Morning Wire XX
[0] The Honorable Jim Jordan of the state of Ohio has received 200 votes.
[1] The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries of the state of New York has received 212 votes.
[2] Still no Speaker of the House after Jim Jordan fails to win over several GOP holdouts.
[3] We discussed the latest on the bruising battle for House Speaker.
[4] I'm Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Bickley, with Georgia Howe.
[5] It's Wednesday, October 18th, and this is Morning Wire.
[6] President Biden makes a wartime trek to Israel trying to balance U .S. support for the war while preventing a larger conflict.
[7] And a seismic shift in Poland as the conservative Law and Justice Party doesn't win enough votes to remain in power.
[8] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[9] Stay tuned.
[10] We have the news you need to know.
[11] Jim Jordan's ambition to be Speaker of the House of Representatives hit a serious snag on Tuesday as he failed to gain the 217 votes on the floor needed to win.
[12] It leaves the House in the same state of limbo it's been in since Matt Gates moved to vacate the speakership, which led to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy.
[13] Here discuss if the ball has moved forward at all as Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
[14] Well, Dave, here we are again.
[15] What was the political iceberg that Jordan ran into on Tuesday?
[16] Morning, John.
[17] Jordan lost the vote on the floor, which was expected, but it wasn't clear how many Republicans would vote against him.
[18] He was hoping for just a handful, and it wound up at 20.
[19] That's more no votes than Kevin McCarthy got back in January.
[20] Notably, four of the no votes were from New York Republicans led by Representative Mark Waller.
[21] As we talked about at the beginning of all this, they were squarely against removing McCarthy from day one and owed McCarthy a favor for keeping the government open, which their moderate constituents wanted.
[22] So even people close to Jordan acknowledged that this was a very bad result, and after the vote, there were fears that he could lose rather than gain votes in a second.
[23] roll call.
[24] So long story short, we really are no closer to having a speaker.
[25] Yeah.
[26] So what is the state of play now?
[27] When might we see a vote in?
[28] Is there a reason to believe that Jordan can actually flip enough votes to pull this out?
[29] A vote had been scheduled for 6 p .m. Tuesday night, but that was scuttled, a pretty good indication that Jordan had not secured enough support.
[30] Now voting is planned for today at 11.
[31] Reports indicate that he reached out to Representative Steve Scalise, who had also run for Speaker to ask for help, and Scalise said no. Look, Jordan can only afford three no votes.
[32] At least two, Ken Buck and Carlos Jimenez say they will not change their votes.
[33] And Jimenez is among a few members suggesting at this point, they just go back to Kevin McCarthy.
[34] Yeah.
[35] We have also heard talk of a plan to keep Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry in place for a month, possibly with Democrat support.
[36] Where does that effort stand?
[37] It's still out there, and some of the holdouts are floating it.
[38] It's also gotten the attention of Democratic Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
[39] It's not clear if this is a real possibility or a bluff by the moderates to show that they, unlike the pro -Jordan, hardliners, have an actual plan B. But if the second vote for Jordan goes badly, expect to hear more about it.
[40] Yeah.
[41] This was a rare occasion in politics where nobody really knew what the outcome would be.
[42] What was the atmosphere like?
[43] And what did Jordan's team, who thought they were much closer.
[44] What did they miss?
[45] It was a very dramatic scene, but unlike previous iterations of these votes, only two speeches were given, one for Jordan and one for Jefferies, who actually got the most votes with all 212 Democrats.
[46] It was further evidence that the forces aligned against Jordan aren't interested in optics or TV shows.
[47] That's why some observers think that a letter that Sean Hannity sent to reluctant members may have backfired.
[48] Those strong -arm tactics can sometimes just harden opposition.
[49] This view is expressed by several GOP members, including Florida's Byron Donald's, who is very firmly in Jordan's camp.
[50] Finally, do we know how far Jordan is willing to go to win this?
[51] Does he have the stomach for the kind of 15 -vote marathon McCarthy and Dirk?
[52] I'm sure he has the stomach for it, but the question is whether he can gain the momentum for it.
[53] It's vital that he gets the number of no votes to go down, probably into the single digits to keep slogging on.
[54] If he loses more support, on the other hand, then we will be farther from having a speaker than we have been since Matt Gates vacated the chair two weeks ago.
[55] Meanwhile, a lot of important decisions facing the house right now.
[56] Yeah, there's a few.
[57] Dave, thanks for reporting.
[58] Thanks for having me. An explosion inside a hospital in Gaza Tuesday has reportedly resulted in hundreds of deaths and has further escalated tensions in the ongoing war.
[59] The Israel defense forces say the explosion was caused by a failed rocket launch from Palestinian terrorists, while Hamas claims it was an Israeli strike.
[60] Amid this tumultuous backdrop, President Biden is making a high -stakes visit to Israel today.
[61] Here with more on what we expect from the visit and the latest from the Political Balancing Act it brings is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips.
[62] So Cabot, what's the latest from the war zone in Gaza?
[63] Well, as John said, an explosion at a hospital in Gaza has resulted in an unknown number of casualties and also a number of conflicting reports.
[64] Almost immediately afterward, Hamas claimed it was an Israeli air strike, that claim was quickly echoed by several legacy media outlets, and also left -wing politicians, including Congresswoman Rashida -Talib.
[65] But the IDF promptly issued a statement making clear that there were no Israeli strikes in that area and providing video evidence showing what appeared to be a failed rocket launch by Hamas, which does happen quite often.
[66] Also on Tuesday, Hamas announced that I'm in Nafal, one of their top commanders who was in charge of all military activities in central Gaza have been killed in a separate strike Tuesday, along with an unknown number of terrorists in the region.
[67] The terror group also released the first footage of an Israeli hostage since the war began.
[68] In a short video, 21 -year -old Mia Shem can be seen lying on a bed with a large bandage on her right arm.
[69] She then speaks to the camera pleading for her family and friends, saying, please get me out of fear as quickly as possible.
[70] An IDF spokesperson says the video is part of an effort by Hamas, quote, to wage psychological war.
[71] Shem is one of around 200 hostages currently being held throughout Gaza.
[72] According to Hamas, Israeli airstrikes have killed 22 of those hostages, though, as with nearly every report coming out of Gaza, those claims have not yet been verified.
[73] Right, and that's certainly worth repeating.
[74] Now, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken wrapped up high -level meetings in Israel yesterday.
[75] What came out of those discussions?
[76] Yeah, it's important to note.
[77] Biden's visit comes after a separate appearance from Blinken, who spent seven hours with the Israeli War Cabinet Monday evening.
[78] Coming out of the meeting, Blinken said the two.
[79] countries, quote, have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza.
[80] Remember, Gaza is dangerously short on food, water and fuel at the moment as Israel has cut off aid on their end and Egypt has kept their border closed, preventing supplies from coming in.
[81] In response to the situation, the UN Secretary General called on Hamas to release all hostages, quote, without condition and for Israel to allow rapid and unimpeded aid for the sake of the civilians in Gaza.
[82] But to this point, we've yet to see much movement on that front, as little aid has made its way into the besieged region.
[83] And President Biden is hoping to push those efforts forward, correct?
[84] Right.
[85] So according to the White House, there are a few main goals for his visit.
[86] First and foremost, Biden wants to show solidarity with Israel, who he says is justified in their retaliation against Tamas.
[87] Biden's also been clear that he wants to prevent the war from spreading to multiple fronts.
[88] On Monday, Iran's foreign minister warned of, quote, the possibility of preemptive action ahead of Israel's expected invasion of Gaza.
[89] Biden is clearly hoping his visit will help dissuade Iran from opening up another front through Lebanon.
[90] And third, Biden reportedly wants to open up, quote, civilian safe zones in Gaza to prevent collateral damage, as well as securing shipments of supplies to civilians.
[91] The president is expected to urge Jordan and other nations in the region to open their borders for those fleeing the conflict.
[92] Although that appears pretty unlikely at the moment, right?
[93] Yeah, leaders in both Egypt and Jordan have repeatedly said that they will not take in Palestinian refugees.
[94] Here's Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday ahead of Biden's visit.
[95] On the issues of refugees coming to Jordan, that is a red line.
[96] Because I think that is the plan by certain of the usual suspects to try and create de facto issues on the ground.
[97] No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt.
[98] Now, shifting gears before we go, we saw some interesting polling on American sentiment toward the conflict in Israel.
[99] what we learned.
[100] Yeah, this was interesting.
[101] So this week, we got our first data on how Americans feel about the war, and there was near universal support of Israel.
[102] According to a poll from CNN, for example, 70 % of respondents saying Israeli invasion of Gaza would be justified, while just 8 % say it would not.
[103] A separate NPR poll found that nearly two and three Americans say the U .S. government should publicly support Israel, while just 8 % say they should publicly oppose them.
[104] And there was rare bipartisan consensus on that front, with 77 % of Republicans and 69 % of Democrats calling for government support of Israel.
[105] So while a number of lawmakers in Washington, especially those on the far left, have urged Israel to stand down and avoid a military response in Gaza, the American people who rarely agree on anything in large numbers, clearly view a war as justified and do want the U .S. to stand with Israel.
[106] Right.
[107] Well, as you said, rare agreement here when it comes to Israel's right to defend itself.
[108] Yep.
[109] All right, Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[110] Anytime.
[111] Poland's right -wing government is set to lose control after eight years in power.
[112] Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his coalition of center and left -wing parties have a majority in Poland's parliament and will likely staff Poland's next government if the coalition can stay together.
[113] Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about Poland's elections and what they mean for Europe.
[114] So, Tim, in recent years, Poland has been seen as sort of the right -wing holdout in Europe, but that's not the case anymore.
[115] Tell us about this week's election.
[116] Broadly speaking, Poland's elections were about a more nationalistic and traditionally Catholic.
[117] vision for the country versus a more European liberal vision, and voters seem to pick the latter.
[118] That said, uniting the center -left coalition into one government won't be easy.
[119] Tusk's left -leaning coalition has to have over a dozen parties in it to get a majority of seats, and pretty much the only issue they all agree on is opposing the current government led by the law and justice party.
[120] Tusk's civic coalition is made up of six parties that are very diverse ideologically, from progressives to agrarians to a center -right party.
[121] and Tusk will have to cobble together about half a dozen more parties to create a government.
[122] So a complicated balancing act there.
[123] How significant is this?
[124] How big of a rejection is it for the right wing?
[125] Well, it's certainly not the outcome Prime Minister Mateus Morietsky wanted, but his law and justice party is still very popular in Poland.
[126] It's the most popular, in fact.
[127] Finalizing the results of Sunday's election took a few days, but law and justice seems to have won about 35 % of the country's vote more than any other party.
[128] It has 194 seats of 4.
[129] 460 in the parliament.
[130] It's the first time any party has been able to maintain at least 30 % support for a period of eight years since 1989, the year Poland broke from communism.
[131] And what about the prime minister office?
[132] How clear is the way for Tuss to secure that?
[133] He's the favorite, but it's not locked up yet.
[134] Poland's president, Andre Duda, has 30 days from the election to name someone to put a government together.
[135] Duda has ties to the law and justice party.
[136] And regardless, the president typically gives a coalition with the most seats the first chance at building a government.
[137] So there's a small chance that law and justice could cut a deal with some of the smaller coalitions and stay in power, but that's unlikely.
[138] Most likely at the moment is law and justice will get a chance, fail, and then Duda will move on to Tuss Coalition, which received about 30 % of the vote and the second most seats.
[139] Then it'll be up to tuss to keep his coalition together.
[140] If he is able to make a government, it could be a rocky prime ministership for him.
[141] Right.
[142] Now, broadening out here, how will this affect the rest of Europe.
[143] What kind of impact will this have?
[144] Yeah, Poland has been a member of the European Union for almost two decades now, and Tusk actually formerly served as president of the European Council.
[145] So the EU was watching Poland's election, and it seems happy about the way it turned out.
[146] Germany especially was hoping for a change in leadership since the prior government had been very critical of Germany.
[147] Law and justice ran on anti -German sentiment, saying Germany hadn't given Poland just restitution for World War II and accusing Tusk of being a German agent.
[148] Law and justice didn't make many friends in the EU.
[149] But this new coalition is much more liberal and EU -friendly, so it'll try to rebuild a lot of those relationships.
[150] One thing that is not likely to change under Tusk's leadership is Poland's strict immigration policy.
[151] The EU has pressured the polls to accept more refugees over the years, many from the Middle East.
[152] And Polish officials across the political spectrum have widely rejected that.
[153] Despite disagreement on other issues, there is broad agreement in Poland that heavy immigration would bring crime and civil unrest.
[154] Poland currently has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe.
[155] The immigration issue is on everyone's mind right now.
[156] Yeah, it is.
[157] Tim, thanks for joining us.
[158] Thanks for having me. That's all the time we've got this morning.
[159] Thanks for waking up with us.
[160] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.