Democrats openly criticize party leadership, the U.S. strikes several Houthi targets in Yemen, and two astronauts stranded on the ISS for months prepare for their journey home. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.Lumen: Head to http://lumen.me/WIRE for 20% off your purchase.Shopify: Go to https://Shopify.com/morningwire to sign up for your $1 per month trial period and upgrade your selling today.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: Why are Democrats criticizing their party leadership?
Democrats openly revolt against their party leadership after they joined the GOP in keeping the government funded.
The fact that the leader said one thing and then within 24 hours didn't about face it, it just looked pathetic.
What does this mean for the future of the Democratic Party?
Chapter 2: What actions has the U.S. taken against the Houthis?
I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, March 17th, and this is Morning Wire. The U.S. military strikes several Houthi military targets in Yemen as Trump's foreign policy makes waves around the world.
By the way, to the Houthis, this isn't a one-night thing. This will continue until you say, we're done shooting at ships, we're done shooting at assets.
And thanks to SpaceX, two astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station for months are finally coming home.
Chapter 3: How are astronauts returning from the ISS?
Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned, we have the news you need to know.
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Chapter 4: What caused the government funding crisis in Congress?
Over the weekend, Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown after a stunning turn that saw Democrat leaders give in to Republican demands.
Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here to break down the fallout from the very public power struggle and what it means for the future of the Democratic Party. Hey, Cabot. So a wild weekend in Washington. Democrats really reeling here. Get us up to speed.
Yeah, the lights are still on in Washington as the shutdown was avoided, but not without plenty of drama and infighting. So you'll remember that on Friday, Republicans were trying to push their seven-month funding stopgap through the Senate. They had until midnight, but could only win passage if eight Democrats got on board. Pennsylvania's John Fetterman was the first.
And then Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who had been slamming that deal all month, reversed course and called on his members to vote yes. And ultimately, seven other Democrats did join him, including New York's Kristen Gillibrand, Dick Durbin from Illinois, and Michigan's Gary Peters. A very dramatic reversal for Schumer and others. What changed their mind? Well, there was a lot at play.
First, if the measure had failed, Democrats would have gotten the lion's share of the blame for the shutdown, something even their party leaders acknowledged behind closed doors. Schumer and the others who voted yes argued that during a potential shutdown, President Trump would be given even more authority to slash federal spending and potentially federal workers.
Here's Schumer making that case from the Senate floor.
A shutdown will allow Doge to shift into overdrive. It would give Donald Trump and Doge the keys to the city, state, and country.
But the bottom line is this was a substantial victory for Republicans and President Trump. It showed the GOP is almost totally aligned in pushing through Trump's agenda. And perhaps more importantly, it highlighted some of the major fractures within the Democratic Party, specifically with regard to how they're going to respond to the next four years under Trump.
Yeah, the question for Democrats. Now, the fallout from this has been rather remarkable. Tell us about that, what we've seen from Democrats in the wake of this spending bill saga.
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Chapter 5: How is the Democratic Party responding to internal divisions?
Let's just say Chuck Schumer is not a very popular man on the left right now. He's had an iron grip on the chamber for years. And in the past, if Democrats were mad at him, they mostly kept it to themselves, fearing recriminations. But this weekend was very different. Democrats in both chambers publicly slammed him and the other Democrats who got on board with him.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for example, said Schumer's effort, quote, only makes matters worse. And in perhaps the most remarkable example, Schumer's counterpart in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, all but threw Schumer under the bus, issuing a statement saying, quote, House Democrats will not be complicit. We remain strongly opposed to the partisan spending bill.
And most telling, Jeffries went on to refuse comment multiple times when asked if he was confident in Schumer's ability to lead.
It's time for new leadership in the Senate.
Next question.
Have you lost confidence in him? The fact that you guys see this so differently.
Next question. And for her part, Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Schumer's move a, quote, tremendous mistake and almost unthinkable.
I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal. And this is not just about progressive Democrats. This is across the board, the entire party. It is a huge slap in the face.
Now, according to numerous reports, there are now a number of Democrats on the Hill pushing behind the scenes for Schumer to be primaried. And some Democrats have reportedly been urging Ocasio-Cortez to make a run for Schumer's seat in 2028. One anonymous senator told CNN their colleagues are, quote, so mad they're ready to write checks for AOC. So AOC benefiting from this blowout.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of recent polling for the Democratic Party?
Yeah, really a serious dilemma for the Democrats at this point. Kevin, thanks so much for reporting. Anytime. Anytime.
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From Yemen to Ukraine, it was a big weekend for the Trump administration's policies overseas.
Here with the foreign policy latest is Daily Wire deputy managing editor Tim Rice. Hey, Tim, so lots to get to that took place over the last 72 hours or so, including these strikes in Yemen.
Catch us up here. Yeah, good morning, John. We've got a pretty full plate for a Monday morning. Let's start with probably the biggest news of the weekend, President Trump's announcement that the United States has launched a strike on Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen, killing at least 19. The U.S. military attacked by air and sea, destroying missiles, drones and missile defense systems.
The immediate purpose of the attack was to open the shipping lanes in the Red Sea, which the Houthis have obstructed for months now. But the strike was also clearly meant to send a signal to Iran that the Trump administration is taking a more aggressive approach to the region.
Trump named the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization at the end of his first term, a distinction Joe Biden later reversed. Trump touched on this changing dynamic on Saturday, saying that Biden's attempt to clear the Red Sea was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going.
The president also issued a warning to Iran, saying support for the Houthi terrorists must end immediately.
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Chapter 7: How can entrepreneurs use Shopify to boost their business?
They will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. We hope they do so, that we give it up peaceably through negotiations. The president has laid out the trajectory for that because the alternative doesn't look good for anybody.
All right, switching gears to Ukraine. We're coming off a pretty big week with the Ukrainians agreeing to a temporary ceasefire. What's the latest on that front?
Yet Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to speak this week for the second time since Trump took office in January. As you mentioned, this is a pretty high-stakes call because last week Ukraine agreed to a temporary ceasefire, and that ceasefire will take effect once Putin also agrees. But as always, we won't know what Putin's going to do until after he does it.
However, things seem to be moving in a positive direction. Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy, met with Putin late last week and told CNN's Jake Tapper that the meeting was positive and solutions-based.
We had some really positive results coming out of Saudi Arabia. I describe my conversation with President Putin as equally positive. So we've narrowed the differences between them. And now we're sitting at the table. I was with the president all day yesterday. I'll be with him today. We're sitting with him discussing how to narrow it even further. That's how I would describe it.
So it sounds like some positive momentum going into this week's meeting between Trump and Putin. Last question before we let you go. We reported on the announcement Friday that the last U.S. citizen held hostage by Hamas may be released. What's the latest there?
Right, there's still a lot going on behind the scenes and nothing is solid, but as we reported, Hamas agreed to release Eden Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American who spent most of his life in New Jersey. The terror group also said it would release the bodies of four other Americans who died in captivity.
Alexander's release is welcome news, of course, but it's being met with a lot of skepticism from the United States. This is part of ongoing talks about a bridge to the next phase of the ceasefire in Gaza. And the key here is that the U.S. says Hamas is trying to tie these promises to a list of unreasonable demands. So the whole situation remains very tenuous.
All right. Well, let's hope there's more progress in the days to come. Tim, thanks so much for reporting. You bet. A SpaceX capsule docked at the International Space Station early Sunday morning. The ship took off from Florida on Friday on a mission to relieve two American astronauts who have been stuck in orbit for nine months.
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