Tensions between Russia and the US rise as Trump and Putin escalate their war of words, NPR follows Harvard in suing the Trump administration in order to retain public funding, and MAHA has set its sights on regulating pesticides, but it’s causing a rift among Republicans. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.Chevron: Visit Chevron.com/America to discover more.Shopify: Go to https://Shopify.com/morningwire to sign up for your $1 per month trial period and upgrade your selling today.
Chapter 1: What are the latest tensions between the US and Russia?
The U.S. reinforces Europe's northern front as Russia ramps up its assault on Ukraine.
Right now, there is zero leverage, strategic leverage that the United States has over Russia. It's because we have been sleeping at the wheel.
I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, May 28th, and this is Morning Wire.
Chapter 2: What is NPR's lawsuit against the Trump administration about?
NPR joins Harvard in suing the Trump administration in an attempt to cling to their taxpayer funding.
Shutting off that work does not help the country, even as it punishes Harvard. And it is hard to see the link between that and, say, anti-Semitism.
And everyone wants to regulate pesticides, so why is the issue causing a rift within the GOP?
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The war of words between Donald Trump and Moscow escalated Tuesday as the president considers major sanctions against Russia.
Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has more on the growing tensions. Hey, Cabot, so major escalation, pretty precarious situation with the U.S. and Russia right now. Catch us up to speed.
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Chapter 3: How is the Trump administration's action affecting Harvard?
Now, this is playing out very much in parallel with the administration showdown with NPR. Recently, Trump moved to block their taxpayer funding as well, and now they're suing to retain those funds. Can you give us the latest on that front?
Yeah, so NPR, along with three Colorado public radio stations, filed a lawsuit yesterday in federal court in Washington, D.C., and they're also challenging President Trump's May 1st executive order to cut off all federal funding to NPR and PBS, and that totals about $500 million annually.
So this lawsuit argues that the order violates the First Amendment's protections of free speech and of the press. NPR CEO Catherine Marr called it retaliatory viewpoint-based discrimination. And she's accusing the administration of punishing NPR for its coverage. But the White House argues that taxpayer money should not flow to politically biased news outlets.
Now, do we have any sense of how likely these suits are to succeed? Well, you know, on Harvard and the foreign students, it looks like it's going to depend on whether the administration can reframe these issues as disputes about national security or fiscal policy. If they manage that and they can get into a conservative-leaning appellate court, then they have a decent chance.
For NPR, if the courts decide that the defunding is a legitimate exercise of executive power, discretion over federal spending, then they win.
Well, and just something to keep in mind, Harvard has the largest endowment, I think, of any university in the world. So they're not exactly hurting for cash. Megan, thanks for reporting. My pleasure. At both the federal and state level, there's a looming battle within the GOP over potential regulations on pesticides.
Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo. Hey, Amanda. First, why don't you set the stage for us here? Why are pesticides causing a rift in the GOP?
Hey, John. Yeah, some in the Republican Party say that they're worried about farmers in their districts who rely on pesticides like glyphosate, which has caught the eye of HHS. And there have been reports that there are concerns from within the White House that abrupt regulatory action on these chemicals could trigger supply chain issues.
Now, on the other side of this, you have some Republicans and this Maha coalition of activists who want to see pesticides that have been banned in other countries to be banned here as well. Or at the least, there are some GOP representatives who are currently fighting off efforts in their states to shield pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits over apparent harms they cause, including even cancer.
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Chapter 5: How are Republicans divided over pesticide regulation?
Top Kennedy advisor Callie Means, for example, earlier this month, he said that while HHS will state the truth about pesticides, he said the department has no desire for nanny state regulatory measures on these chemicals. Here's Means at an Axios event.
It is a fact that we ingest 25% of the world's pesticides in the United States, and many of our leading pesticides have been, other countries across the world have chosen to phase them out or ban them, calling them carcinogenic and disruptive to kids. The policy solutions from this are not obvious. Pesticides are deeply ingrained into the U.S.
agriculture system, and it would be a disaster to phase them out tomorrow. Nobody's suggesting that.
Means added that HHS would love to help harness the private sector to help combat this issue.
All right, so real hesitance about any sweeping measures there. What about the state level? What are we seeing there?
So the big fight here is over pesticide manufacturer Bayer. That's a German-based company that acquired Monsanto in 2018. There's legislation in more than a dozen states right now to shield Bayer from forthcoming legal action over its failure to warn about potential harms associated with its products, specifically Roundup, which contains glyphosate.
I spoke to Missouri Republican lawmaker Nick Schroer, who's fighting efforts to shield Bayer in his state.
I think it's atrocious to believe that any company, any company in America or anywhere should get any form of blanket immunity for the products that they're putting in the stream of commerce. I think the Seventh Amendment guarantees our access to the courts.
Schroer told me that there are almost 200,000 lawsuits that have been filed nationwide over Roundup, allegedly causing different diseases, cancers, and even deaths. In his state, Republicans are split on passing a bill to shield Bayer. Schroer told me that that divide has a lot to do with lobbying efforts.
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