Morning Wire
Aides Admit Biden’s Decline & Auburn Basketball Coach | Afternoon Update | 4.4.25
Fri, 4 Apr 2025
Robust job growth signals a strong economy, Biden aides come clean on President’s decline, and Auburn basketball coach joins us to talk Final four and Israel hostages. Developing stories you need to know just in time for your drive home. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.Acorns: Join over 14 million all-time customers who have already saved and invested. Visit https://acorns.com/wire or download the Acorns app to get started.Old Glory Bank: Go to https://oldglorybank.com/wire today to open your account and put your money in the hands of people you can ACTUALLY trust.
Chapter 1: What are the headlines for April 4th, 2025?
Robust job growth signals a strong economy. Biden aides come clean on the president's decline. And Auburn's basketball coach talks Final Four and Israeli hostages. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Friday, April 4th, and this is your Morning Wire Afternoon Update.
Chapter 2: How is the U.S. job market performing?
The U.S. added 228,000 jobs in March, far surpassing expectations and beating February's numbers by more than 100,000. The robust job growth signals strength in the labor market despite growing economic uncertainty. But the unemployment rate did tick up to 4.2 percent. Also, Wall Street took a hit Thursday with major indexes posting their worst drops since 2020.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of Trump's new tariffs?
That comes amid uncertainty over President Trump's tariffs. Meanwhile, China will impose a 34% tariff on all U.S. imports starting April 10th. The move mirrors the 34% levy announced by Trump earlier this week and adds to existing duties already in place. Beijing also introduced export controls on key rare earth elements and filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization.
Trump's new tariffs will have a massive effect on Timu and Xi'an shoppers. The president has ended the loophole that allows individuals to directly receive orders from the Chinese online retailers as long as they're less than $800. The new executive order places a 30% tax on those items or $25 per item.
The change could spell the end of discount retailers like Xi'an and Timu who have been taking advantage of the de minimis loophole. The order takes effect on June 1st.
Chapter 4: What do Biden aides reveal about his presidency?
Joe Biden was increasingly confused and fatigued while president. Those admissions are now coming out in two new books by Biden aides. Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has the details.
The books describe the former president as increasingly confused and fatigued during his final year in office as White House staffers continue to conceal that decline. One of the more startling claims says that Biden thought of himself more as the president of NATO than the United States.
Staffers also used fluorescent tape on the carpet to try to guide Biden at events, and they struggled to keep him focused ahead of that fateful debate with Donald Trump last summer. Former Chief of Staff Ron Klain said that Biden appeared out of touch and exhausted, raising private concerns among top Democrats.
The debate performance set off alarm bells within the party and eventually led to Biden's withdrawal from the race in July.
Chapter 5: What is Hungary's position on Netanyahu and the ICC?
Hungary rolled out the red carpet for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and announced its withdrawal from an international group. Daily Wire reporter Cassie Akiva has the details.
Hungary says it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court just hours after welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Budapest. The ICC issued an international arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November, accusing him of war crimes. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban ignored its legal obligation to detain Netanyahu and instead greeted him with full honors at Buda Castle.
The move makes Hungary the first European member to announce plans to leave the court. Officials say the withdrawal process will follow legal protocols but could take up to a year to finalize. The ICC confirmed Hungary remains obligated to cooperate until its exit is complete.
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YouTube is stepping up its short-form social media game as TikTok faces a possible U.S. ban. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has the story.
The company announced new editing tools for shorts on Thursday, including AI stickers, beat-synced cuts, and a revamped editor to give creators more control. The updates come just days before TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance faces a deadline to sell its U.S. operations or risks being banned.
YouTube also changed how shorts views are counted, now including replays with no minimum watch time, bringing it in line with TikTok and Instagram Reels. The new features will roll out later this spring.
Get ready to fight for overhead bin space. Southwest Airlines is ditching its beloved bags fly free policy after more than 50 years, with new fees for checked luggage kicking in May 28th. Executives say carry-on bag volume could surge by 30%, forcing a five-fold increase in gate checks and risking delays.
The move comes as the airline cuts 1,750 jobs and looks for new revenue under pressure from Wall Street.
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