Morning Wire XX
[0] A tumultuous week for China's stock market has exposed major cracks in the country's economy.
[1] Xi Jinping, I've oust over the weekend, that he wants to make talking about China's economy in a negative way, you know, a national security issue.
[2] So he started wiping websites clean of negative economic data about China.
[3] Wire economists warning of a debt deflation spiral that could kill China's economy.
[4] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief, John.
[5] It's Thursday, February 8th, and this is Morning Wire.
[6] The presidential fundraising battle heats up, with lawfare taking a toll on Trump's campaign funds as Nikki Haley brings in a massive haul and Biden's PACs ramp up spending.
[7] And while one million migrants have tried to cross the southern border since October, a ring of smugglers at our northern border have been busted.
[8] Last two years, we've left the northern border open by deploying all of our agents down south, which really created an atmosphere where the cartels and other criminal organizations took advantage and exploited the northern border.
[9] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[10] Stay tuned.
[11] We have the news you need to know.
[12] Hey guys, producer Brandon here.
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[20] Amid a years long economic downturn, Chinese leaders are taking drastic measures in an effort to stabilize the country's stock markets.
[21] The shift comes as new data shows that the communist state is no longer America's number one trading partner.
[22] Here to discuss the turmoil in China and the impact it's having on the global economy is Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[23] So, Cabot, we have a lot to get to, but first, give us some context for the economic woes in Beijing.
[24] Yeah, so after a decades -long boom, the Chinese economy has really struggled in recent years.
[25] They're aging population, shrinking workforce, stagnating private investment, and plummeting real estate market.
[26] have all contributed to a vast slowdown for an economy that a few years ago was projected to overtake the U .S. as the dominant global power.
[27] Warning signs now are abundant, though.
[28] Last year, their total exports fell by nearly 5 percent, and while global markets boomed last year, rising 20 percent globally, there's actually fell by 11 percent, marking their fourth consecutive year of decline.
[29] At the moment, their stock market is sitting at a five -year low, and while most of the world is struggling with inflation, China has been stuck in a pattern of deflation, which is evidence of a shrinking economy.
[30] All of those factors have government officials in Beijing scrambling.
[31] And what is the government's response?
[32] Well, in the past month alone, Beijing has implemented a slew of measures intended to prop up the economy, including cutting bank reserve requirements, reducing trading costs, issuing new rules that encourage lending to real estate companies, and printing billions of dollars' worth of fresh cash.
[33] And this week, they went a step further, replacing the country's top market regulator.
[34] Remember, the Chinese Communist Party, as the name would imply, has extremely tight control over the country's economy.
[35] So there's a good chance they could take even more drastic measures in the future to try and stabilize the market.
[36] They could even implement a ban on major shareholders selling their shares.
[37] So a lot on the table right now.
[38] Well, people are extremely upset about how this is being handled.
[39] Can you tell us a little about what we're seeing on social media?
[40] Yeah, this is interesting.
[41] So throughout the last few weeks, Chinese social media users have fly.
[42] to posts from the U .S. and Indian embassies to air out grievances with their country's economy.
[43] For example, last week, the U .S. Embassy in Beijing posted a photo of a group of giraffes on Weibo, the popular Chinese social media platform.
[44] That post was liked nearly a million times and flooded with nearly 200 ,000 comments, but those comments were not about giraffes.
[45] Most of them were angry with the CCP's handling of the economy.
[46] Top comments on the post included things like, quote, U .S. government, please help Chinese stock investors, or, quote, anger against the government has reached its peak.
[47] Beijing responded quickly by removing thousands of those negative comments, and they've continued scrubbing articles critical of their economy from Chinese social media sites.
[48] It's a bit anecdotal, but it gives you a better idea of the overall mood within the country.
[49] And remember, this all comes amid a growing push for the U .S. and Western world more broadly to decouple from China.
[50] So in recent years, China's standing as the dominant exporter on the world stage has begun to falter.
[51] They're still number one, accounting for about 30 % of all global exports.
[52] But last year, their total exports fell for the first time in seven years.
[53] A big reason for that dip is the fact that America and other Western allies are increasingly turning to other countries like India and Mexico for trade.
[54] To that point, last year, Mexico eclipsed China as the largest U .S. trading partner.
[55] For the first time in 20 years, the U .S. now buys more goods from the Mexicans than the U. the Chinese.
[56] And altogether, the U .S. trade deficit with China shrank last year at the fastest pace on record, as the disparity between goods sold and goods purchased fell dramatically.
[57] And it's worth noting, Donald Trump has floated the idea of implementing a 60 % tariff on Chinese imports if he's reelected, so that disparity could grow even larger in coming years.
[58] Well, just a few years ago, we were hearing warnings about China overtaking the U .S. It just goes to show how hard it is to predict these things.
[59] Absolutely.
[60] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[61] Anytime.
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[69] Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley tallied impressive fundraising numbers in January, according to her campaign, as Donald Trump seeks a knockout punch in South Carolina.
[70] Haley netted an eye -popping $16 .5 million in the first month of 2024 while adding almost 70 ,000 new donors to her roles.
[71] This comes as she eyes the upcoming primary in her home state of South Carolina, having just lost in Nevada.
[72] Here to break it all down is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus, Hed if.
[73] So put this in perspective for us, just how much money is this?
[74] Morning, John.
[75] It's a lot of money.
[76] 16 .5 million is more than the campaign raised in the prior three months combined, this despite the fact that she placed third in the Iowa caucus and a fairly distant second in the New Hampshire primary.
[77] Coming into the year, Donald Trump's camp had $33 million on hand, and while that's roughly twice as much, Haley is not spending money defending various court cases as the former president is.
[78] And Haley may not have to dig too deeply into her war chest to highlight Trump's legal woes as a pro -Biden Democrat super PAC has announced it's set to spend $40 million doing just that in ads.
[79] It's worth recalling, though, that after New Hampshire, Trump said anyone who donated to Haley would be banned from the MAGA camp, but tens of thousands of donors simply ignored that threat.
[80] Yeah, clearly.
[81] This comes, though, at a time when Trump has here.
[82] hit 80 % in some national polls and leads Haley by about 25 in South Carolina.
[83] So even with a massive cash haul, would it actually help her get more competitive at this point?
[84] I mean, the old saw in politics is that candidates don't drop out.
[85] They run out of money.
[86] That's not going to happen to Haley anytime soon.
[87] But yes, all signs right now point to a fairly easy Trump victory for the nomination.
[88] Though, on the other hand, most of last year was spent by those looking for a different option saying that, What was needed was a one -on -one matchup that we now have.
[89] And as we've discussed throughout this process, a strong second for Haley is meaningful.
[90] It burnishes her resume to be Trump's running mate and more broadly gives her some sway over the direction of the party.
[91] There's reason to believe that as long as the checks keep rolling in, the campaign will keep rolling on.
[92] How do we expect Haley to use this infusion of cash with this crucial South Carolina primary less than a month away?
[93] I mean, certainly a lot of this cash will go to, campaigning in the Palmetto state, especially given the fact that Haley still has some big fundraisers coming up.
[94] She's promised to do better in South Carolina than she did in New Hampshire, where she got 43 % of the vote.
[95] But polls put her very far from that goal.
[96] She's averaging around 30 % at this point.
[97] It also has to be noted that if she stays in the race, Super Tuesday is a much more expensive venture covering many more states.
[98] So she would need every penny she can get.
[99] Yeah.
[100] Meanwhile, Haley lost Tuesday's Nevada primary, even though Donald Trump was not actually even on the ballot, how much should we read into this?
[101] It's not great.
[102] I mean, she lost to, quote, none of these candidates, unquote, which got 60 % of the vote to her 30.
[103] I mean, in fairness, Haley's campaign did not put a lot of resources into Nevada because the primary is non -binding and she was hoping the result would be a non -story, but it isn't.
[104] She appears to have very shallow support among Republican voters, and unless that changes, there's probably not enough money anywhere for her to change the course and outcome of this GOP primary.
[105] Yeah, we'll see if South Carolina ends up being as decisive as some projected to be.
[106] Dave, thanks for joining us.
[107] Thanks for having me. Gang activity on the U .S. northern border has contributed to a surge in illegal immigration from Canada.
[108] The Canada to U .S. crossing perceived to be safer than the southern route has attracted illegal immigrants who shell out thousands of dollars to smugglers.
[109] Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce joins us to discuss.
[110] So, Tim, there's been a lot of attention directed south, but what's happening at the northern border?
[111] So the immigration situation at the northern border has been a bit buried due to the overwhelming crisis at the southern border.
[112] The northern border has seen a pretty significant increase in immigration of its own, however.
[113] And part of that is facilitated through gangs.
[114] Federal officials are currently prosecuting two smugglers who are arrested in New Jersey last.
[115] year, and court documents from the case spell out how that operation worked.
[116] Immigrants who wanted into the U .S. would pay these smugglers about $6 ,000 to get from Canada across the border.
[117] The migrants would be taxied into the country as far as New Jersey.
[118] According to authorities, the two smugglers who were arrested, one of whom has ties to the drug lord El Chapo, ran the U .S. side of the operation.
[119] Both of these men, by the way, have been arrested multiple times in the U .S. and let go each time.
[120] They coordinated with a third man in Canada, who the U .S. hasn't been able to secure extradition for yet.
[121] Police link the group to five smuggling incidents, but odds are they've run more than that.
[122] Right, sounds like it.
[123] Now, is it easier to travel to Canada and just cross from there?
[124] According to the Daily Mail, the northern border is considered safer and more discreet.
[125] The U .S.-Canada border is actually the longest border shared by two countries in the world.
[126] On top of that, it's not washed nearly as closely as a southern border.
[127] For good reason, but it does give immigrants who are willing to travel to Canada a better shot at getting into the U .S. undetected.
[128] That could be why a disproportionately high number of migrants on the FBI's terror watch list are caught crossing the northern border versus the southern one.
[129] The overall numbers of illegal entry over the northern border, at least the ones reflected in the data, are quite low.
[130] Only about 10 ,000 migrants were arrested in 2023, only a drop compared to the 2 .4 million encounters of the southern border last year.
[131] That 10 ,000 is still a 500 % increase over the point.
[132] previous year, however.
[133] About 70 % of those crossings happened in the Swanton sector that covers Vermont where the smugglers were operating.
[134] Now, what are the numbers so far this year?
[135] Overall, illegal immigration is on pace to set another record.
[136] This week, the U .S. Border Patrol reportedly passed one million total encounters since this fiscal year began in October.
[137] That's the earliest we've ever seen that benchmark hit.
[138] By this time last year, which set the record for annual encounters, total encounters were about 100 ,000 lower.
[139] That one million encounter milestone passed, of course, while Congress is debating over a new border bill.
[140] President Joe Biden actually blamed former President Trump for the border crisis this week.
[141] The only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his mega Republican friends.
[142] So the president is trying to turn this around on Republicans as this is shaping up to be maybe the biggest issue of the election.
[143] Here's Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan making the argument against the president.
[144] Never forget, though, Biden could actually address this if you wanted to.
[145] He doesn't want to because, remember, he intentionally created the problem.
[146] He did so on day one.
[147] I talk about this all the time, but day one, he made a decision that we were no longer going to build the wall.
[148] He said, where we'll no longer have remained in Mexico policy where we evaluate people's asylum claim.
[149] And then once you get here, you will be released.
[150] So that incentivizes everyone to come, and that's why we're on pace to get to $12 million in the Biden presidency.
[151] That number is equivalent to the entire population of Ohio.
[152] Tim, thanks for joining.
[153] Good to be on.
[154] Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
[155] We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
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[158] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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