Morning Wire XX
[0] The first week of Donald Trump's hush money trial is in the books, and the former president made the most of his time in New York.
[1] This is all politics.
[2] This is coming out of the White House.
[3] And, you know, it makes me campaign locally, and that's okay.
[4] We're doing better now than we've ever done.
[5] I think it's having a reversal.
[6] Are the optics for Trump's Manhattan trial hurting or helping his campaign?
[7] I'm Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Bickley, Georgia Howe, is off this week.
[8] It's Friday, April 19th, and this.
[9] is MorningWire.
[10] Truth social stock initially rocketed to sky high levels but has now lost more than half its value.
[11] What's next for Trump's social media company?
[12] I wouldn't bet on its value being particularly high, certainly anywhere near its current value in six months.
[13] Anything could happen?
[14] This is Donald Trump we're talking about.
[15] And the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision this week, making it easier for workers to sue their employers.
[16] The decision could put.
[17] corporate DEI policies in the crosshairs.
[18] But before we get to those stories, a rapidly developing situation in the Middle East.
[19] In the early morning hours on Friday, Israel launched a retaliatory attack against Iran in response to Iran's unprecedented direct attack on Israel days ago.
[20] Multiple U .S. officials told ABC News that Israeli missiles and drones struck sites inside Iran, while Iran state media reports that Iran's air defense systems were activated in several provinces.
[21] Initial unconfirmed reports site explosions and multiple cities with nuclear program facilities.
[22] Air travel into several cities in Iran has reportedly been suspended.
[23] We'll have more on this developing story later today.
[24] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[25] Stay tuned.
[26] We have the news you need to know.
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[36] Week one of Donald Trump's Stormy Daniels Hush Money Trial is in the books, and there are strong indications that the optics surrounding the first ever former president sitting in a criminal defendant's chair may not have gone the way as critics had hoped.
[37] Here to discuss the flurry of activity both inside the courthouse and out is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
[38] So one event that got a lot of attention this week was Trump's appearance after day one of jury selection at a bodega in New York where he's met with cheering crowds.
[39] Can you describe that scene and why many pundits see it as a big win for Trump?
[40] Good morning, John.
[41] So the appearance wasn't completely impromptu.
[42] There had been some organizing by at least one New York City Republican group, but it wasn't announced until shortly before he arrived.
[43] And when he did, there was a fairly large, organic, and I might add, diverse crowd, cheering him on.
[44] He was specifically visiting the Harlem bodega where Jose Alba had stabbed and killed a man robbing his store and was charged with murder by district attorney Alvin Bragg.
[45] Yes, the same Alvin Bragg prosecuting Trump.
[46] Right.
[47] The charges were eventually dropped amid outrage, including from Mayor Eric Adams.
[48] From those insisting, this was self -defense.
[49] Clearly, Trump was trying to send the message that Bragg is soft on crime and hard on people who are doing the right thing.
[50] A bodega workers union was there in support of him, and Trump said that if elected, he's going to get New York sorted out.
[51] We know that you are pro -loven orders, and you always support the small business.
[52] So it's really our...
[53] Well, thank you to the great job.
[54] Yes.
[55] Well, thank you for visiting our stores our businesses, our communities, our people.
[56] It's more than a thousand words.
[57] Millions or fours I can share about all Americans.
[58] Yeah.
[59] Well, it's my honor.
[60] I'll tell you guys do a great job.
[61] Thank you.
[62] And bravery, too.
[63] Well, these sorts of Trump drop -ins at restaurants or stores have become a staple of his 2024 campaign.
[64] Given that his trial keeps him stuck in New York, could we see more of these in the city?
[65] I wouldn't bet against it.
[66] To a person, the political strategist I talk to, think this kind of environment is perfect for Trump, who is, after all, first and foremost, a celebrity.
[67] In show business, John, they call this working the room, and Donald Trump knows how to work a room.
[68] It also creates a pretty stark diptic next to Biden's public appearances, such as one at a Sheets convenience store in Pennsylvania this week that seemed almost modeled on the Trump appearances.
[69] But it was reminiscent of when Shooter McGavin tries to replicate Happy Gilmore's golf swing.
[70] Biden kind of shuffled around a mostly empty store, no jubilant interactions, no made for TV moments.
[71] And look, part of this may be down to the fact that the Biden campaign has to be very careful who they let in, because anti -Israel protesters accusing him of genocide are popping up almost everywhere he goes.
[72] Yeah, not exactly the soundtrack, a presidential campaign is looking for.
[73] Now, as to what went on inside the courthouse this week, including the rather tedious process of jury selection, did either side gain a messaging advantage.
[74] The difficulties in jury selection, specifically that so many potential jurors were ruled out for saying they could not be unbiased towards Trump was the main takeaway.
[75] One juror who was selected asked to be removed and was after her family and friends figured out it was her from vague details given to the press.
[76] This does seem to speak to Trump's claim that it's difficult for him to get a fair trial in bright blue Manhattan.
[77] But it's important to also remember that the trial itself is not televised.
[78] The only video coming out of the courthouse is that of Trump when he chooses to make defiant statements of his innocence and the corruption of the prosecution as he's entering.
[79] Pestell court artist renderings and descriptions from inside the courtroom, they have a hard time competing with that.
[80] Yeah, so Trump has a lot of power to shape the perception of it.
[81] Will that still be the case once arguments and testimony begin?
[82] Perhaps to a lesser degree, since we'll be getting actual information about the case and quotes from sworn testimony, but ultimately, every day that he wants to, Trump can give TV rebuttals to everything going on either in the courtroom or in a Staten Island pizza place.
[83] That is potentially a powerful PR tool that Trump wants to take advantage of.
[84] But at the end of the day, that may help him with voters, it's not likely to factor into the final decision of the jury.
[85] Yeah, true enough, though I think Trump is far more concerned about the voters in this case.
[86] I'd agree.
[87] Dave, Thanks for joining us.
[88] Thanks for having me. Truth social stock may have made Donald Trump a multi -billionaire, but the value of the social media platform has been plummeting rapidly.
[89] A trend that comes as the former president's legal fees continue to mount amid a barrage of lawsuits.
[90] Here to discuss as Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham.
[91] Hey, Megan.
[92] So truth social declined more than 16 % last week and then rebounded slightly.
[93] What's its value now?
[94] So right now it's at about $30.
[95] but when Truth Social went public on March 26th, the stock was trading anywhere from $80 a share to around 57.
[96] So that meant overall it was being valued at about $8 billion.
[97] And President Trump's majority stake was valued at $3 billion.
[98] And that put him for the first time on Bloomberg's list of the world's 500 wealthiest people.
[99] So investors were initially very enthusiastic about it.
[100] And even as the frenzy settled, it was still doing pretty well.
[101] Just late last week, analysts were pegging Truth Social's market value at just around $5 billion, $5 .2 billion.
[102] But as you said, since then, it's taken a very precipitous dive, and it's now down more than half of its peak.
[103] So this past Monday, it was trading at just over $27.
[104] Now it has a slight recovery on news that it's going to be adding streaming video to its service, and that's what kind of bumped it back up to 30.
[105] But Forbes analyst and reporter Brian Mullins says that he expects to see a further devaluation in the near future.
[106] Mullins said Truth Social's actual value could be as low as somewhere between $40 million and $90 million.
[107] That seems pretty hard to believe with its opening value near $10 billion.
[108] How exactly did Forbes arrive at that number?
[109] Well, they say by primarily comparing it to the stock value of its closest competitor, which is Twitter or X as it's now called.
[110] So this was kind of a back -of -the -envelope way of trying to look at the company really drill down on its fundamentals.
[111] And to do that, we use comparisons to other companies.
[112] The best comparison is Twitter.
[113] Truth Social is, in some extent, a clone of Twitter, or at least a bit of a knockoff.
[114] And so we calculated Twitter's approximate value per user.
[115] So X has 540 million users, and that company is valued at around 12 billion.
[116] Truth Social is estimated to have around 7 million users.
[117] And then Forbes also factored in the fact that even though X has had some difficulty with major advertisers, big corporations are still more willing to advertise there than they are on truth social.
[118] And that's in line with what a lot of other Wall Street analysts are saying.
[119] In fact, you're seeing a lot of comparison to the so -called meme stocks like the AMC movie chain and GameStop, where the stock value was driven more by fan base than by financial fundamentals.
[120] So Trump supporters do make up a sizable number of shareholders in the company, and that is something that CEO Devin Nunez is promoting in interviews.
[121] that retail investors are buying the stock, not just for financial reasons, but also ideological reasons.
[122] The people that are investing with us are people who believe in the cause, people who want to invest in their voice and invest in their future, and to protect their rights as U .S. citizens.
[123] But that personal fervor can still be a catch -22, as it's part of why analysts believe the drop we're seeing with true social is just a natural come down off that initial euphoria.
[124] And also, the platform's own actions could be driving the stock down.
[125] somewhat as well.
[126] And what were some of those actions that have impacted the stock?
[127] So on Monday, Trump Media, which is the parent company of Truth Social, filed paperwork that's going to enable it to issue a new round of stock.
[128] And of course, that's going to severely dilute the value of the current shares.
[129] Now, Trump Media does say that it does not expect for those shares to hit the market anytime soon, but the notion that they could is depressing Truth Social's price.
[130] And if that stock does hit the market, Trump's stake in the company could go from around 60 % to less than 30.
[131] But what we do know is that he's locked in for at least five months, so he's not allowed to sell before then.
[132] A lot of people watching that value in light of all of Trump's legal fees.
[133] We'll see how he leverages it.
[134] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[135] Anytime.
[136] A unanimous Supreme Court decision that largely fell under the radar this week will make it easier for workers to sue their employers over DEI, programs and policies.
[137] The ruling could open the door to a flood of new lawsuits based on employer discrimination.
[138] Here to discuss the latest ruling is Daily Wire's senior editor Ash Short.
[139] Hey, Ash.
[140] So a potentially very significant ruling here that a lot of people sort of missed.
[141] First, how did this decision come to be?
[142] So it all started when a female police officer sued the city of St. Louis, alleging she had been transferred to a different police department because she was a female.
[143] She said this violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits.
[144] employers from discriminating against employees based on their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin with respect to compensation terms, conditions, or privileges.
[145] Now, a court dismissed her lawsuit, arguing that she failed to show the transfer had caused her significant harm.
[146] That court determined that the transfer, quote, did not result in a diminution to her title, salary, or benefits, and that it caused only minor changes in her working conditions.
[147] So she appealed, eventually getting to the Supreme Court decision we saw on Wednesday, in which all nine justices ruled that the woman only needed to show she was harm.
[148] She didn't have to show significant harm.
[149] So how does this lead to lawsuits over DEI programs?
[150] Well, since Title VII applies to nearly all aspects of employment, if someone has been fired, transferred, denied a promotion, bonus, or raise, or forced to attend any training or event, or be excluded from any training or event, based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, then that employee can sue.
[151] Now, in practical terms, this could mean a flood of lawsuits by women and people of color claiming discrimination.
[152] But it could also mean white people, particularly white men, could start filing lawsuits over employer DEI programs that favor anyone who is not white or male.
[153] Now, there have been lots of allegations about this type of discrimination.
[154] What are some examples of real -life instances of this?
[155] Sure.
[156] In fact, the Daily Signal provided several examples.
[157] including a case where a white male executive was fired from Novant Health in North Carolina because the employer planned to replace him with two women, one black and one white.
[158] An appeals court found last month that this counted as discrimination.
[159] With the new Supreme Court ruling, it should be even easier for executives like that to sue.
[160] Another example, the outlet noted is Starbucks, which was ordered to pay a former manager $25 million after she was fired following a viral incident in which cops were called on black customers.
[161] The regional manager, who is white, was fired, while the manager of the store where the incident happened, who is black, kept his job.
[162] The woman successfully argued that she was fired for being white.
[163] The Daily Signal also pointed to LinkedIn's employee resource groups, which provide mentoring and training programs for, quote, systemically marginalized groups.
[164] This gives employees access to programs and additional compensation based on sex and race.
[165] Anyone excluded from these types of programs, which many companies offer, could now sue under the new Supreme Court decision.
[166] Well, definitely something to keep an eye on in the courts.
[167] Ash, thanks for reporting.
[168] You're welcome.
[169] Hey, thank you for listening this morning.
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