Morning Wire XX
[0] 75 ,000 workers walked off the job on Wednesday, kicking off the largest health care strike the U .S. has ever seen.
[1] What do we want?
[2] When do we want?
[3] Now!
[4] What do we want?
[5] Mayor country!
[6] What are the strikers demanding and where do negotiations currently stand?
[7] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[8] It's Thursday, October 5th, and this is Morning Wire.
[9] turmoil in the house after Kevin McCarthy was removed from his post as speaker.
[10] Who will hold the gavel next?
[11] We break down the names vying for the top spot.
[12] And as New York's fraud case against Donald Trump hits day four, even his critics are saying the penalties could be too harsh.
[13] What's going on here is a shame.
[14] Our whole system is corrupt and we're pointed out to the press how corrupt it is because nobody else seems to be able to do it.
[15] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[16] Stay tuned.
[17] We have the news you need to know.
[18] 75 ,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers across numerous states walked off the job yesterday and what unions are calling the largest health care worker strike in U .S. history.
[19] Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo.
[20] So Amanda, first, tell us about the scope of this strike.
[21] Where is it happening and who is it going to affect?
[22] Well, Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation's largest nonprofit health providers, is based in California.
[23] And that's where most of these union employees are on strike and estimated 68 ,000 of that total 75 ,000 workers.
[24] Healthcare workers are also on strike in Oregon, Washington State, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, and D .C. In Virginia and D .C., there are only about 400 pharmacists and optometrists on strike, and that is planned the last one day.
[25] But in California and those other states, the strike is set to last for three days until Saturday morning, and this would include, include nursing assistance, phlebotomists, radiology, x -ray, and surgical techs, AMTs, home health aides, and other support staff.
[26] Nationwide, Kaiser services 13 million patients.
[27] Now, you mostly listed support positions.
[28] What about nurses?
[29] Doctors and most registered nurses are not part of this strike.
[30] Kaiser is bringing on thousands of temporary non -union workers to try to fill in those gaps.
[31] But protesting workers do make up 40 % of Kaiser's total staff, spanning from a coalition of eight different unions.
[32] So it's a huge portion of their workforce.
[33] And though this strike is set to last for just three days, if their demands aren't met, unions say there'll be another strike in November, and that will be longer and stronger than this one.
[34] Now, what are their demands exactly?
[35] What are the workers asking for?
[36] Well, they want higher pay.
[37] Unions are trying to secure a nearly 25 % pay raise for its members in addition to medical coverage for retirees and other perks.
[38] Here's one respiratory therapist on Strike in California speaking to ABC 10.
[39] We're here fighting for our raises.
[40] Inflation is at 9%.
[41] Kaiser's offered us a 4 % raise for this year and the next four years.
[42] That's not going to cut it.
[43] That's not enough to keep up with the cost of living.
[44] Another issue the unions have raised are the staff shortages and employee burnout.
[45] The health care system was already stretched prior to the pandemic, and it's now under even more strain.
[46] workers say their patients have had to deal with significantly delayed care or have even been turned away.
[47] Well, that's a pretty harsh claim.
[48] What's Kaiser saying?
[49] Kaiser is saying they already pay their employees higher wages than most other health care entities in the nation, citing their comparatively low attrition rate of 7%.
[50] That's a third of the industry average.
[51] Kaiser also acknowledged the staff shortages and employee burnout, saying that 5 million people across the nation left their health care jobs in 2021 to 2022, and they are not immune to those challenges.
[52] Here's how one protesting employee reacted to Kaiser's side of things specifically regarding pay.
[53] Well, that just means that they suck less.
[54] That does not mean that they're doing better.
[55] And for us in labor, that's not good enough for our patients.
[56] Now, where do the negotiations stand right now?
[57] Negotiations are still ongoing, but Kaiser has already offered raises as high as 16 percent over four years.
[58] And they say that we'll hire 10 ,000 more people in union rules by the end of 2023 to fill vacancies.
[59] The company said in a statement that it is quote, committed to reaching a new agreement that continues to provide our employees with market -leading wages, excellent benefits, generous retirement income plans, and valuable professional development opportunities.
[60] Well, little known fact.
[61] I was a registered nurse for Kaiser before coming to Daily Wire.
[62] Amanda, thanks so much for reporting.
[63] Yeah, sure, thank.
[64] As the dust settles following the unprecedented ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
[65] The battle to replace him is heating up.
[66] Here with the latest is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips.
[67] Hey, Gabbitt.
[68] So the Speaker's gavel is up for grabs now.
[69] First, tell us what we've heard from now former Speaker McCarthy.
[70] Yeah, there was chaos leading up to that historic vote to remove McCarthy, and now we've got more chaos.
[71] It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this whole saga.
[72] It bears repeating, a speaker has never been involuntarily removed from power in the history of Congress.
[73] Now, while some had questioned if McCarthy would simply run again, he announced Tuesday evening that he'd make no such effort.
[74] The now former speaker did, however, have quite a bit to say about the eight Republicans who voted to oust him.
[75] The party of Reagan was if you believed in your principles that you could govern in a conservative way.
[76] They are not conservatives and they do not have the right to have the title.
[77] Beyond those scathing comments and similar statements from many other, EOP members.
[78] There are rumblings that Matt Gates, who launched the effort to oust McCarthy, could face expulsion from Congress by his own party.
[79] That would take a two -thirds vote among Republicans.
[80] McCarthy allies are also expected to attempt to change the rules so that a single member can no longer initiate the process to remove a speaker moving forward.
[81] So changes might be coming.
[82] How we got into this whole situation in the first place.
[83] Right.
[84] McCarthy also took aim at a number of Democrats as well.
[85] What did we hear on that front?
[86] Yeah, his outrage was hardly reserved for those eight GOP members.
[87] He also went after Democrats, particularly former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
[88] This part was interesting.
[89] So according to McCarthy, Pelosi promised him when he took power in January that she'd offer support if a small number of hard -linked conservatives try to remove him.
[90] It would only take a dozen or so Democrats to prevent his removal.
[91] But ultimately, that support never came, as every Democrat voted against him.
[92] McCarthy said it was proof that Democrats cared more about political games than protecting the functionality of Congress.
[93] Immediately after the vote, though, McCarthy allies did get a little revenge.
[94] Right.
[95] Tell us what happened there.
[96] So acting speaker Patrick McCannery ordered Pelosi to vacate her special hideaway office that's tucked inside the Capitol building that she'd been using for years.
[97] They said it was being reallocated for quote speaker office use.
[98] All right.
[99] So Pelosi kicked out of one of her offices.
[100] Right.
[101] So what comes next?
[102] Well, in the short term, North Carolina rep Patrick McHenry is serving as the temporary speaker.
[103] When McCarthy took over, he submitted a number of members he'd like to replace him in the case of his ouster.
[104] And McKenry was top the list.
[105] But the position is almost entirely.
[106] ceremonial.
[107] He won't actually have any real power beyond just overseeing the process of selecting a new speaker.
[108] Until that happens, the House is all but paralyzed.
[109] They will not be able to pass any legislation without a speaker, which comes in a terrible time, as Congress now has just 39 days to pass a new spending bill or the government will shut down.
[110] McKenry said the chamber will begin debate on a new speaker next Tuesday, and then the first votes will be held Wednesday.
[111] But the expectation in Washington is that this is going to be a long battle, could end up taking weeks to settle.
[112] Yeah, we'll see if we have another 15 -vote saga.
[113] Let's hope not.
[114] Who comes next?
[115] Who appears to be the frontrunners?
[116] Right now, there appear to be two.
[117] Majority whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio.
[118] Both men were loyal to McCarthy throughout the last year and officially announced their bids Wednesday.
[119] Ultimately, whoever wins will have to secure majority support in the House, which is no small task.
[120] And we've also got to mention President Trump, whose name has been thrown in the ring by a few outside supporters and even some within Congress.
[121] including Marjorie Taylor Green.
[122] Remember, anyone can be elected speaker, house member or not.
[123] And Trump did seem to like the idea, saying he would do, quote, whatever is best for the country and party.
[124] But the odds of that happening are incredibly small.
[125] Yeah, and he's already got enough on his play.
[126] Kavitt, thanks for reporting.
[127] Today, if you read the New York law journals, they basically say they have no case against Trump.
[128] But I'm here stuck here, and I can't complain.
[129] I'd rather be right now in Iowa.
[130] I'd rather be in New Hampshire or South Carolina.
[131] This is election interference.
[132] They made up a fake case, and the judge already knows what he's going to do.
[133] He's a Democrat judge.
[134] With the civil fraud trial against Donald Trump in New York's Supreme Court completing its third day, even some of Trump's longtime critics are arguing that the punishment he's facing is unfairly harsh.
[135] The judge, Arthur Ingram, already decided that Trump was guilty last week and is now determining if he'll face a whopping $250 million fine, and more importantly, be barred from doing business in New York.
[136] Here to discuss the latest on the case's Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus.
[137] Hey, Dave.
[138] So the Washington Post of all places has a column up arguing that the treatment of Trump is just too draconian.
[139] Is that a surprise and what argument is being made?
[140] Good morning.
[141] Yes, the column by moderate writer Ruth Marcus was a bit of a surprise, as it really does call out the extraordinary and unprecedented nature of this punishment.
[142] As you've reported here, Trump's assets could wind up in receivership or even sold out from under him once he exhausts his appeals.
[143] Amusingly, Marcus, it's no relation to me, goes to great lengths in several instances in this column to make clear that she detests Donald Trump.
[144] But goes on to say that legal experts say the decision was overly punitive and even went so far as to suggest that Trump is being singled out here not on the basis of the law, but on the basis of politics, which is a very serious.
[145] charge for her to be throwing at the judge, especially in the austere and left -leaning pages of the Washington Post.
[146] Yeah, indeed it is.
[147] And she isn't alone legal experts like Andy McCarthy have weighed in on this as well.
[148] What are we hearing from McCarthy and other legal minds on the judge's actions thus far?
[149] McCarthy penned an op -ed in The Messenger, a centrist outlet, in which he shared Marcus's concerns and went a bit further, pointing out that the judge is where he is, because he is a loyal Democrat and naturally hates Trump.
[150] And that in fining Trump's attorneys $7 ,500 each for supposedly doing their job in an unprofessional manner, McCarthy wrote that, quote, in tone and substance, this is real venom, end quote.
[151] And again, this isn't coming from a virulent Trump supporter who weekends at Mar -a -Lago.
[152] McCarthy is quite clear that he thinks Trump may well be guilty, but he's concerned, as we all should be, that the punishment here is not so much justice as it is revenge.
[153] Here's how we put it in an interview with Fox.
[154] It's a tentative Western law that the punishment is supposed to fit the crime.
[155] And if you wanted to tell me that Trump should get fined a couple of million dollars for a pattern of exaggerating his assets, I don't really think I'd have a big problem with that.
[156] If you want to tell me they should ruin a two to three billion dollar real estate empire that's done business for decades in New York and was regarded as an iconic business before Trump became a political enemy of Democrats.
[157] And now they're trying to ruin this guy over this.
[158] I think that's way, way out of whack.
[159] Now, Trump has not been quiet in this process at all.
[160] He offered up even more fiery remarks on Wednesday.
[161] He called the whole case a witch hunt.
[162] Do these extremely harsh penalties boost his claim?
[163] Yeah, they do.
[164] Democrats claim that all of these trials are just the legal system, in a normal way, that nobody is above the law.
[165] Trump claims that he's being maliciously targeted for political reasons and that it's tantamount to election interference.
[166] Being able to point to these moderate voices saying, whoa, guys, this is going a little too far, certainly gives more credence to Trump's side of the story, especially to a GOP electorate who are already pretty well convinced that our legal system is operating under two tiers of justice.
[167] Right.
[168] Is all the controversy around this case something that could further erode trust in our legal institutions, which has already plummeted in recent years?
[169] It's hard to see how it wouldn't.
[170] Gallup found that trust in the legal system among Americans dropped from a stunningly low 20 % in 2021 to an astonishing 14 % in 2022.
[171] I don't know if I even want to see this year's number, assuming it's not zero at this point.
[172] If 85 % of Americans don't think justice is meted out blindly and equally, then politics is irrelevant.
[173] It doesn't matter what laws we make or have if judges and prosecutors are intent on abusing them.
[174] And from the perspective of some pretty centrist and moderate observers, this treatment of Trump in the fraud case could well make this problem worse.
[175] Meanwhile, day four of the trial gets underway today.
[176] Dave, thanks for joining us.
[177] Thanks for having me. Thanks for waking up with us.
[178] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.