's hard to separate that from the political storylines that a lot of disgruntled fans are calling woke.
[30] But I also don't think you can discount the massive media coverage that came out of the company's fight with Florida governor Ron DeSantis over that Florida law that prevents schools from doing things like teaching younger children about gender identity and sexuality.
[31] And then there were the leaked videos of Disney creators admitting that they had a quote, not so secret gay agenda and wanted to include.
[32] things like queer stories that was their terminology in their children's programming.
[33] So the company seems to recognize that it has something of a public perception problem when it comes to this stuff.
[34] In its annual SEC report filed just recently, it admitted that consumers' perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.
[35] So I think that's a pretty big admission.
[36] Now, one high profile Disney critic is Elon Musk.
[37] He was just in the news this week for taking a shot at Bob Eiger.
[38] What was Elon's issue with Disney?
[39] Well, Disney has stopped advertising on X, and Iger said that it's because of some of the speech that Musk has allowed on the platform, basically that Disney wasn't comfortable with the association.
[40] In fact, this was Iger at the Deal Book Summit earlier this week.
[41] We just felt that the association with that position, and Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us, and we decided we would pull our advertising.
[42] Now, Musk shot back at that at the same summit, and he referenced Disney's public perception problems.
[43] Basically, he said that he's committed to free speech, and Disney is showing that it's opposed to that principle by virtue of its advertising decision.
[44] So Musk said that the public will decide between them, and he used which I have to call some pretty choice language to make his point.
[45] And he directly called Iger out.
[46] If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go f*** yourself.
[47] But go yourself.
[48] Is that clear?
[49] I hope it is.
[50] Hey, Bob, you're in the audience.
[51] But you recognize that some of those people are going to say that they didn't feel comfortable on the platform.
[52] And I just wonder and ask you, and think about that for a second.
[53] Judge.
[54] But the judge is going to be...
[55] The judge is the public.
[56] And you think that the public is going to say that Disney is making a mistake?
[57] Yes.
[58] And they're going to boycott Disney?
[59] They already are.
[60] So a real clash of Titans.
[61] We'll just have to see what the public thinks.
[62] Absolutely.
[63] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[64] Anytime.
[65] Amid rising instability in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is attempting to make a deal with Iran, offering economic relief in exchange for military de -escalation in the region.
[66] Here with more on what's at stake and how it could impact the Middle East as Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[67] Hey, Kabat.
[68] So Saudi Arabia looking to cut a deal with Iran here.
[69] What can you tell us?
[70] Yeah, this month leaders in Saudi Arabia reportedly made an offer to Iran, promising to increase cooperation between the countries and invest billions in Iran's shaky economy, which has been hit hard by sanctions from the West.
[71] exchange for that economic relief, Iran would end its proxy wars in the region.
[72] Remember, rather than waging war on Israel and Western allies directly, Iran has spent billions of dollars funding terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to essentially carry out terror attacks on their behalf.
[73] Iranian -backed terrorists and militias have not only attacked Israel through Gaza and Lebanon, but have also increasingly targeted U .S. troops stationed in Iraq and Syria.
[74] In the last month and a half, as we've talked about on the show, we've seen 38 such attacks on American bases in the region.
[75] For more context on their efforts in the Middle East, I spoke with Robert Greenway, the former senior director of National Security Council, who now leads the Center for National Defense at the Heritage Foundation.
[76] Iran created this consolation of surrogates and proxy terrorist groups around the region as a deterrent to discourage states from conducting an attack against Iran itself, knowing that its own military was never going to be capable of countering the threats.
[77] And traditionally, this has been a sort of active defense used when necessary to discourage out a series.
[78] but I think they've started to realize it has an offensive capability that could be used in advance of hostilities against Iran to make it less likely.
[79] And I think that in large measure explains what we're seeing with Hamas.
[80] So is Iran expected to actually accept this deal?
[81] Well, to this point, we've yet to see any real indication that they're interested in giving up on these proxy wars, which have been widely effective in recent years.
[82] And according to Greenway, for their part, Saudi Arabian leaders are well aware of that fact and likely have ulterior motives.
[83] in making this proposal public.
[84] This is extortion that Iran collects in order not to threaten its neighbors.
[85] And I think that the fact that this is being done publicly by Saudi Arabia indicates a lack of expectation that Iran is in fact going to accept the offer, but they want to make it known that, you know, Riyadh is willing to play a constructive role within its capacity.
[86] And my initial response to this is when Saudi Arabia makes a deal of dissensitive public, it's doing so for public consumption.
[87] It has no expectation that Iran is, either going to accept it or would abide by it if that were the case.
[88] All right.
[89] So why is Saudi Arabia waiting into this issue?
[90] Well, a big part of the effort centers on their desire to prove to the West that, you know, they're a stabilizing force in the region and can be counted on from a diplomatic perspective.
[91] There's also a clear economic incentive for them to encourage de -escalation.
[92] But according to Greenway, Saudi Arabia's involvement also reflects a shifting Middle East strategy from the Biden administration.
[93] I think progress between Israel and Saudi Arabia was certainly.
[94] discussed by us, and it's been discussed publicly with the Biden administration.
[95] It's been argued that that was one of the reasons that Iran gave the green light or directed Hamas to conduct this attack in order to spoil it.
[96] I think the Biden administration's approach of the Middle East has been an attempt to move on, an attempt to shift our attention elsewhere and to reduce our interests, our presence, and our commitment to the region as a whole, and as historically has been in the case, it never works.
[97] We're dragged back in on unfavorable circumstances because we can't remove the vital interests that the United States has in the region.
[98] So as Iran continues to wage its proxy war on the U .S. and Israel, a familiar face is really stepping into the frame.
[99] Yeah, it looks like it.
[100] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[101] Anytime.
[102] Over 140 cases of pediatric pneumonia have been reported in Warren County, Ohio, since August, meeting the Ohio Department of Health's definition of an outbreak.
[103] The spike comes in the wake of similar at the CDC insist that nationally nothing is out of the ordinary.
[104] Joining us to discuss is Johns Hopkins Dr. Marty McCarrie.
[105] Dr. McCarrie, thanks for coming on.
[106] Good to be with you.
[107] So there's been a recent spike in childhood pneumonia cases in China and the Netherlands.
[108] Now we're seeing a moderate spike in Ohio.
[109] How concerned are doctors here about another mystery illness?
[110] Well, I think doctors understand that there's an unknown and the cold season has just begun, especially in Ohio and the North East, so we're starting to see the signs of seasonal viruses come through.
[111] Now, one of those viruses is mycobacterium, which tends to cycle every three to five years.
[112] This may be the year for mycobacterium, among many other viruses like RSV and influenza, because there has been some degree of immune sheltering.
[113] That is, the kids have been relatively isolated from some of these seasonal infections over the last couple of years.
[114] And so this may be sort of a year where they have increased susceptibility.
[115] If you look at China, what's happening there, it's far more magnified.
[116] The kids were really isolated for three years.
[117] Their COVID -zero policies just ended in January of this year.
[118] And so they're getting a big wave of these seasonal viruses in children.
[119] But there's no indication that there's any new infection of any kind, nothing concerning yet, although we always have to be open.
[120] Now, there are some medical professionals that are concerned that China might not be totally transparent about this.
[121] Do we have better systems in place now for communicating about disease outbreaks than we did prior to COVID?
[122] We don't have great systems in place to monitor whether or not that reports out of China are true.
[123] We still call doctors there.
[124] I've called physicians in China to get their first -hand opinions.
[125] The health ministry of China has proven unreliable, but we do have satellite images, and we do have firsthand accounts of how busy the emergency departments are.
[126] The WHO is doing a lot of posturing right now.
[127] They are very publicly trying to demand more information and detailed information out of China.
[128] But it's unclear if this is really warranted or just a sort of overcompensation for their very poor and slow response during the COVID pandemic.
[129] What about the regular seasonal viruses?
[130] Is this shaping up to be a bad?
[131] flu year?
[132] This season appears to be a moderate flu season, which is what we saw in the southern hemisphere, which often predicts what we see in North America.
[133] There have been just to over 500 flu deaths this year, typically in old frail individuals.
[134] But in a typical flu season in the United States, we might see 20 to 30 ,000 deaths in a typical flu season.
[135] In the United States, we are starting to see an increase in common seasonal viruses, RSV infections and influenza, So it's a very good reminder that you want to get appropriately prepared.
[136] The flu shot is available.
[137] There's also a new RSV vaccine for both people who are over age 60 and very young infants.
[138] That is, people under the age of eight months or moms during their third trimester of pregnancy.
[139] We're seeing RSV influenza and a little bit of COVID in emergency departments right now.
[140] And we can expect to see more in the coming months.
[141] All right.
[142] Well, Dr. McCarrie, thank you so much for coming on.
[143] Thanks a lot, Georgia.
[144] That was Johns Hopkins, Dr. Marty McCarrie.
[145] All right, that's all the time we've got this morning.
[146] Thanks for waking up with us.
[147] We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.