Morning Wire XX
[0] Tucker Carlson is officially back on air, this time independently on Twitter.
[1] That's how most of us now live here in the United States, manipulated by lies, silenced by taboos.
[2] We have the numbers from Carlson's debut episode, plus how Fox News is faring without their flagship host.
[3] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[4] It's Thursday, June 8th, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] CNN CEO Chris Licked is out.
[6] after just over a year on the job.
[7] What led up to Lict's exit from the company, and who will fill his shoes in the meantime?
[8] And the Southern Poverty Law Center unveils their 2023 hate map, which now includes some prominent parental rights groups.
[9] To be called a hate group, after advocating and effectively changing a policy so that all children are treated equal, is, frankly, insult to injury.
[10] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[11] Stay tuned.
[12] We have the news you need to know.
[13] Tucker Carlson's new show, debuted on Twitter Tuesday evening, wrecking up tens of millions of views and only a few hours.
[14] Here to tell us more about Tucker's new show and where the Fox ratings stand now is Daily Wire Culture Reporter, Megan Basham.
[15] So, Megan, I know a lot of Tucker's fans were eager to see him producing content again.
[16] Obviously, launching it on Twitter is something very new in the media world.
[17] So what was his first independent show like?
[18] Well, you know, I would describe it as a pared -down, but very familiar program.
[19] So Tucker on Twitter, and that's the official name, Tucker on Twitter, was short in comparison to his old Fox News program, just really barely over 10 minutes.
[20] But those 10 minutes were a supersized version of the element that was the most popular part of his old show, and that was his monologue.
[21] And he characteristically did not pull any punches here.
[22] This episode centered on the Novakowka Dam that was blown up in a Russian -controlled area in Ukraine earlier this week.
[23] Well, the current media consensus is that Russia blew that up.
[24] Tucker cast some doubt on that.
[25] Blowing up the dam may be bad for Ukraine, but it hurts Russia more.
[26] Any fair person would conclude that the Ukrainians probably blew it up.
[27] It's not like Vladimir Putin is anxious to wage war on himself.
[28] Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Mr. and Mrs. Cable News consumer.
[29] Vladimir Putin is exactly that sort of man, the sort of man who'd shoot himself to death in order to annoy you.
[30] We know this from the American media, which wasted no time.
[31] morning in accusing the Russians of sabotaging their own infrastructure.
[32] So a possible shot there at his former employer, and he then went on to criticize Senator Lindsey Graham and Republican primary candidate Nikki Haley for what he characterized as carrying water for Ukraine.
[33] And there were some reports this week that Fox came and removed all of the equipment from the home studio that they had built for Tucker in Maine, and workers are reportedly there building a new studio.
[34] it seems pretty likely that this short -form version of Tucker is only temporary and he will probably be airing programs that have interviews and full segments eventually.
[35] He closed out by explaining his decision to come to Twitter because it's billing itself as the free speech platform.
[36] As of today, we've come to Twitter, which we hope will be the shortwave radio under the blankets.
[37] We're told there are no gatekeepers here.
[38] If that turns out to be false, we'll leave.
[39] And you have to think that Elon Musk does not want to see.
[40] that happened.
[41] Tucker's debut racked up 75 million views by the next afternoon.
[42] Well, and Elon reposted it, so that probably helped those viewing stats as well.
[43] Right.
[44] Now, how does that actually compare to his old Fox audience?
[45] Well, it would be a massive understatement to say that it dwarfs it.
[46] Tucker was averaging around $3 million a night on Fox.
[47] But that's really something of an apples to oranges question, because views aren't really the same thing as ratings.
[48] Once a viewer clicks on a video and it plays for more than two seconds, Twitter counts that as a view.
[49] And if someone views a video more than once, that counts as multiple views.
[50] So it's really kind of an imprecise way of gauging audience size, though I do think it's safe to say that it was probably a lot more than $3 million.
[51] But what there's no question about is that his absence has clearly hurt Fox.
[52] May was Fox's first entirely Tucker -free month, and primetime ratings were down 37 % from last May, and they were down a whopping 62 % in that key 25 to 54 -year -old demo.
[53] That's the group that advertisers really care about.
[54] And his own slot was still down by about half in all viewers.
[55] Now, right when the news broke that Fox had fired Tucker, a lot of pundits were speculating that ratings would trend like they did after Bill O 'Reilly's ouster way back in 2017.
[56] Basically, then, too, there was a dive for a couple of weeks that then popped back up.
[57] Well, that's not only not happening here.
[58] Tucker's absence is hurting Fox's entire primetime block.
[59] And in fact, Axios reports that Fox sent Carlson a letter saying that his Twitter show violates his contract.
[60] Now, Tucker's attorneys say Fox can't silence him because that would be a violation of his free speech.
[61] So we'll see if there's any further action there.
[62] Well, this is going to be really interesting to watch.
[63] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[64] Any time.
[65] CNN CEO Chris Licked is out.
[66] After days of speculation, the embattled executive parted ways.
[67] with the company on Wednesday, after just over a year at The Post.
[68] It had been thought earlier in the week, according to reports that Licked might survive a damaging feature in the Atlantic magazine and growing internal concerns about his leadership, but it was not to be.
[69] Joining us to parse it all out is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
[70] Hey, Dave, so was there a final straw here or was it an accumulation of events?
[71] Morning.
[72] It certainly appears as though the Atlantic piece and the recent rambunctious CNN town hall with Donald Trump tip the balance here.
[73] But honestly, Likt had been raising eyebrows inside the network for some time.
[74] Ratings are bad.
[75] There was the whole Don Lemon fiasco in which one of the faces of the channel was abruptly fired.
[76] Lict was shifting prime time lineups like the manager of a last place baseball team, but no matter the batting order, the results were the same.
[77] He just hadn't built enough goodwill to survive the storm of the last month or so.
[78] Can you walk us through exactly how this went down?
[79] It did come as something of a surprise.
[80] How was the decision made and how did CNN employees find out about it?
[81] It is somewhat surprising, though maybe not shocking.
[82] According to information obtained by the Daily Wire, basically Lick's boss, David Zazlov, head of Warner Brothers, conducted a call with staff saying he had met with Lict and that Lick was already out.
[83] It's not entirely clear if he resigned or was fired or some combination.
[84] Zazlov thanked Lick, called him a superstar, but said the job was always going to be difficult.
[85] He also indicated that the search for a new CEO will take months, and in the meantime, a transition team will man the steering wheel in Atlanta.
[86] Okay.
[87] By the end, Likt was taking some considerable heat from both ends of the political spectrum.
[88] Is that part of what made the situation untenable?
[89] Yeah, and he really was.
[90] I mean, CNN's been a punching bag for conservative media for quite some time.
[91] What was new was the sharp attacks from the left.
[92] Just this week, an opinion piece in the Washington Post was comparing Lict to Twitter CEO Elon Musk saying that rather than being centrists, they are anti -woke, elite, white guys.
[93] I mean, them's fighting words among progressives.
[94] There didn't appear to be anyone defending him.
[95] Where does this leave the network now?
[96] Is it likely that Zaslov will look for another CEO with a new bold vision?
[97] Or maybe he just wants a more normal manager this time?
[98] There's no doubt about it.
[99] There's a full -blown identity crisis at CNN.
[100] It was only just over a year ago that they launched former CEO.
[101] CEO, Jeff Zucker's brainchild, CNN Plus, only to pull the plug after a disastrous month of dismal subscriptions.
[102] Then in comes Likt, promising to pull the network towards the center.
[103] And thus far, not only has that been mostly superficial, it also has managed to anger the on -air talent at the network.
[104] So really, the worst of both worlds.
[105] According to insiders who were mocking him, you know, Lick would often say, CNN will have people who love the rain and who don't like the rain, but we won't say it isn't rain.
[106] It's a kind of milk -toast middle ground.
[107] You know, add to that the fact that he was known to actively avoid ever walking through the newsroom, and you just had a staff that was finished with him.
[108] What remains to be seen is whether Zazlov's next hire will please the staff, and more broadly, whether that will be part of the goal.
[109] Meanwhile, whoever takes the reins at CNN is staring at the edge of a cliff right now, so it better make some sharp moves quick.
[110] Dave, thanks for joining us.
[111] Thanks for having me. The Southern Poverty Law Center has released its 2022 Year in Hate and Extremism Report, which lumps in conservative and Christian groups alongside chapters of the Ku Klux Klan.
[112] Here to discuss the situation as Daily Wire Senior Editor Ash Short.
[113] Ash, why are these groups, these pro -parents rights groups, included on a hate map by the SPLC?
[114] Well, the SPLC has long designated conservatives as hate groups for opposing leftist policies.
[115] In this case, the organization added more than a thousand new groups to its hate list and included parents' rights organizations such as Moms for Liberty, no left turn in education, parental rights in education, and more.
[116] What's the SPLC's reasoning behind including these groups?
[117] Well, the SPLC claims the group sprung up as a part of a backlash to COVID public safety measures in schools, which you may recall included extended periods of a remote learning which hurt children academic.
[118] and masking and distancing that kept children from socializing and even forced some to sit out in 40 -degree weather.
[119] The SPLC also claims these groups are anti -student inclusion and included an extremely watered -down version of what the left has been pursuing in schools.
[120] Notably, the SPLC claims these parents' groups oppose, quote, curriculum that contains discussions of race, discrimination, and LGBTQ identities.
[121] What the groups actually oppose is that ideologically driven takeovers of their schools, like those helping to transition young children without their parents' knowledge and providing young children books containing pornographic material, including graphics depicting pedophilia.
[122] Here's what Bridget Ziegler, vice president of the Leadership Institute's school board programs, had to say on the issue.
[123] The Southern Poverty Law Center, putting out these hate group lists, are really just an extension for the radical left's agenda.
[124] They realize that they are losing power when they've had power over the K -12 education system for decades.
[125] And because they will lose a battle going head -to -head on the issues, their only option is to diminish credibility for these parents who are just trying to fight for their children and their education.
[126] So what does getting added to this list actually do to these groups?
[127] So we spoke to Nikki Neely, president and founder of parents defending education, another group that was added to the list.
[128] And she said her main concern is how companies they do business with will respond.
[129] We have seen tech companies over the past couple years, Salesforce cancel the RNC, things like that.
[130] And so we have been trying to figure out will our bank be impacted by this designation?
[131] Will our email server be affected by that?
[132] And so we're trying to explore that now and figure out what the fallout will be.
[133] Well, accusing people of being part of a hate group is no small matter.
[134] I think there'd be some legal action here.
[135] Do we know if any of these groups are planning to sue SBLC over this designation?
[136] It's a little early for that, but Neely did suggest that could be one avenue of pushback.
[137] We are speaking to legal counsel right now about that, but we're also, yeah, trying to just get out into the public sphere.
[138] What we actually have done on behalf of children is that the fact that we have outed almost 1 ,000 school districts across the country that have parental exclusion policies that prevent parents from knowing their children's gender identity, is that considered hateful?
[139] is the fact that we were able to get bias response programs canceled at a public school system outside of Boston, which chilled students' First Amendment rights.
[140] Is that considered hateful?
[141] And so, yeah, we'd love to know the criteria that was used.
[142] Sounds more like transparency than hate.
[143] Ash, thanks for reporting.
[144] You're welcome.
[145] Another story we're tracking this week.
[146] Former President Donald Trump has been notified by federal prosecutors that he's likely to be indicted for tampering with classified documents.
[147] That's according to sources close to the investigation of special prosecutor Jack Smith.
[148] We'll bring you more on the story as it develops.
[149] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[150] Thanks for waking up with us.
[151] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.