Transcript

Anti-ICE Protests Grow & Storm Response Scrutiny

From Morning Wire · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 15 min · 2,838 words · 40 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Anti-ICE Protests Grow & Storm Response Scrutiny", an episode of Morning Wire published February 3, 2026 (15 min, about 2,838 words). It mentions 13 people, works and ideas, including Daily Wire (company), Georgia How, Tim Pierce, Winterstorm Fern, John Bickley.

What this episode is about

Anti-ICE protests are intensifying across the nation, pressuring businesses to take a stand on immigration issues amid a planned House vote to reopen the government. Concurrently, criticism is mounting over inadequate responses to winter storm Fern, as thousands are left without power and frustrations highlight deeper systemic failures.

Key takeaways

  • Protests push businesses to choose sides, revealing the complicated relationship between capitalism and activism in America.
  • Target's silent stance on ICE is a strategic gamble; today’s pressures could reshape tomorrow's corporate policies.
  • Irony alert: Anti-ICE activists and ICE leadership both agree—cooperation could minimize confrontations in public spaces.
  • Award shows are not just about talent; they're becoming political platforms, igniting debates beyond entertainment.
  • When protein bars read like a science experiment, it's time to rethink your snacking strategy for real gains.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 3:00: Daily Wire (company), Georgia How, John Bickley, Tim Pierce
  2. – 6:00: Tom Hman, Tim Pierce, Billy Isish, Michael Fiddlekey
  3. – 9:00: Good Ranchers
  4. – 12:00: Daily Wire (company), Reese Witherspoon
  5. – 14:57: Freddy Oonnell, Daily Wire (company), Terresa Boles Applin

Notable quotes from "Anti-ICE Protests Grow & Storm Response Scrutiny"

  • I'm Georgia How with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Tuesday, February 3rd, and this is Morning Wire.
    about Georgia How · at
  • Our sponsor, Equip, is all about making healthy habits simple and sustainable. Each bar boasts 20 grams of clean protein and just 11 ingredients, including collagen, beef,.
    about Equip · at
  • Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the latest in the anti-ICE campaign. So Tim, we've seen these kind of pressure tactics before where advertisers are pressured to cut ties.
    about Tim Pierce · at
  • New CEO, Michael Fiddlekey, who officially stepped into the top job on Sunday. Now, the activist's approach seems to contrast pretty starkly with Tom Hman's. He arrived in…
    about Tom Hman · at
  • Mine and yours for generations. And that's exactly why I'm a Good Rancher subscriber. Our sponsor, Good Ranchers, is the only meat company I found that's 100% committed to…
    about Good Ranchers · at
  • The response to the crippling power outages from Wintertorm Fern has frustrated many communities across the country, including here in the Nashville area. It's been more than a week and.
    about Winterstorm Fern · at
  • Frustrated and being like where is a leadership in the city when so many people without power. There was a big difference in how Mayor Okonnell responded to the ICE enforcement…
    about Freddy Oonnell · at
  • Thanks for waking up with us. And for those listening to the show, you can also now watch the show free on Daily Wire Plus. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.
    about Daily Wire (company) · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Georgia How — Person · Host · 2 mentions · first at
    Introduces the show and co-anchors the episode alongside Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley.
  • Tim Pierce — Person · Referenced reporter / Segment guest · 2 mentions · first at
    Daily Wire reporter brought on to explain the expanding anti-ICE protest campaign and related business/celebrity reactions.
  • John Bickley — Person · Co-host · 2 mentions · first at
    Identified on-air as Daily Wire executive editor and co-hosts the episode with Georgia How.
    I'm Georgia How with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Tuesday, February 3rd, and this is Morning Wire.
  • Tom Hman — Person · Referenced government official · 2 mentions · first at
    Discussed as operating in Minneapolis with a low profile, aiming to set up cooperation on immigration enforcement; contrasted with activists' tactics.
  • Freddy Oonnell — Person · Referenced public official · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as Nashville mayor criticized for slow/insufficient response to Winter Storm Fern power outages.
  • Terresa Boles Applin — Person · Referenced utility executive · 1 mention · first at
    Identified as NES CEO and criticized for prioritizing tree canopy preservation over trimming near power lines, contributing to outage delays.
    It was kind of a twofold. First, you had the NES CEO Terresa Boles Applin. She focused this past summer on saving Nashville's tree canopy. Instead of trimming back those trees that were clearly too close to power lines. So.
  • Michael Fiddlekey — Person · Referenced executive · 1 mention · first at
    Named as Target's new CEO (per transcript) and singled out by activists demanding Target condemn ICE.
    Target seems to be the main mark for demonstrators right now. Over the weekend, similar to the protests that stormed into city's church, dozens of activists marched through Targets all.
  • Billy Isish — Person · Referenced celebrity speaker · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as making an anti-ICE statement at the Grammys and then receiving backlash online for perceived hypocrisy.
    Winners frequently made anti- ice statements to a lot of loud applause from the audience. Here's what that sounded like from Billy Isish.
  • Reese Witherspoon — Person · Referenced celebrity · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as one of the celebrities speaking out about Nashville Electric Services' lack of urgency after Winter Storm Fern outages.
    With how Nashville's handled this. You had celebrities including Reese Witherspoon, John Ridge speaking out about the lack of urgency it seemed that Nashville Electric Services…

Companies & orgs

  • Daily Wire (company) — Company · Host · 4 mentions · first at
    The company hosting the podcast and providing the news content

Places & events

  • Winterstorm Fern — Event · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Major weather event causing widespread power outages and frustration

Sponsors

  • Good Ranchers — Company · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    Sponsor of the podcast, promoting their meat subscription service
  • Equip — Company · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at
    Sponsor of the podcast, promoting their Prime Bar product

Full transcript with timestamps

Anti-ICE agitators ratchet up the pressure on businesses to pick a side as protests continue to expand across the country.

We'll be back. We'll be back. I'm Georgia How with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Tuesday, February 3rd, and this is Morning Wire.

The House plans to vote on reopening the government today, hoping to minimize any damage.

We'll demonstrate that and we'll push forward our priorities on uh the the integrity of election. We're going to get this job done, get government reopened.

And in the aftermath of winter storm Fern, frustration grows as thousands of Americans remain in the dark.

The amount of unpreparedness runs pretty deep. It's convenient to blame it on NES because they're the most visible, but it goes way deeper than that.

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

If you're trying to hit your protein goals in 2026, you might want to actually read a protein bar label. Most often, it's like reading a candy bar full of chemicals you can't pronounce and then leaving you bloated and unsatisfied. Bars with whey and processed junk that just don't work. That's why we're into Equip's Prime Bar. Our sponsor, Equip, is all about making healthy habits simple and sustainable. Each bar boasts 20 grams of clean protein and just 11 ingredients, including collagen, beef, tallow, colostrum, dates, and honey. Plus, they have fantastic flavors like chocolate and peanut butter and mixed berry. I've been taking these bars everywhere. It's such a convenient way to not only hit my goals, but also satisfy the sweet tooth craving I didn't know I had while keeping me on track. Starting today, our listeners will receive an exclusive discount on Prime Bar, which has become our team's favorite protein bar on the

market with 20 grams of protein in every bar. Go to equipfoods.com/wire and use code wire at checkout to get 25% off onetime purchases or 40% off your first subscription order for a limited time. That's eqipfoods.com/wire and use code wire at checkout. The anti-CE protest campaign is growing with left-wing activists now putting pressure on businesses to denounce ICE.

Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the latest in the anti-ICE campaign. So Tim, we've seen these kind of pressure tactics before where advertisers are pressured to cut ties with right-wing creators. What kind of pressure are businesses now feeling with regards to federal law enforcement? Yeah, businesses that don't even have ties to ICE are under pressure to take an explicit stance against the agency. Target seems to be the main mark for demonstrators right now. Over the weekend, similar to the protests that stormed into city's church, dozens of activists marched through Targets all over Minneapolis. Here's what some of that sounded like from front lines TPUSA.

People don't get it. IF WE DON'T GET IT, SHUT IT DOWN. NOW, Target hasn't made any sort of show of support for ICE or commented one way or the other. So, what do these protesters want them to do?

They wanted to get on the anti-ICE bandwagon. They want the company to publicly condemn ICE and ban agents from conducting operations on Target property or even entering stores. Activists even went to Target headquarters in Minneapolis on Monday and called out its new CEO, Michael Fiddlekey, who officially stepped into the top job on Sunday. Now, the activist's approach seems to contrast pretty starkly with Tom Hman's. He arrived in Minneapolis last week, but has kept a pretty low profile this whole time. Do we have any sense of what progress he's made?

Yeah, he hasn't been out in public much, and he said that that's because the kind of progress he is looking for is easier when it's done out of the public eye. He did give a press conference late last week, though, and sounded optimistic. Here's some of that. This administration is absolutely focused on identifying removal aliens that pose a public safety threat and national security threats. You can't fix problems if you don't have discussions.

I will note a bit of irony here is that the anti-ICE activists and Tom Hman may actually be on the same page regarding target. The Borders's message since the early days of last year has been that if state and local officials don't help the federal government enforce immigration law for dangerous illegal aliens, then agents will be forced to go into places like Target to conduct its business. That kind of invasive action by ICE is much less necessary if local law enforcement cooperate. And that appears to be the kind of partnership Homeman is attempting to set up in Minneapolis.

Now, shifting gears a bit, ICE was a major theme at the Grammys on Sunday night. And now some of the artists who made speeches are getting some backlash. What happened there?

Right. As is typical for these awards shows, the vast majority of the stars affirmed the politics of the far-left and ICE was the main punching bag on Sunday night. A lot of stars were wearing special ice out gear and award winners frequently made anti- ice statements to a lot of loud applause from the audience. Here's what that sounded like from Billy Isish.

No one is illegal on stolen land. Yeah, it's just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now. And I just I feel really hopeful in this room and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting and our our voices really do matter and the people matter and um I say sorry. Now, if you're not watching the video and can't read lips, is during that brief pause in the audio said something that sounds like duck ice. Of course, is took heat online for her comments with plenty of users on X pointing out that she doesn't appear too eager to turn over her $2.3 million horse ranch in Glendale over to any dispossessed owners of that land anytime soon.

Tim, thanks for reporting. Good to be on. This year, America turns 250. And while everyone's going to be talking about the country and its big accomplishments, I also want to talk about the people here at home who don't get enough credit. American Ranchers. These are the folks who've been feeding families like mine and yours for generations. And that's exactly why I'm a Good Rancher subscriber. Our sponsor, Good Ranchers, is the only meat company I found that's 100% committed to America at every single step. And with every order, they donate a portion of their profits to paralyzed veterans of America.

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American meat delivered. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been frantically working to end the government shutdown before its effects start to really be felt.

Joining us now with the latest is DailyWire political reporter Cameron Arcan. Morning Cameron. So let's start with the president. He waited into the shutdown yesterday to try to prevent hiccups in the House. What did he say?

So the president said no changes to the spending bill as it stands right now. As we saw over the weekend, the government did shut down, but the Senate was able to pass spending bills per an agreement between the White House and Chuck Schumer, basically saying, "Hey, we're going to separate Homeland Security funding. We're going to pass a shortterm solution to fund that department while we work out some possible restrictions onto immigration reforce enforcement. But for now, he's telling the House, we don't want anything added. We want to get the government back open." So, here's some of what the president said in a true social post. He said there can be no changes at this time, saying he's working hard with Speaker Mike Johnson on this right now. Obviously, we could see an end to the shutdown today. But these situations can be very, very fluid. The goal for the president is he wants this to get out of the House

without it going back to the Senate. So that way the government can reopen and they can go back to these homeland security negotiations.

All right. So, some real pressure now from the president to get this thing passed without further headaches. Obviously, this all started over a split on the funding for the Department of Homeland Security. You mentioned that. What can we expect with that debate going forward?

So, something that's really critical with this is a continuing resolution, if passed, as it stands right now, would go until February 13th. A lot of lawmakers aren't too keen on whether or not that's going to be enough time. Meanwhile, you have people like Chuck Schumer have a whole laundry list of reforms they want to see to federal immigration enforcement. For example, a pivot from a lot of administrative warrants, less of a process, to judicial warrants for immigration arrests, which could really make it a lot more difficult for immigration authorities to get the numbers that they're seeking in some of the arrests that they're wanting to get as well. So, obviously on the safety end though, Christine Gnome did announce that um officers that are in Minneapolis are going to start wearing body cameras.

We could also potentially see some other compromise changes as this goes down. We'll end up seeing what actually comes out of these talks maybe in a couple weeks. Now, I know some Republicans were pushing for the SAVE Act to be included in this spending package. What is that legislation? Remind us and what comes next for it? So, the SAVE Act was a piece of legislation that some members of the House wanted to be included into the spending package as it stands right now, which would have sent it back to the Senate. Now, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen because you did see the House already passed the Save Act.

Instead, you have a bunch of lawmakers now calling on Mitch McConnell to get that out of his committee independently and to the Senate for a floor vote and then to the president. Now, what that act actually does is it's called documentary proof of citizenship. And what that means is when you go and register to vote, you have to instead of just checking a box, actually prove that you are a citizen of the United States. Now, you have people like Schumer, as we mentioned, saying that this is like a Jim Crow era relic, right? But this has already been a law in a few states already. We've seen this already in practice. This would just take that policy nationwide. So, what comes next?

What should we expect today and the coming days in this process? So the hope is that the government shutdown will end today. Obviously, you know, when it comes to Congress, things can change very rapidly, but the goal at least to the president is to, you know, the House gets this out and it gets to his desk. Keep in mind, the House already voted to back these spending bills last month before we saw some of the action in Minneapolis, which resulted in that Senate deal. So, already a lot of movement to begin with here. and we had a government shutdown last year. So, not a great look to keep this dragging on really for either party at this point.

Right. Both parties motivated to get this thing moving forward. Cameron, thank you so much for reporting.

Thank you. The response to the crippling power outages from Wintertorm Fern has frustrated many communities across the country, including here in the Nashville area. It's been more than a week and more than 20,000 residents are still without power in the Music City. It's a situation declared unacceptable.

Daily Wire reporter Lyndon Blake joins us to explain the holdup. So, Lyndon, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me. Now, as one of the many residents who lost power for a week, what was the holdup in Nashville? So, you were one of many people that have had frustrations with how Nashville's handled this. You had celebrities including Reese Witherspoon, John Ridge speaking out about the lack of urgency it seemed that Nashville Electric Services had. So the holdup really came down to a lack of preparation and now Nashville Mayor Freddy Oonnell is calling it unacceptable. So here's what went wrong. It was kind of a twofold. First, you had the NES CEO Terresa Boles Applin. She focused this past summer on saving Nashville's tree canopy. Instead of trimming back those trees that were clearly too close to power lines. So then when you have a natural disaster like we had with Wintertorm Fern, you have a lot of these trees on top of the power lines and you can't get to the power lines until you get rid of the

trees. So there was a lack of enough people to come get those trees off the power lines. Here's Davis Hunt, the editor-inchief of the Nashville Pam Fletier with more.

The added difficulty they've had is they didn't have enough vegetation workers. So a lineman goes in and repairs the line, but you typically have vegetation workers go in and clear out the tree so the linemen can work. And so there's kind of two concurrent bottlenecks happening there. Lack of vegetation workers and lack of alignment.

So again, NES CEO her comments about trying to save Nashville's trees came back to the forefront with all the trees that fell during the storm on top of the power lines.

Now, as a resident here, it wasn't just that the branches came down. It was also that we didn't really hear anything from leadership. So what has the mayor said?

Yeah. Well, the mayor has finally spoken up. It took a little while for him to which led to more people being frustrated and being like where is a leadership in the city when so many people without power. There was a big difference in how Mayor Okonnell responded to the ICE enforcement that happened last year in Nashville and how he responded to this year's ICE storm.

You have the ICE raids, the ICE immigration enforcement operation that happened on May 4th in Nashville. That was a Sunday. By the following Monday, the next day, May 5th, Mayor Okonnell had put together the belonging fund in partnership with a local nonprofit which was designed to route resources to people affected by uh the immigration enforcement operation. Right. By in contrast, after the storm hit Sunday night, Okonnell took five whole days to get together the winter storm recovery fund. They just didn't take the storm seriously or the threat of the storm seriously. And I grew up here. So if you grew up here, you have the memory of the 1994 storm. People still talk about it yearly. Anytime it snows. So there is still this reminder of that and how bad that was.

To put this in perspective, when Nashville started out with 100 linemen on standby, you had Duke Energy in Charlotte, North Carolina on standby for Wintertorm Fern with at least 18,000 linemen. That to me was like, whoa. That just shows one state that was ready to go to work and one state that was already operating behind the ball. Well, this was a major test for Mayor Freddy Oonnell and for a lot of us, it was a failure. Linton, thanks for reporting. Thanks.

Thanks for waking up with us. And for those listening to the show, you can also now watch the show free on Daily Wire Plus. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Anti-ICE Protests Grow & Storm Response Scrutiny"?

Georgia How (Host), John Bickley (Host), Tim Pierce (Guest), Cameron Arcan (Guest), Lyndon Blake (Guest), Freddy Oonnell (Guest), Tom Hman (Guest).

What is "Anti-ICE Protests Grow & Storm Response Scrutiny" about?

Anti-ICE protests are intensifying across the nation, pressuring businesses to take a stand on immigration issues amid a planned House vote to reopen the government. Concurrently, criticism is mounting over inadequate responses to winter storm Fern, as thousands are left without power and frustrations highlight deeper systemic failures.

What is mentioned in this Morning Wire episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Daily Wire (company), Georgia How, Tim Pierce, Winterstorm Fern, John Bickley, Tom Hman. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Anti-ICE Protests Grow & Storm Response Scrutiny"?

The episode runs 15 min; the transcript is about 2,838 words in 40 timestamped sections.

More from Morning Wire

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 3, 2026.