The following is an edited excerpt from a Morning Wire Weekend Edition interview where Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley sat down with U.S. Navy retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. They discussed his recent trip to Taiwan, where he had meetings with senior officials, including the president and senior military leadership. Here are five key takeaways. * * * 1. America Is Taiwan’s Primary Key Ally First, they’re very appreciative of the United States. They understand the United States is their key ally and they make that very clear. No one else sells them weapons. No one else stands by them when they’re threatened by the Chinese. That doesn’t mean they don’t get some rhetorical support from the Australians or the Japanese on occasion or from European countries. But when it comes to ship movements, aircraft movements, it’s us. So number one, they get that. 2. Taiwan Will Increase Defense Spending — But Only Buys From America Number two, Taiwan understands that we expect them to spend more on their defense. So they’re taking their defense spending from about 2.5% this year to 3% next year. Then, I think, they’ll go to 4% and eventually 5%. The irony is, to get the spending up that high, they can only buy the weapons from us. We’re the only country who sells to them. 3. America’s Foreign Military Sales Program Is A “Dumpster Fire” I say this gently, our foreign military sales program is a dumpster fire. As a result, it takes seven years to get them javelin missiles; eight years to get them stinger, man-portable air missiles. These should take two, three years. So, part of the problem is U.S. foreign military sales and delivery. But the Taiwanese are going to do everything they can to get themselves to three, four, and eventually 5% [Defense spending] by the end of the Trump administration. So that’s a big deal.  4. It Could Take Nine Years For American Weapons To Arrive In Taiwan Our foreign military sales overseas are hampered by a bureaucratic process inside the Department of Defense and Department of State. They have to work together. They don’t do a great job. It’s also hampered by how we integrate with the weapons providers, like Raytheon or Lockheed Martin, and the back and forth with the host country. For example, we recently did a harpoon sale with Taiwan, an anti-ship cruise missile that’s really critical to the fight. The sale was locked and first approved in 2020. And I’d say the delivery is going to be completed by 2029, if we’re lucky. That should take two, three, four years max — not nine years. So, for military sales, we have a backed up docket with Taiwan alone of $12 billion – it was $18 billion just four years ago. This is way too much. Countries cannot rely on us for timely delivery of weapons if it takes five, seven, or nine years to get weapons. Annabelle Chih/Getty Images 5. Taiwan Must Prepare For Non-Military Attacks Taiwan really understands that, in addition to preparing for the most likely, most dangerous scenario of a cross-strait invasion, they also have to prepare for another most likely scenario  — China attacking their societal resilience, their financial systems, their communication systems, their energy systems with diplomatic, economic, cyber and influence operations, not military attacks. While the CCP would hope to break the societal resilience of Taiwan. Taiwan has to fight that. They need to make a lot of investments in that kind of domestic resilience. And then the United States can help as well. * * * Catch the full interview with retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery on Morning Wire.

Ashley Biden, daughter of former president Joe Biden, has filed for divorce from her husband of 13 years. The 44-year-old former first daughter filed the documents in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, per The Philadelphia Inquirer. Ashley married Dr. Howard Krein, a plastic surgeon, 13 years ago on June 2, 2012, while President Biden was serving as vice president under Barack Obama. She and Krein lived in Philadelphia and had no children. The outlet also noted that Ashley posted a photo of herself to her Instagram stories walking through a park while giving a thumbs up with the Beyoncé song “Freedom” playing in the background. She also reportedly posted the quote, “New life, new beginnings means new boundaries. New ways of being that won’t look or sound like they did before,” to the social media site with Lauryn Hill’s “Freedom Time” playing as the featured song. Ashley and Krein began dating in the summer of 2010 after meeting through Beau Biden, one of her older half-brothers who died from brain cancer in 2015. Ashley and Krein were married at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church, in Greenville, Delaware, and hosted a reception for 200 people at her family’s home. As the activist and social worker recounted at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, “I had my wedding reception in my parents’ backyard. At the time, my dad was vice president, but he was also that dad who literally set up the entire reception. He was riding around in his John Deere 4-wheeler, fixing the place settings, arranging the plants, and by the way, he was very emotional.” Besides speaking at the DNC, Ashley has remained mostly out of the spotlight during her father’s public career – but she did go viral in 2020 after pages from her private journal were published in the run-up to the presidential election. Pages from the first daughter’s diary, including one talking about being “hyper-sexualized” at a young age and “showers w/ my dad (probably not appropriate),” were published by a website called National File. At the time, Ashley claimed that she was targeted because her father had been running for president, and the publicity the diary had drawn led her to be “constantly re-traumatized by it.” She also said: “Repeatedly, I hear others grossly misinterpret my once-private writings and lob false accusations that defame my character and those of the people I love.” This was far from the only drama in the Biden family. Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau, became romantically involved with Hunter Biden and said she was “ashamed” to have become addicted to crack in 2018 after Hunter introduced her to it. “I found it [crack] and Googled it because I didn’t know what it was,” Hallie said during Hunter’s gun trial in 2024. “He told me what it was, crack cocaine.” “It was a terrible experience I went through and I’m embarrassed and I’m ashamed,” Hallie said. “I regret that time of my life.”

Fox News’ late-night host Greg Gutfeld provided a massive ratings boost for Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” with his recent appearance. The “Gutfeld!” host’s episode drew 1.7 million viewers, Fox News Digital reported. His appearance marks a 57% increase in viewership, up from the show’s year-to-date average of 1.1 million viewers. The other guests to appear on the night of Gutfeld’s appearance were the Jonas Brothers. Gutfeld also boosted ratings in the 25–54 demographic with 294,000 viewers, a 13% increase from the show’s average, according to Fox News. The YouTube video of Gutfeld’s appearance has almost one million views as of Tuesday afternoon. The video of the Jonas Brothers, which was posted around the same time, has just over 138,000 views. During his appearance, Gutfeld described his first meeting with Fallon in an illegal speakeasy owned by a mutual friend. Gutfeld said Fallon didn’t remember the meeting because both hosts “were wasted.” “It looks like a place where special ops forces waterboard terrorists,” Gutfeld said. Gutfeld described getting tackled by Fallon, who also stole the Fox host’s cigarettes. Fallon returned a few minutes later with a new pack. “I go, ‘That’s really sweet, you want me to die,'” Gutfeld said. The “Tonight Show” ratings boost comes as CBS announced the cancellation of “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert. “This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” the network said in a statement. “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” One report claimed the show lost between $40 million and $50 million per year, prompting a profanity-laced tirade from Colbert, The Daily Wire previously reported. President and CEO of CBS, George Cheeks, did not specify how much money the show lost, but he confirmed that it was a “significant” amount in the “tens of millions of dollars,” The Daily Wire reported. While many similar programs are losing viewership, “Gutfeld!” continues to be the highest-rated late-night show, consistently beating competitors from ABC, CBS, and NBC, Fox News reported.

'Relentlessly pursue and arrest every violent criminal'

'terrorist organization'

Anti-sweat activism

News the Bobiverse Bobiverse Adaptation in the Works at Lord Miller Productions Bobs are legion, and they may be heading to a screen near you. By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on August 12, 2025 Credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons Dennis E. Taylor’s Bobiverse book series, which starts with the novel, We Are Legion, We Are Bob, has been optioned by Lord Miller Productions: the production company from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller that gave us Cocaine Bear and is behind the upcoming adaptation of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary as well as the live-action Spider-Noir series starring Nicolas Cage. Lord and Miller are also the creators and directors of films like The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The news came out at a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where Lord Miller Productions’ president Aditya Sood shared the news. It’s not yet clear what the adaptation will look like. Live-action or animated? Feature or television series? Whatever form the end product takes will likely be of great interest to Bobiverse fans. Here’s the premise of the first book, for those who aren’t familiar: Bob Johansson had a plan. After selling his software business, a leisurely retirement awaited him. And, if the cryogenic lab freezing his head succeeds, an even longer retirement in the distant future when his corpsicle gets reawakened. Everything was looking up for Bob. That is, until he’s killed crossing the street just moments after signing the papers.A century later, Bob wakes up, not in a utopia but an Earth on the precipice of war. America is run by an extremist government that stripped his rights as a frozen head, uploaded his consciousness into an AI, and selected him to search space for habitable planets as a self-replicating Von Neumann probe. It’s not ideal, but if he declines, he’ll be switched off for good.With Earth in turmoil, space may actually be the safest place for Bob. But the government failed to mention that he isn’t alone… at least three other countries are looking to claim the next Earth, and they play dirty. Using his new abilities and the Von Neuman technology he does what any engineer would do: He makes more Bobs—and a virtual cat—and sets out to save humanity before it’s too late. And for those wanting to delve into the Bobiverse while we wait for updates from Lord Miller Productions, Saga Press is also publishing hardcover editions of the books (pictured below) starting with We Are Legion, We Are Bob coming out on October 7, 2025. [end-mark] The post <i>Bobiverse</i> Adaptation in the Works at Lord Miller Productions appeared first on Reactor.

When President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would be federalizing the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department and sending in the National Guard to combat crime in the nation’s capital, it prompted perhaps predictable denunciations from elected Democrats.  “The administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful. There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in D.C. reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year. We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement posted on the social media platform X.  After the president seized control of DC Police, an unprecedented action, and deployed the DC National Guard without DC's consent, Sen. @ChrisVanHollen & I announced we'll introduce our bills to permanently prevent either from happening again. Statement: https://t.co/6jXhGpkwTN pic.twitter.com/2BRxHWFxE7— Eleanor #DCStatehood Holmes Norton (@EleanorNorton) August 11, 2025 In an executive order declaring a crime emergency in the federal district, Trump said, “The city government’s failure to maintain public order and safety has had a dire impact on the Federal Government’s ability to operate efficiently to address the Nation’s broader interests without fear of our workers being subjected to rampant violence.” The order further noted that “the District of Columbia now has a higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rate than all 50 States, recording a homicide rate in 2024 of 27.54 per 100,000 residents,” as well as having the highest vehicle theft rate in the United States.  According to The Washington Examiner, about 800 National Guard troops are expected to be sent to the District, although only about 100 to 200 will be deployed at any particular time. Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the several thousand officers and staff in the Metropolitan Police Department, while Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole will take on the role of interim police commissioner. “He was just getting warmed up in Los Angeles. He will gaslight his way into militarizing any city he wants in America. This is what dictators do,” Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in an X post.  Zack Smith, a senior legal fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, disputed Newsom’s assertion that Trump was acting like a dictator. “I think it’s important to focus on the District’s unique status. The Framers of our Constitution always envisioned that the federal government would ultimately retain control over the Federal District. In fact, if you go back and look at the history, the entire reason we have a separate federal capital city, run by the federal government, is because state and local officials would not take action to protect members of the Continental Congress,” Smith told The Daily Signal  Congress does need to change the law. But the DC Attorney General could also refer some juveniles for adult prosecution. He's categorically pledged not to do that no matter how heinous their crimes. ?https://t.co/SWsStOjWJf https://t.co/dLLQg82ZpU— Zack Smith (@tzsmith) August 11, 2025 “You know, that’s when a group of disgruntled soldiers tried to storm the Continental Congress essentially threatened them because of back-pay issues, members of Congress had to sneak out of Philadelphia in the middle of the night, and that left a very indelible image in the minds of the Framers of the Constitution, and they wanted to be sure that nothing like that would ever happen again, that they wanted to make sure that federal officials would not have to depend on state and local officials to provide for the safety and security of those who may visit our nation’s capital, those who may come to our nation’s capital to conduct the business of our nation. And so President Trump is exactly right to prioritize the safety and security of those who live, work, and visit our nation’s capital,” the legal scholar explained.  When asked what the president could do with his time in charge of the D.C. police to have a long-term impact, Smith pointed to staffing up the law enforcement force.  “[O]ne of the major issues that’s occurred over the past several years is the historic staffing crisis that the Metropolitan Police Department has faced,” Smith noted. “[S]ome estimates say that it may take a decade or more for MPD to get back up to an appropriate staffing level. And so that’s why getting more bodies in the fight, more boots on the ground, is so very important, and why that is one of the most effective things that the president can do, right out of the gate,” he explained. Smith also emphasized that Congress would need to act to keep control of the MPD under Trump after 30 days.  The post DC Federalization Fallout: Democrats Spar With Trump appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Donald Trump will work with Congress next month to build on his decision to federalize the Washington, D.C., police. Before Trump invoked the Home Rule Act to federalize the Washington, D.C., Metropolitgan Police Department, he floated using Congress to revoke the 1970s-era law that delegated authority over the nation’s capital to local officials. “The president is very much still interested in working with Congress to address many of the issues that have plagued Washington, D.C.,” Karoline Leavitt told The Daily Signal on Tuesday. She named D.C.’s cashless bail policy, “which has been a complete disaster for the city” and juvenile delinquency as two issues Congress can address. I asked @PressSec if @POTUS is still interested in ending the Home Rule Act, the law he used to federalize the DC police. ?"The president is very much still interested in working with Congress to address many of the issues that have plagued Washington DC, such as the cashless… pic.twitter.com/QYMGRyL7T9— Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell (@TheElizMitchell) August 12, 2025 Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced a bill to revoke the Home Rule Act. The Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident, or BOWSER Act—named after Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser—would effectively abolish D.C.’s local government and give authority back to Congress. Lee has been talking to the president and his team frequently about improving the situation in the District, The Daily Signal has learned. After the August recess, Lee intends to push for congressional action to further support the president’s agenda for the city, as well as revoke the Home Rule Act, a source familiar with the matter said. Leavitt told The Daily Signal that the president is looking forward to “having these conversations with our friends on Capitol Hill” after the recess, “so we can work with them to make D.C. safe and beautiful again.” “And again, we encourage Democrats to join us in this effort,” she said. Leavitt suggested Democrats might have higher approval ratings if they joined Republicans in making Washington, D.C., safe again. “I saw a new poll today: Democrat approval rating is at an all-time low, 32%,” she said. “If they could just stand by the basic notion of law and order, perhaps they would see that tick up a bit, and we welcome them to do that.” The post Trump to Build on DC Police Takeover Next Month, Leavitt Says appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A decisive pushback against one of the most dangerous threats to American energy is underway. This comes as state attorneys general across the nation continue to scrutinize activist environmental groups that cripple U.S. energy, undermine markets, and threaten our national security. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that his office is officially probing the “climate cartel,” CDP (formerly the Climate Disclosure Project) and the Science Based Targets initiative, for possible violations of the state’s consumer-protection and antitrust laws. Subpoenas have been issued to both entities to assess whether they’re coercing American companies into paying for environmental disclosures and net-zero pledges under a veneer of transparency, while consolidating market power and extracting profit from those pledges. According to the press release, Uthmeier’s investigation focuses on CDP’s model of charging companies to disclose and revise climate data, and the Science Based Targets initiative’s role validating these pledges and funneling that information back into CDP’s scoring system. The investigation will examine deceptive trade practices, whether coordination between CDP, the Science Based Targets initiative, and the financial sector amounts to market manipulation, and whether companies that decline participation are punished, an anticompetitive scheme that Florida refuses to accept. “Radical climate activists have hijacked corporate governance and weaponized it against the free market,” Uthmeier stated. “Florida will not sit back while international pressure groups shake down American companies to fund their [Environmental, Social, and Governance] grift.” This move complements recent actions in Kansas, where Attorney General Kris Kobach urged the U.S. Department of Justice to open a federal probe into the China-backed Energy Foundation China over its suspected role in financing radical climate lawsuits targeting fossil fuel producers. The global energy race is playing out right now, and China is surging ahead. While U.S. firms battle climate litigation, foreign ESG pressure, and activist mandates, China is adding massive grid capacity, largely dependent on coal, and locking in long-term energy dominance, all while quietly funding the rules that hamper its competitors. Against this backdrop, the unraveling of ESG’s favorite instrument, the Science Based Targets initiative, is striking. Shell, Aker BP, and Enbridge recently walked away from the Science Based Targets initiative, refusing to halt development of “new oil and gas fields” by the end of 2027. These investigations must be backed up with broader reform: Federal and state policies should prohibit taxpayer dollars or government contracts from going to entities that participate in foreign-funded ESG or environmental scoring systems. Companies forced to conform to these climate cartels should be disqualified from subsidies, procurement, or pension-related investing. This legal pressure is now being matched by financial oversight. In a powerful show of unity, 21 state financial officers issued a warning to the heads of JPMorgan, BlackRock, and other financial institutions to stop using ESG metrics that discriminate against American energy producers. The letters follow a report Will Hild of Consumers’ Research and I released exposing how BlackRock continues to take action against fossil fuel companies despite claiming otherwise. Together with the attorneys general investigations, this marks a turning point in the effort to roll back the climate cartel’s influence over American business. American energy and commerce must not bow to foreign influence masquerading as ethical capital. It’s long past time to call out these global pressure networks and demand accountability. Whether via deceptive trade practices, antitrust violations, or covert influence, if laws are being broken, the perpetrators should face consequences. This wave of state leadership is more than ideological; it’s strategic. U.S. energy independence hinges on a legal environment that rewards performance, not posturing. Financial transparency should protect investors, not exploit producers. Corporate governance should empower boards to innovate, not impose tedious pledges that undermine realities. Florida’s attorney general is using “every tool of the law to stop the Climate Cartel from exploiting businesses and misleading consumers,” a bold statement of state sovereignty and consumer protection. Kansas is exposing foreign-funded litigation vendettas. If we sustain that momentum, we can reclaim our economic agency and restore objective, accountable energy policy.  These actions by Uthmeier and Kobach, and the demands from state financial officers, are necessary steps in an ongoing battle. These are investigative, not symbolic. Now comes the enforcement: subpoenas, court summonses, legislative reforms. The goal must be to dismantle the cartel’s influence and reassert free enterprise. We face a global energy power play. If U.S. climate law becomes a tool of foreign influence, America loses. If ESG schemes become mandatory for access to capital, innovation stagnates, grid reliability weakens, and consumers lose. Florida and Kansas are showing how to use law, not slogans, to expose the modern climate cartel. Let’s follow their lead, demand accountability, and defend American energy dominance. American energy dominance isn’t just an ideal—it’s a necessity. And it’s time we protected it accordingly. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post The Foreign Attack on U.S. Energy: Exposing the Climate Cartel’s War on American Energy appeared first on The Daily Signal.