Trump Goes to Washington & Musk Leads DOGE | 11.14.24
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Donald Trump returns to D.C., holding meetings with Congress and a one-on-one with Joe Biden in the Oval Office. Welcome. Thank you very much. How will the selection of Senator John Thune affect Trump's agenda? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, November 14th, and this is Morning Wire.

Trump's cabinet nominations are rejecting the establishment and shaking up D.C. Matt Gaetz knows exactly what to do with the attorney general's office. He will turn that into being the most powerful attorney general in American history. And the Elon Musk-inspired Department of Government Efficiency begins to take shape. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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Donald Trump made his triumphant return to Washington yesterday, the biggest story on a busy day in our nation's capital. Here with more is Daily Wire deputy managing editor Tim Rice. So, Tim, a major moment here. How did Trump's return to D.C. go? You know, Georgia, it was great. Trump started the day at a meeting of the House Republican Conference where he congratulated members on their recent victories and looked forward to a bigger House majority. It's nice to win.

It's always nice to win. So you know we had like historic kind of numbers, especially for the president, but we won't get into that. But the House did very well and I think we're responsible for helping you with 31, meaning we could have lost by quite a bit and we ended up, I guess you'll be five up, are you looking at five or four? Five or four, right? Doesn't matter. We get used to one for a little while.

When you can get used to one, you can get used to anything. Trump joked about potentially chipping away at the newly won House majority by tapping Elise Stefanik and Mike Waltz for his administration, saying that he wanted at least 15 more House Republicans in the White House. He also signaled his support for House Speaker Mike Johnson, calling him a tremendous guy and saying that he was with him all the way.

So a warm welcome from House Republicans. That's somewhat to be expected. But what about Trump's meeting with Biden? That was really something.

Yeah, it was surprisingly warm. Now, the media were only allowed in for the beginning of the Oval Office sit-down, but what we saw was pretty cordial. The two presidents set aside the fiery rhetoric that has characterized their relationship for years and, in fact, seemed downright friendly. Here they were exchanging pleasantries and committing to a smooth transfer of power. Well, Mr. President-elect and former president, Donald, congratulations. Thank you. And looking forward to having, like we said...

Smooth transition. Do everything we can to make sure you're accommodated, what you need. We're going to get a chance to talk about some of that today. Politics is tough.

And it's, in many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today, and I appreciate it very much. A transition that's so smooth, it'll be as smooth as it can get. After that exchange, the press pool began shouting questions at Trump and Biden, who laughed and cut each other a knowing look. All in all, it was probably the most pleasant interaction we've ever seen between these longtime political rivals. So all good between the two presidents, but that was not the case with the first ladies.

Yeah, that's right. Listeners may have noticed that Melania Trump did not accompany her husband to D.C. That's because she declined Jill Biden's invitation to the First Lady's Tea that traditionally accompanies these presidential handoff meetings. Sources say that Melania is still upset with the Bidens over the Mar-a-Lago raid, and that's why she refused to join Dr. Jill for tea.

So still some tension between the Trumps and Bidens. Now, last question. While Trump was making the rounds, Senate Republicans elected South Dakota Senator John Thune as their new leader. How is that going to affect Trump's agenda?

Well, obviously, it's a bit too early to tell, but signs suggest that Thune and Trump will work well together. He wasn't Trump World's first pick. That was Florida Senator Rick Scott, who dropped out after the first round of voting. Over the weekend, Thune said he would work with Trump to quickly confirm the president's nominees. But while Trump and Thune may work well together, it may also be the case that the newly minted majority leader occasionally pushes back on Trump.

Unlike Scott, who made it clear that his number one goal as majority leader would have been pushing through Trump's agenda, Thune is more of an old school institutionalist. So we shouldn't be surprised if Thune and Trump find themselves locking horns at some point over the next four years. Well, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Tim, thanks for reporting. Anytime.

Thank you.

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President-elect Donald Trump's latest cabinet picks include Florida Representative Matt Gaetz as Attorney General and U.S. Army veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Two of the most intriguing Trump selections thus far. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestishak. So let's start with Matt Gaetz as AG. That was just announced yesterday and sparked a lot of buzz. Tell us about that pick.

Yeah, this was really a bombshell pick, at least for the so-called establishment. First, a little background on Gates. He's a representative from Florida and a self-styled firebrand who's been one of the most vocal anti-establishment voices on Capitol Hill.

So somewhat of an outsider pick, and you can see that by the response from Democrats and legacy media who are really sounding the alarm over Gaetz. They tried to link this choice to their Trump retribution theme, suggesting Gaetz will be on the warpath against Trump's enemies. Gaetz was investigated by the DOJ over alleged sex trafficking crimes, but was never charged.

On the flip side, because of all of that, some conservatives view Gaetz as exactly the right fit, as someone who was wrongly victimized by the DOJ. Here's Matt Gaetz trading barbs with the current AG Merrick Garland during a hearing.

We do not control those offices. They make their own decisions. The question is whether you communicate with them, not whether you control them. Do you communicate with them and will you provide those communications? If you make a request, we'll refer it to our Office of Legislative Affairs. But see, here's the thing. You come in here and you lodge this attack that it's a conspiracy theory that there is coordinated lawfare against Trump. And then when we say, fine, just give us the documents, give us the correspondence, and then if it's a conspiracy theory, that will be evident.

So we can probably expect a pretty tense confirmation process. Yeah, it won't be boring. That's for sure. Now, another Trump pick that garnered a lot of attention was Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. What do we know about Hegseth?

Yeah, I mean, he's best known for co-hosting Fox & Friends weekends on Fox News, but Hegseth has quite an impressive resume. During his 20 years of military service, he's served in tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. He was awarded two Bronze Stars and earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge, along with other military awards. And he's still a member of the Minnesota National Guard's Inactive Ready Reserve.

Hexeth has degrees from the Ivy League, both Princeton and Harvard. He's also been active with helping veterans since leaving active duty. And he's written numerous books, including one on how woke ideology has infiltrated the military. That's a big concern for a lot of Americans right now.

Right. What has he said exactly on that issue? Hexeth has talked a lot about gender ideology, climate alarmism, and other so-called woke ideologies plaguing the military, which he says really started during the Obama years.

Along those same lines, Hexeth has said that most women should not be in combat roles. Women have historically stayed out of those positions until that was changed in 2015 under Obama. Men and women are just different. I'm okay with the idea that you maintain the standards where they are for everybody. And if there's some, you know, hard-charging female that meets that standard, great, cool, join the infantry battalion. But that is not what's happened. What has happened is the standards have lowered.

And overall, Hexeth has espoused views that do align with Trump's peace through strength and America first principles. While conservatives are obviously energized over this choice, there's been sort of a meltdown from Democrats and some in the defense industry over him. What's going on there? Yeah. Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren said,

A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense. CNN commentator Scott Jennings had some strong pushback against that sentiment. They want to have confidence in the current leadership of the Pentagon and the way the defense situation has been operating for the last several years. I mean, from the Afghanistan pullout, which was an extreme debacle for which no one was held accountable. We've had spy balloons flying over the United States. I'd say I've had just about enough.

of the so-called insiders running the Defense Department. I think we ought to give Pete Hicks that the chance. There was also another notable pick from Trump, and that's former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence. The former rep from Hawaii endorsed and campaigned for Trump this past election cycle. A lot of interesting picks here shaking up D.C. for sure. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome.

I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government. Trump made it official on Tuesday, announcing a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOJ, that will be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Here with more is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. So Megan, this was a big promise Trump made to voters. What do we know about the specifics?

Well, one thing we know is that the name is a wink to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, obviously Doge. But a little more seriously, Musk and Ramaswamy have been out giving interviews and they're providing a lot of indications of what exactly they hope to do with this new commission. I think first off, it's probably important to note that this will be a non-governmental advisory body because, of course, federal departments can only be created by congressional authorization. But that

could actually help keep it from becoming the very sort of bureaucracy it's been created to trim. We also know that it will focus on doing a deep study of government spending and size,

And then it will provide guidance to the White House's Office of Budget and Management on exactly where to cut. Now, that's key because that office assembles the president's budget request for Congress. And Trump has said that he's giving Musk and Ramaswamy carte blanche to recommend drastic change through large-scale structural reform and also a more entrepreneurial approach to government. Here's Musk.

I mean, there are more federal agencies than there are years since the establishment of the United States, which means that we've created more than one federal agency per year on average.

That seems a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot. We should have fewer agencies and they certainly shouldn't have overlapping responsibilities. Right now, Trump has set a target of July 4th, 2026 for Doge to offer its recommendation. And that, of course, is the 250th anniversary of America's founding. So have we ever seen anything like this before?

We have. Ronald Reagan did something similar in 1982 with something called the Grace Commission. That was a private sector survey targeting government waste. And Reagan actually said that it was intended to drain the swamp.

Some of its recommendations were adopted and later credited with helping to spur that Reagan economy. So no doubt Trump is hoping that Doge will do something similar. Ramaswamy has been out saying that he also hopes it will restore the American people's confidence that they're being governed by those they elected and not by unelected bureaucrats.

I mean, the regulatory state is like a wet blanket on the American economy. Most of it's unconstitutional. All we require is leadership with a spine to get in there and actually do what conservative presidents have maybe gestured towards and talked about but have not really effectuated ever in modern history.

Musk also posted on X that all of the actions of Doge will be posted online for maximum transparency, which will allow the American people to weigh in in real time with their priorities. He said if the public thinks they're cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, they'll be able to let him know. And he added that X will maintain a, quote, leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars that he expects will be both untapped

extremely tragic and extremely entertaining. And just important to reiterate, Musk and Vivek are just making suggestions. All changes will go through the legislature. Well, I've definitely seen a lot of excitement and also some hysteria about this. Megan, thanks for reporting. Anytime. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.

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