Former President Trump holds a massive rally in the Deep Blue Bronx.

But it's not like they say, not everybody dislikes him. We love him here. We're glad he showed up.

I think it's a good thing for the neighborhood. We all deserve to be here, whether we are from the left side or right side, it doesn't matter. And plus, we need, how you call it, a little bit of VIP attention.

With Trump gaining the vote of a former rival in his campaign enjoying a surge in fundraising, is the GOP coalescing behind the former President. I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Friday, May 24th, and this is Morning Wire. From California dreaming to California declining, how did the Golden State go from a massive budget surplus to just as massive a deficit? I would stop short of describing it as a crisis. I think it's It's a pretty serious budget problem. You'll need more money this Memorial Day. Gas, travel, even your backyard barbecue is going to cost you more. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wires. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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As President Biden continues to struggle in the polls, Ohio election officials say he could be excluded from their ballot this November. The news comes as Donald Trump held a big rally in the Bronx and is bringing in big money. Here with more is Daily Wire's Senior Editor, Kabbit Phillips. Hey, Kabbit. So let's start with the Republican side, where Trump generated a lot of buzz in the Bronx yesterday. What are we seeing with his campaign?

Yeah, the Trump campaign is definitely riding a wave of momentum this week with poll after poll showing them up in every battleground state. And they say they've not got their sights set on reliably Democrats strongholds like Virginia, Minnesota, and New Hampshire. To that point, Trump held that massive rally in Deep Blue, New York, yesterday, speaking in the Bronx to thousands of supporters.

The simple fact is Joe Biden is not getting the job done for the Bronx. He's not getting the job done for New York, and he's not getting the job done for America. I will get the job done as I did for four years, and I will get it done fast. Remember this, if a New Yorker can't save this country, no one can.

No one can.

It doesn't matter whether you're black or brown or white or whatever the hell color you are. It doesn't matter. We are all Americans, and we're going to pull together as Americans.

Now, Trump also got some significant news this week on the fundraising front, correct?

Yes, he did. This week, we learned that the Trump campaign and Republican Party hauled in a massive $76 million in April. That's compared to Biden and the Democrats who brought in 51 million. Now, the White House was quick to downplay the discrepancy, pointing to their record-breaking $192 million war chest. But it's worth noting that's the same exact number they had at the end of last month, meaning they're spending money as fast as it's coming in.

Some rather unexpected good news for Trump came from a former rival, Nikki Haley, who now says she will vote for him. Tell us about that.

Yeah, Nikki Haley dropped out of the primary in March after focusing much of her campaign, warning Republicans of the supposed danger posed by Donald Trump, who she said was unfit for office. But despite that harsh and oftentimes personal criticism against her former boss, when asked this week by the Hudson Institute who she planned to vote for in November, Haley had this to say.

Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I've made that clear many, many times. But Biden has been a catastrophe. So I will be voting for Trump.

Now, importantly, you'll notice there that she did stop short of telling her supporters to vote for Trump, instead of urging her former opponent to win them over himself, saying, Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me and not assume that they're just going to be with him. So for their part, the Biden campaign jumped on Haley's comments, clearly seeing a window to try and win over disaffected moderates in the party. Just hours after announcement, Biden officials held a call with top Haley supporters, making the case that the best way to stop Trump is by voting for Biden. Sort of an enemy of my enemy argument.

But what did the numbers tell us about who those Haley supporters will ultimately vote for come November?

Well, over the last two months, since Haley dropped out, a significant number of her supporters have still turned out to vote for her as a protest to Trump. Since he became the last candidate standing, Trump has won 81 of the primary vote. Now, many on the left say that's proof the GOP base is fractured. But if you look at historical context, the numbers tell a different story. That 81% is actually the highest support for a non-incumbent running unopposed since George H. W. Bush back in '92. It's higher than Biden back in '20, Romney in '12, and better even than Trump's first campaign in 2016 when he got 74% of the vote after everyone else dropped out. You could argue the GOP base is more unified right now than at any point in decades. Now, many Republicans say Haley supporters were mostly Democrats anyway and are not indicative of the GOP base more broadly. There are numbers that back that up. A CNN poll found that Haley primary voters went for Biden by 16 points back in 2020. But this year, those same voters have swung the other way, and now break to Trump by around four points.

So again, momentum for Trump there. Now, this all comes amid questions over whether President Biden will even be on the ballot in one key state, correct? You're right.

A strange legal tie up here. So this week, election officials in Ohio are warning that Biden will not appear on the ballot this November unless the Democratic Party expedites their filing process. Ohio law states that in order to appear on the ballot, parties must certify their candidate 90 days before election day. But the problem is the Democratic National Convention where Biden will officially become the nominee is not until August 19th, just 75 days before the election. According to Ohio Secretary of State, the only solution is for the state legislature to change the law and revise that deadline, but both chambers are controlled by Republicans. Americans who are not likely to do any favors for the Biden campaign. Now, the White House is reportedly considering suing Ohio to get Biden on the ballot, but it's unclear if that would succeed in time. For his part, Republican governor Mike DeWine said the state will make sure Biden gets on the ballot. If not by the legislature, then by the court. Regardless, though, a fascinating legal battle to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.

That certainly is. Kevin, thanks for reporting.

Anytime.

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California is facing a record budget deficit, leading Governor Gavin Newsom to look for deep cuts in a number of programs. The beneficiaries of these state funds are outraged. Here with more is Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham. Hey, Megan. So California is obviously the biggest state economy in the US, fifth largest in the world, in fact. First, just how much of a shortfall is California facing here?

Oh, man, just massive. So at least $45 billion, though some economists have pegged it closer to 73 billion. Now, that's not the largest deficit California has ever seen as a percentage of spending, but it is the largest in the state's history when it comes to actual dollars. It's especially noteworthy because only two years ago, California had a $100 billion surplus.

$45 billion or $73 billion. Either way, that's quite a deep hole to dig out of. What do analysts believe caused this?

Well, like so many things these days, it depends on which side of the political aisle you're talking to. But Stanford's Hoover Institution, which is a conservative think tank, chalks it up to gross fiscal mismanagement. They point out that just about 18 months ago, California was flush with cash thanks to COVID-19 payments from the federal government and revenues from some of the highest tax rates in the country. We have to keep in mind that California has a lot of high earners, and many of them pay well over a million dollars a year in state income taxes. But That COVID money dried up, and some of those high earners packed their bags for lower-tax states. So California's population has shrunk by around 472,000 people in the last three years. Yet, the Hoover Institution points out that Newsom continued to go on a spending spree.

And what exactly was he spending on?

A lot of new initiatives. He launched a new policy to provide free health insurance to all low-income adults, even if they were illegal immigrants. He spent nearly 54 billion in programs intended to address climate change, 24 billion in new spending went to homelessness programs, though a state audit found that a lot of that money now can't be accounted for. In fact, homelessness has gotten worse in the state. So all told, California is currently spending around 23,000 in public benefits per household. But Newsom says not his fault. When asked about the deficit during a press conference about a week ago, he pointed to, among other things, the weather.

We anticipated that shortfall. What we didn't anticipate is these rain bombs in December, January, February, and March, these atmospheric rivers that led to a federal declaration that led to the IRS moving in a direction where we couldn't collect our taxes until, I believe, November 16th, as opposed to April 15th. And so therein lied this blackout period that beguiled all of us.

So what is Newsom doing to address this massive shortfall?

Well, he's looking to put the brakes on new spending and cut fat in any number of existing programs. So he's proposed cutting 600 million from the active transportation program, 95 million by no longer paying for home health care workers to care for disabled immigrants, 550 million to build new facilities for his free expanded kindergarten program. All told, those proposed cuts add up to almost 34 billion over two But even still, that's only about half of the projected deficits. But all of this has set up something of a turf war between the special interest groups that normally back Newsom but are pretty angry about these cuts. So the transportation department, the teachers unions, the homelessness programs, they all say he needs to look elsewhere to cover the budget gap. In particular, they want him to raise taxes. Newsom, however, for right now, is saying he's not willing to do that.

Or Organizations are rarely happy about losing funding. Megan, thanks for reporting.

Anytime.

Your Memorial Day cookout will be more expensive this year, thanks to inflation. Cookout ingredients like burgers and guns and Gas prices are all up this year compared to last year. Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Alorty is here with the details. Mairead, how much is this year's cookout going to cost us?

Hi, John. Well, unfortunately, it's looking like groceries for the average Memorial Day cookout are about 10% more expensive this year. That's according to data from data assembly. For example, a cookout that would have cost 27.39 last year is going to cost you 30.18 this year. Some items are driving up the price more than others. Relish saw a nearly 50% spike for some reason. Relish that cost 3.14 last year is now 4.67. Other favorite condiments like ketchup and mustard jumped about 10 cents each. Burger meat jumped over 14%, so a pack of burgers that cost you 704 last year is going to run you 807 now. If a family wants to spend slightly more in grilled steaks, they'll be looking at a 7% price jump compared to last year. That's according to the federal government's consumer price index. If they want to enjoy a few cold ones, they'll find that beer is 10% more expensive than last year. Inflation has been spiking since the spring of 2021 when pandemic restrictions began to ease. This has, of course, hiked prices for basic necessities like groceries and gas, putting pressure on families to make ends meet, and driving up cost of the traditional summer cookout.

What about other costs associated with summer holidays like Memorial Day weekend? Is travel more expensive, too?

Yes. So both travel and entertainment like sports games have gotten more expensive, too. Tickets for sporting events jumped 15% since last year. Gasoline, car expenses, and plane travel are all up. Compared to three years ago, plane tickets cost 24% more and gas costs 28% more on average. And of course, inflation is at the top of many Americans' minds as the election cycle heats up. About 41% say it's the biggest financial issue facing their families. That's according to a Gallup poll last month. Back in 2020, only 3% said that.

An issue that continues to dog Biden this go-around. Mariah, thanks for reporting.

Thanks, John.

Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.

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