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[0] Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan Tuesday morning despite warnings from the U .S. military and even threats from Chinese officials.
[1] If the U .S. continues down the wrong path, we will take strong and resolute measures to ensure our sovereignty and security interests.
[2] All eyes remain on Taiwan as the world braces for Chinese aggression.
[3] I'm DailyWire editor -in -chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[4] It's Wednesday, August 3rd, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] Several battleground states held key prime.
[6] Mary's yesterday.
[7] We have the results from all the important races.
[8] And the GOP introduced a comprehensive action plan to combat illegal immigration.
[9] Can they solve the crisis at the border?
[10] More than two thirds of the Republicans in Congress have been to the border just this year.
[11] This is about the security of our country.
[12] And the president says he is too busy to deal with it.
[13] We'd like to sit down with them, talk about the facts, and solve this problem once and for all.
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[24] After a week of speculation and threats from communist China, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, landed in Taiwan on Tuesday.
[25] The news that Pelosi might visit the embattled country leaked last week, and President Biden at the time seemed to throw cold water on it, telling reporters that the Pentagon was opposed to the visit, which was the first by a House Speaker since Newt Gingrich went to Taiwan in 1997.
[26] Here to discuss is David Marcus.
[27] Hi, Dave.
[28] So the visit happened.
[29] How did it go?
[30] Hey there.
[31] It went off peacefully, despite Chinese threats, including at least a vague threat of shooting, down Pelosi's plane.
[32] She landed.
[33] She's meeting with Taiwan's president, and it has all the trappings of a state visit.
[34] It's sent a clear and important signal that the United States supports a democratic Taiwan along the lines of what now exists, but a little murkier is that as the White House has made clear this week, we also say that Taiwan essentially belongs to China.
[35] Right.
[36] There's a lot of confusion about exactly that, what our policy regarding Taiwan is.
[37] As you mentioned, White House spokesperson John Kirby said that we do not support an independent Taiwan.
[38] What is our current stance on Taiwan?
[39] Yeah, it's rather confusing.
[40] Our official policies are One China and Strategic Ambiguity.
[41] One China means that we accept Taiwan as a part of greater China.
[42] Strategic ambiguity means that we support Taiwan having a large degree of self -determination as a democracy in the region.
[43] And we will neither confirm nor deny if we would go to war to defend that degree of independence.
[44] It sounds somewhat contradictory because it is, but that's been our policy for decades.
[45] Why is this the policy?
[46] Why don't we just take a clear position on Taiwan?
[47] That's a long conversation that takes us all the way back to Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon.
[48] The thumbnail version is that in the late 20th century, and even until recently, it was thought that as China entered the global market, it would liberalize and either become democratic enough to peacefully incorporate Taiwan or give it some kind of home rule.
[49] It's basically the policy that succeeded in post -World War to Japan, but it's failed in China, which has frustrated the West by being very successful in the global marketplace while remaining an authoritarian communist state.
[50] Now, last week, President Biden seemed to take issue with Pelosi's visit.
[51] He told reporters that the Pentagon thought it was a bad idea.
[52] That kind of set off the angry response from China.
[53] which threatened retaliation, was that a gaffe from the president?
[54] It sure looks like it.
[55] The easy layup answer to that question is that Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House and she can go wherever she wants.
[56] That's basically what Kirby said this week in response to confirmation of the visit.
[57] It's not clear why the president created at least the perception of a divided front in the U .S. government regarding the trip.
[58] But, yeah, it did pour gasoline on this war of words between Beijing and Washington that was likely needless.
[59] What impact do you think this visit will have?
[60] Will we see a shift in policy?
[61] Is this maybe a harbinger of action by either China or Taiwan or just further stalemate?
[62] The latter seems the most likely.
[63] This really is the strangest of status quoes and has been for some time.
[64] But with so much instability globally, a war in Europe, supply chain issues, inflation, it just seems unlikely that either China or the U .S. want to throw another act into the circus.
[65] But that having been said, we do see increasing concern about China buying farmland here near military bases or data mining on Americans through TikTok.
[66] The tension is rising.
[67] Where it lands, nobody knows.
[68] Well, thank you so much for joining us, David.
[69] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus.
[70] Coming up, several key Republican primary elections on Tuesday set the stage for November.
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[75] With the midterm elections now just three months away, five states held primary elections yesterday to determine candidates in a series of crucial federal elections.
[76] Here with the latest results and what it means for November is DailyWire senior editor Cabot -Phillips.
[77] a few important races last night.
[78] Where do you want to start?
[79] Yeah, we'll start in Arizona, where the Republican primary to replace Governor Doug Ducey has really gained nationwide attention.
[80] Now, this race in particular was getting attention because it was viewed as a bit of a political proxy war between Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.
[81] Trump had endorsed the charismatic former local news anchor Carrie Lake while Pence and outgoing Governor Ducey had endorsed Karen Taylor Robson.
[82] So this was really one of the first times we'd seen those two Pence and Trump on opposite sides of a political battle since they left office.
[83] And both men are remembered to be considering 2024 runs.
[84] Don't be surprised if they end up on the opposite side of other races moving forward.
[85] As of Wednesday morning, the race was still too close to call, but there are a growing number of outlets who are declaring Lake the winner.
[86] If that ends up holding, she'll go on to face Katie Hobbs in November.
[87] On the Senate side, Blake Masters, who also had a Trump endorsement that definitely appeared to give him a boost in the polls, cruised a victory over the state's Attorney General Mark Bernovich.
[88] Now, what about in Missouri?
[89] Yeah, this one was interesting.
[90] Four highly qualified Republicans have been battling to take over the state's open Senate seat with ex -governor Eric Greitens, current attorney general Eric Schmidt, Congresswoman Vicki Hartzler, and Congressman Billy Long.
[91] This race was, again, interesting because the endorsements were really all over the place.
[92] Missouri's other senator, Josh Hawley, had endorsed Hartzler, while Schmidt scored the support of Senator Ted Cruz and the financial backing of Peter Thiel.
[93] And President Trump, in this case, actually waited until Monday night to issue his endorsement.
[94] And he didn't really issue an endorsement.
[95] He simply said that he was supporting Eric, meaning either Greitens or Schmidt.
[96] He ultimately said, though, that he'd be happy with either one.
[97] But in the end, it was Attorney General Schmidt who came out on top.
[98] And barring a massive upset in November, he will represent Deep Red Missouri in the Senate.
[99] Now, one state that not only held primary elections, but also had an important.
[100] ballot initiative on abortion was Kansas.
[101] What happened there?
[102] Yeah, the primary races in Kansas weren't necessarily as closely watched, but what really got the attention there was the value -them -both amendment that was proposed for the state constitution.
[103] The measure was added to the ballot in response to the Roe ruling and would, quote, afford there is no Kansas constitutional right to abortion.
[104] However, in a bit of a surprise, the measure failed overwhelmingly, 59 -41 marking a victory for pro -abortion activists in state.
[105] Now, there was a bit of controversy, as some pointed out, that the wording of the measure on the ballot included portions about government involvement in abortion that could have been misinterpreted by pro -life voters, but regardless, the measure failed.
[106] Now, another thing that's been getting attention so far this primary season is Democrats spending on Republican primaries.
[107] What can you tell us there?
[108] Well, throughout political history, there have been plenty of examples of parties trying to meddle in their opponents' primaries.
[109] Typically, the goal there is electing the easiest candidate.
[110] to beat.
[111] But this year, we've seen a noticeable uptick, especially from the left.
[112] Democrats have spent millions of dollars propping up candidates that they want to face in November, often painting them as far right or radical Trump supporters.
[113] For example, here's one ad Democrats ran in a Michigan congressional primary between Republicans John Gibbs and incumbent Peter Meyer.
[114] John Gibbs is too conservative for West Michigan.
[115] Handpicked by Trump to run for Congress, Gibbs called Trump the greatest president.
[116] Now, what you'll notice there is that this isn't so much an attack ad as it is an ad that's trying to prop up Gibbs in the primary.
[117] Many Democrats want him to win because they think he'll be easier to beat, so they're trying to tout his conservative credentials to primary voters.
[118] Now, critics say that it's not only a dangerous game strategically because he could end up winning, but also that it's hypocritical.
[119] In this case, because the candidate that they're running ads against is Peter Meyer, who's one of the only Republican House members to vote.
[120] for the impeachment of Trump.
[121] Critics say it's disingenuous for them to claim to be fighting Trump's agenda while spending millions of dollars against one of the only Republicans who, you know, tried to remove Trump from office.
[122] Now, in this case, the strategy, at least for the time being, worked as Gibbs defeated Meyer and will be the Republican nominee.
[123] Right.
[124] It's definitely an interesting strategy.
[125] We'll see if it works out.
[126] Cabot, thanks for the updates.
[127] Anytime.
[128] That was Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[129] Republicans in Congress, are laying the groundwork for a legislative push on the immigration crisis should the GOP take over the House, Senate, or both next year.
[130] House Republicans unveiled an action plan last week outlining their priorities for a secure border.
[131] The plan came about a week after Senate Republicans released a 56 -page report diving into the causes of the border crisis.
[132] Here to discuss the GOP plan is Daily Wire's Tim Pierce.
[133] All right, Tim, what are Republicans planning?
[134] Hey, John.
[135] Well, their plan looks pretty similar to President Trump's plan.
[136] In fact, much of what the GOP is arguing for is simply reinstating many of the same policies that the Trump administration enforced.
[137] Republicans want to bring back Title 42, which authorized Border Patrol agents to turn away migrants at the border for health reasons, namely COVID -19.
[138] Republicans want to expand it to cover fentanyl and other illegal drugs as well.
[139] They also want to commit to the migrant protection protocols, better known as remain in Mexico.
[140] Although President Biden hasn't officially ended that policy yet, as a practical matter, it hasn't been enforced for a while.
[141] Right, there's been a lot of political maneuvering.
[142] on that policy?
[143] There has.
[144] What else are Republicans pushing for?
[145] Well, they'd also like to overhaul the asylum procedures and catch and release.
[146] The Senate Republican report points out that over half the migrants from northern Central American countries that claim asylum in the U .S. never show up for their initial court hearing and instead disappear into the interior of the country.
[147] Less than 10 % of migrants from those countries claiming asylum actually qualify for a hearing in an immigration court.
[148] And of course, Republicans want to finish building Trump's border wall.
[149] Right.
[150] The Trump administration had plans and funding secured to build 800 miles of wall along the southern border, but only completed about half of it by the time Biden took over, and he put the project on hold.
[151] President Biden has actually restarted wall building in certain parts of the border, which White House Press Secretary Karin Jean -Pierre has struggled to justify after Democrats used the wall to paint Trump's immigration policy is racist.
[152] Why is the Biden administration building a border wall in Arizona?
[153] So we are not finishing the wall.
[154] We are cleaning up the mess, the prior administration left behind in their failed attempt to build a wall.
[155] Why would Biden reverse course on the wall, after all the criticism of it from his own party?
[156] Jean -Pierre said that finishing the construction was about saving lives, but that does little towards answering that question.
[157] We do know that Biden has been facing increasing public pressure recently by members of his own party to deal with the flood of illegal minds.
[158] New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Washington, D .C. Mayor Muriel Bowser are openly complaining about the strain that housing illegal aliens is placed on their local governments.
[159] Everyone's block is going to be impacted by this.
[160] As I stated last week, our schools are going to be impacted.
[161] Our health care system is going to be impacted.
[162] Our infrastructure is going to be impacted.
[163] A big reason for that strain is what's happening in Texas.
[164] In a move to put pressure on the Biden administration to curb illegal immigration, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, approved a project earlier this year to bus migrants to D .C. He wants to give the heavily Democratic area a glimpse into what Texas border communities have been dealing with for over a year now.
[165] Abbott responded to Adams and Bowser in a letter on Monday, inviting them to see what the immigration crisis looks like on the ground in Texas.
[166] It doesn't appear like the Democratic mayors will be taking him up on that offer, though.
[167] Tim, thanks for the update.
[168] Thanks for having me. That was DailyWires, Tim Pierce.
[169] Other stories were tracking this week, A U .S. drone strike killed al -Qaeda top leader Iman al -Zawahiri over the weekend in Kabul.
[170] The ACLU filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on Tuesday defending the ability of universities to consider race in admissions.
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