Trump’s Economy Roars & ICE Seeks Recruits | 7.31.25

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The U.S.

economy comes roaring back in the second quarter, but the Fed is holding steady on interest rates.

We have a lot of money coming in, and we have no inflation.

And we should, and we're very strong, and we should be lowering the rate.

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley.

It's Thursday, July 31st, and this is Morning Wire.

Trump's EPA radically revises the rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and energy producers are cheering.

There are people who then, in the name of climate change, are willing to banker of the country.

And flush with cash from the big, beautiful bill, ICE launches a massive recruitment campaign.

Thousands of agents are already wanting to come back from the Borb Chow and from ICE

without a signing bonds.

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

Stay tuned.

We have the news you need to know.

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As the world prepares for President Trump's tariff deadline, new data shows the U.S.

economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace last quarter.

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has more.

So, Cabot, some very encouraging news on the economy.

What did we learn?

Yeah, so throughout this quarter, we've seen inflation continue to defy expectations, coming in well below what economists have projected.

And now, Trump is getting another piece of good news on the economic front.

On Wednesday, the Commerce Department announced that the U.S.

GDP grew annually by 3% last quarter.

That was well above the 2.3% economists had predicted, and a significant turnaround from Q1, when the GDP actually shrank by half a percent over fears of Trump's new tariffs.

The latest report seems to indicate, though, that American businesses have not taken nearly the hit that economists and experts had predicted when Trump launched his trade reset.

Here's National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett reacting to the good news yesterday.

It's really one of the best GDP announcements or releases that you could imagine because there's blockbuster growth way above expectation, and there's also a real, real, almost collapse in inflation.

And it's worth noting, it's not just the GDP growth that has the White House excited.

Consumer spending also went up nearly a percent and a half, while consumer confidence also increased last month after falling significantly back in April.

That seems to be yet more proof that consumers themselves are not nearly as worried about these tariffs as they were back in the spring.

Now, all of this comes amid the Fed meeting to discuss cutting rates.

Do we know what they're planning to do?

Yeah, after meeting all day Tuesday and into Wednesday, the Fed, as expected, chose not to cut interest rates, holding their benchmark number in the 4.25 to 4.5 range.

This now marks the fifth straight meeting where they have held interest rates steady, despite very public pleas from President Trump.

Here's Chair Jerome Powell announcing his decision and what went into it.

Despite heightened uncertainty, the economy is still in a solid position.

The unemployment rate remains low, and the labor market is at or near maximum employment.

Inflation has come down a great deal, but has been running somewhat above our 2% longer-run objective.

In support of our goals, today the Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave our policy interest rate unchanged.

The risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation appear to have risen, and we believe that the current stance of monetary policy leaves us well positioned to respond in a timely way to potential economic developments.

And one interesting nugget here, again, it's not just Trump who is disagreeing with Powell's strategy.

In a rare example of dissent within Fed leadership, we saw Fed Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman each cast votes in favor of cuts, so going against Powell.

That is the first time since 1993 where multiple Fed governors dissented with the Fed chair on a vote like this.

Now, you touched on Trump's frustration that they were holding these rates steady.

What's his reaction been?

Well, historically, the Fed lowers interest rates when inflation is low, but despite month after month where inflation has come in below expectations and under 3%,

they've refused to cut them.

Powell is urging patience, saying that he wants to see more proof that Trump's tariffs will not drive inflation higher.

But President Trump is convinced that his decision ultimately comes down to politics and that he's trying to hurt the economy.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump wrote, quote, second quarter GDP just out, 3%,

way better than expected.

Too late, that's the nickname he gave Powell, must now lower the rate.

No inflation, let people buy and refinance their homes.

And here he is elaborating on the topic from the White House yesterday.

What you do is you lower them and let's see if there's inflation.

Right now, there's no inflation.

We're keeping the rates high and it's hurting people from buying houses.

So we don't want that.

And as you heard there, the president also mentioned the housing market, which, as we've talked about on the show, has been sluggish all year, in large part due to those interest rates remaining high.

At that point, New Daddy yesterday showed that pending home sales fell by nearly 8% in June.

The projection was that they would actually go up by 0.2%.

Overall, home sales are now at their lowest pace in nine months, which is especially concerning given that the spring and summer months are typically the hottest time of the year for the housing market.

The White House certainly hoping that rates will come down and that home buyers waiting on the sidelines will jump into the market.

Well, I know a lot of people who are waiting for those rates to come down to buy a home.

Cabot, thanks for reporting.

Absolutely.

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The Trump administration has taken aim at the EPA's endangerment finding, what Scientific American has called the legal backbone of U.S.

climate policy.

Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the latest on the Trump administration's environmental agenda.

Hey, Tim.

So the EPA proposed to repeal the endangerment finding this week.

First, what is an endangerment finding?

Yeah, the endangerment finding is a 2009 determination from the EPA that basically says the Clean Air Act can be extended to justify regulation of not just noxious pollutants, but also common natural gases like carbon dioxide and methane.

It dates back to a 2007 Supreme Court decision that mandated the EPA control gases that are found to endanger human health.

So in light of that ruling, the Obama administration found that greenhouse gases contribute to climate change and climate change endangers human health.

So therefore, the EPA has a mandate to regulate them.

Now, many critics said at the time that that was a big stretch of the Clean Air Act, but the Supreme Court had given the agency the green light to do it.

As for why it matters now, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin spoke about that on the Ruthless Podcast earlier this week.

So they created this endangerment finding, and then they're able to put all these regulations on vehicles.

Repealing it will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America.

The scope of the regulatory authority under the endangerment finding is massive.

Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are found pretty much everywhere in nature.

And there's a key distinction between them and the toxic pollutants the Clean Air Act was designed to address.

A Department of Energy report released this week makes that clear.

It says pollutants are regulated because they cause, quote, local problems depending on concentrations that include nuisances such as odor invisibility, damage to plants, and at high enough exposure levels, toxicological effects in humans.

By contrast, CO2 is odorless, does not affect visibility, and has no toxicological effects at ambient levels.

In other words, it doesn't make you sick.

As you said, major distinctions there and really sweeping powers given to the EPA through this interpretation of the law.

Now, the question here is: how permanent are these changes?

Can this be undone by another administration?

Probably not, thanks to a few Supreme Court decisions.

Zeldin addressed that in an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday.

There's going to be a lot of hyperbole, scare tactics, extreme rhetoric that will come from climate zealots.

Here's the thing: the Supreme Court ruled in Loperbright and overturning the Chevron Doctrine in West Virginia versus EPA, Michigan versus EPA, and other cases that an agency like EPA can't just decide on our own that we are going to get creative with law.

And where there's a vacuum and missing language, we're just going to make it up ourselves.

We're not going to ignore the major policy doctrine.

We're not going to go along with applying extreme economic pain on Americans who can least afford it.

Point being, the legal landscape has changed a lot since the endangerment finding was put into place in 2009.

And there's good reason to think that it may be found unconstitutional today.

And it just highlights once again how important Trump's Trump's nominees for the Supreme Court have been, really changing the court altogether.

Now, Trump outlined a new approach to energy while he was in Scotland this week.

Unpack that for us.

Yeah, the president devised a simple test, and the test happens to rule out wind energy.

Here he is.

And in all fairness, Germany tried it, and

wind doesn't work.

You need subsidy for wind, and energy should not need subsidy.

With energy, you make money.

You don't lose money.

He also said that the United States would not build a single additional wind turbine while he's in office.

So no room for wind energy in his energy dominance agenda.

It appears Trump is not a fan of wind energy, to say the least, a lot more focused on fossil fuels and nuclear.

Tim, thanks so much for reporting.

Good to be on.

The Department of Homeland Security is launching a big campaign to recruit new ICE agents, as well as new attorneys to process immigration cases.

The push is coming right after the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, which secured billions in new funding for ICE.

Here to discuss is Daily Wire investigative reporter Spencer Lindquist.

So Spencer, tell us about this push to hire more ICE agents.

Sure thing.

So the Department of Homeland Security unveiled a new website this week and encourages Americans to, quote, choose your mission and apply for one of three roles, deportation officer, criminal investigator, or general attorney.

The site slams the Biden administration's record on immigration and reaffirms President Trump's support for members of law enforcement.

The site reads, quote, your country is calling upon you to serve.

Due to the prior prior administration's disastrous immigration policies, the men and women of ICE now face unprecedented challenges.

And it goes on to say, the Trump administration is fully committed to supporting the dedicated law enforcement professionals who secure our borders, shield our communities, and protect our national security.

The administration also released promotional materials, including pictures of President Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, and an ICE agent with the words, defend the homeland and join ICE.

Trisha McLaughlin, McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security Assistance Secretary, also issued a call for Americans to join ICE in a post on X, which read, terrorists, pedophiles, MS-13 gang members, murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, human traffickers.

We need you to get them out.

And so far, there is at least one early indication that the recruiting push could end up paying off.

Borders are Tom Homan said in an appearance on Newsmax that he had to shut down his LinkedIn account because so many people were reaching out about how to become an ICE agent.

We had thousands of people contacting me.

Their recruiting officers swamped.

They got more people than they can handle.

Now, this big recruiting push is coming right after the Big Beautiful bill was passed.

What was it in that legislation that set the stage for all of this?

So arguably one of the most notable portions of the Big Beautiful bill was the massive increase in funding that it secures for ICE.

More than $165 billion is allocated to the Department of Homeland Security over the next several years, and much of that is specifically earmarked for ICE.

About $75 billion will go to ICE on top of its existing annual budget of roughly $10 billion per year.

And of that sum, $30 billion will be allocated for the hiring and training of new ICE agents, as well as the retention of those who take the job.

The bill also funds drastically increased detention space for illegal aliens, and proponents of the legislation said that it was critical in ICE's attempt to deport its target of 1 million illegal aliens per year.

And it also paved the way for lucrative sign-on bonuses for new agents.

Certain agents can receive a maximum of $50,000 in sign-on bonuses.

Now, you also spoke to DHS Secretary Christy Noam yesterday.

What did she say?

That's right.

We published a report detailing many of the operations across the country that ICE and its partners, like Homeland Security Investigations, have been running to counter human trafficking, smuggling operations, and sexual abuse.

Noam told me that the brave men and women of DHS are the best in the world at going after traffickers and that they are always able to track down those who are trafficking individuals, find the ringleaders, and rip that evil off by its head.

Her report also detailed a number of different operations, including one bust of a human smuggling ring that brought people into the U.S.

through Canada, and another that resulted in the arrest and conviction of a human smuggler who is transporting 101 people, including 12 children inside a locked trailer.

Well, we'll see if this recruitment push pays off.

Spencer, thanks for reporting.

Thank you for having me.

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