Gabbard Overhauls ODNI & Democrats Lose Ground | 8.21.25

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Tulsi Gabbard slashes the spy bureaucracy, saving taxpayers $700 million.

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

It's Thursday, August 21st, and this is Morningwire.

88 ayes, 52 nays.

House Bill 4 passes to engrossment.

Texas adds five GOP seats to Congress with its new redistricting map, but California is hitting back.

And Democrats are losing millions of registered voters nationwide.

What's causing the political exodus?

If you're the Dems and you're losing in every single state, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, that's a big problem for you.

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

Stay tuned with the news you need to know.

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced yesterday a massive overhaul of the intelligence community.

Here with more is Daily Wire reporter Amanda PrestiGiacomo.

So Amanda, Director Gabbard has been very busy this week.

We have to start with this announcement yesterday about overhauling her agency.

What did she say?

Yeah, Gabbard said that she's refocusing the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to aggressively execute its national security mission, and that's going to include shrinking the ODNI by nearly 50%,

a move that Gabbard says will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

We were able to get an inside look at these coming changes from Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan.

She was in the room for that announcement.

Olihan said Gabbard described the changes as ODNI 2.0.

She said this shift is the start of a new era, and that's going to focus on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, and ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.

And these changes are all happening very quickly.

ODNI will be reduced by almost 50% by the end of this fiscal year, and that will include a 30 to 40 percent reduction in personnel.

Agency employees were told yesterday about these changes and they found out if their position will be eliminated, which will take effect by September 30th.

Ultimately, DNI officials say these changes will save $700 million every year.

Senior ODNI officials also confirmed to Olihan that all of President Donald Trump's priorities are reflected in ODNI 2.0 and that it was created in accordance with the president's executive orders, and it was greenlit personally by Trump.

So some massive changes are coming very quickly, it sounds like.

Now, shifting gears a bit, Gabbard also announced this week that she stripped dozens of Intel officers of their security clearances.

What do we know about that?

Right.

Gabbard has revoked clearances from 37 current and former intelligence officials who she says have abused the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence or leaking classified intelligence without authorization, in addition to other violations.

As we recently covered here, Gabbard released information last month exposing what she called a treasonous conspiracy by the Obama administration to falsely claim Russia interfered in the 2016 election to undermine Trump's victory.

Basically, they cherry-picked or manipulated intelligence to push this narrative in favor of Clinton.

Now, of those 37 you mentioned, some of them are still working in the government.

Do you know if they're going to be terminated?

Yes, they will be terminated.

The memo said that all 37 individuals have lost access to classified classified systems and other materials effective immediately.

And any contracts or employment that those people currently have with the U.S.

government, those have been terminated.

Okay, now last Gabbard update.

She was able to get the UK to back down over some stipulations with Apple.

What exactly did she pull off there?

Yeah, so Gabbard announced this week that the UK has dropped its demand for Apple to provide a back door that would have allowed access to protected encrypted data of American citizens.

Gabbard has been working with Trump and VPJD Vance for months now, with our partners in the UK to get this deal locked, and she finally announced that on Monday.

She said that this move will ensure that Americans' private data remains private and that our constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected.

While Gabbard charging ahead with her priorities, Amanda, thanks for reporting.

You're welcome.

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The Texas House of Representatives passed a newly redistricted congressional map on Wednesday.

The map is designed to give Republicans an edge in five more House races and to help the GOP retain control of the House after midterm elections.

Here to talk about the map and the antics in and around the Texas Capitol this week is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce A.

Tim.

So how did things finally shake out yesterday in Texas?

Yeah, after Democrats ended their two-week walkout, Republicans are finally on the verge of getting their new map.

The vote was delayed late into Wednesday as lawmakers fought over various proposed amendments, but it doesn't have much further to go.

The Texas Senate actually passed it last week, and so all that's left is Governor Abbott's signature.

But there was quite a bit of chaos leading up to that vote.

Tell us about that.

Right.

It was quite an eventful week at the Texas state capitol.

Dozens of Democrats showed back up on Monday after they fled the state to break quorum and racked up hefty fines in the process.

After they returned, the House actually made each of them sign what was essentially an adult hall pass to leave the chamber again.

Each was assigned a Texas Department of of Public Safety officer to make sure they returned on time each day for each session.

In protest, a few lawmakers made a show of sleeping in the House chamber instead of accepting their chaperones.

Texas Democrats later posted a video of one of them, State Representative Nicole Collier, getting a call from former Vice President Kamal Harris.

In a moment in the history of our country where it is so lacking in those who should have it.

And you really are inspiring so many people.

And I just want you to know that you are among those who history will reveal to have been heroes of this moment.

So you just stay strong and do what you are doing.

Every day this week, protesters have crowded into the Capitol and the House gallery.

They've cheered for Democrats, taunted Republicans, but it's been all optics.

Except there was a scary moment this week on Tuesday when parts of the Capitol were evacuated over an active shooter threat.

According to the Department of Public Safety, an unidentified person on social media urged people to, quote, take action by shooting and killing those who will not allow lawmakers to leave.

That means presumably Republican lawmakers.

Yeah, I think it's clear who the target was in that threat.

Meanwhile, a pretty frightening moment at the Capitol.

Right.

And meanwhile, Democrats have continued to ratchet up their rhetoric over this.

Even on Wednesday, after that active shooter threat, they continued to frame this political fight as a threat to democracy.

Republican State Representative Brian Harrison hit Democrats over their antics on Wednesday morning.

I mean, these crocodile tears and bad, bad kabuki theater coming from the Democrats right now is just pathetic.

I mean, quite frankly, my fourth grader's production of strike last year had better acting.

These Democrats are pretending they don't like redrawing maps for partisan political purposes, but the reality is Democrat state after Democrat state has been doing this for decades.

Their dirty little secret is they're only objecting now because it's Republican states that are finally doing it.

Now, as far as redistricting in Texas goes, it's pretty much wrapped up, but expect similar scenes to play out this week in a few more states as Republicans and Democrats try to gain an edge ahead of midterms.

Republicans in California have already filed a lawsuit to stop Governor Newsom's ballot proposal to gerrymander that state's map.

And the White House is reportedly looking into a slate of GOP-controlled states to pick up a few more seats in as well.

But it looks like a busy season for congressional map makers ahead.

Tim, thanks for reporting.

Thanks for having me on.

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With midterms starting to loom large for both parties, new voter data shows alarming signs for Democrats.

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has the latest on Democratic efforts to regroup and rebound with elections fast approaching.

So, Cabot, Democrats have been in disarray since November of last year.

What are some of the trends that are concerning them most?

Well, they're worried right now, and for good reason.

Typically, the party out of power enjoys a surge in enthusiasm and popularity and is basically licking their chops at the chance for midterms.

But as we've discussed on this show, the party right now is really in turmoil.

With three separate polls showing their favorability ratings in the high 20s and low 30s, that is the worst mark on record.

For context, the Wall Street Journal found that nationwide, the GOP had a minus 11 net favorability rating.

Doesn't sound so great, but if you look at Democrats, they're at minus 30, minus 30 nationwide.

That same poll showed that some of the most common words that voters associated with the Democrats right now were woke, weak, and out of touch.

And even more concerning, that dip in popularity has coincided with a significant shift in party registration around the country.

Right.

So the New York Times just put out a dire warning for Democrats.

Looking at some of those numbers, what did they they find?

So they compiled the voter registration numbers from the 30 states around the country that track party affiliation.

And they found that from 2020 to 2024, Republicans added more voters than Democrats in every single state.

All 30.

Some of the largest gains for the GOP came in important battlegrounds like Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.

But we even saw big swings against Democrats in deep blue states like New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

The Democratic losses were most pronounced among men and young voters, but were noticeable among nearly every single age range and demographic.

All told, over the last four years, Republicans added 2.4 million new voters, where that same timeframe, Democrats lost 2.1 million.

We're talking about a 4.5 million vote swing.

In 2020, Democrats held an 11-point advantage in registered voters across those 30 states.

Today, that number is just 6%.

So their lead's been nearly cut in half in the last four years alone, and that trend is only continuing.

It's actually picked up in the last year.

So did the Times offer any diagnosis for what's causing the shift?

Yeah, there's a few reasons.

First, Republicans have dramatically increased the amount of money that they're pushing towards voter registration efforts.

And President Trump's gains with traditionally liberal voting blocks have also played a major role.

Democratic strategists say that typically they could set up registration drives in heavily minority or heavily working class neighborhoods and be confident that the people who signed up would sign on for Democrats.

But right now, more and more of those folks are aligning with the GOP.

Democrats are hoping that national backlash against Donald Trump will help fuel a comeback next year.

But the big problem for them is they can't seem to agree on just how to take him on.

So what are the different factions saying?

Well, the party's far-left base wants to go all in on stopping Trump at every single turn, but that strategy is less appealing to more moderate Dems who still support at least some of his policies.

The best example right now of that strategy divide is in California with Governor Gavin Newsom.

After the November election, he spent a few months embracing the more moderate approach, hosting conservatives on his podcast and denouncing far-left woke social policies that he had previously endorsed.

But in recent months, he has gone the exact opposite route, picking a fight with Trump wherever he can.

First, he attempted to block the president's mobilizing of the National Guard during those anti-Trump riots in Los Angeles and all across the state.

And now he's launched a social media account explicitly aimed at trolling the White House.

And also, it's important to note, mimicking President Trump's no-holds-barred attack style.

In recent days, he's posted Trump-like memes of himself being prayed over by Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock, and Hulk Hogan.

He's added photoshopped images of himself on Mount Rushmore, others of him wearing a crown sitting on a throne.

And of course, in Trumpian fashion, all caps insults directed at Republicans.

As Newsom put it, quote, I've changed.

The facts have changed.

Democrats need to change.

So he wants the party to go all in against Trump.

So no doubt he's gearing up for 2028.

Now, speaking of that race, Elon Musk is also switching up his strategy.

Tell us about that.

Yeah, this is really interesting.

So after his very public falling out with President Trump, Musk said that he would launch a third-party and financially backed candidates who were disillusioned with the two-party system.

But according to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday, Musk is now pumping the brakes on that plan, telling confidants that he's worried about alienating Republican leaders and saying that he wants to stay out of politics to focus on his many companies.

And importantly, he's reportedly looking to shore up relations with J.D.

Vance in particular, whom he and many others view as the heir apparent to Trump.

If that report is accurate, it'll be a major relief to Republicans and yet another gut punch to Democrats who were hoping that he was going to siphon off Republicans in the future.

So a lot of tailwinds for Republicans, but you know, midterms are always going to be hard for the party to charge.

Cabot, thanks for reporting.

Absolutely.

Thanks for waking up with us.

And if you're watching on YouTube, don't forget to like and subscribe.

We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.

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