President Donald Trump says he will make a decision on whether to strike Iran within two weeks. Our expert breaks down all the latest economic data and what it means for you. And, is ChatGPT helping children obtain abortion pills behind their parents’ backs?
It’s Friday, June 20, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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Two Weeks To Stop The Spread (Of Nuclear Weapons)
Topline: Israel vows to intensify attacks on Iran as President Trump sets a deadline for U.S. intervention.
We recently learned that President Trump has told top aides that he’s given the green light for airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, but is waiting to see if they’ll blink first and agree to abandon their nuclear program. On Thursday, the White House gave us a timeline for how long he’s willing to wait.
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future,” Trump wrote, “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.”
The Ayatollah has good reason to take that timeline seriously. Remember, in the spring, President Trump said Iran had 60 days to reach a deal — when it refused to compromise, on the 61st day, Israel launched its preemptive strikes, reportedly with Trump’s backing.
“Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. “All they need is a decision from the Supreme Leader to do that. It would take a couple of weeks to complete that weapon, which would of course pose an existential threat not just to Israel, but to the United States and the entire world.”
The Ayatollah has publicly vowed to fight to the death, saying his people would never surrender and that shutting down the nuclear program is a non-starter. But privately, Tehran is seemingly more open to ending this war before it spirals further. First, the president told reporters this week that Iran has offered to come to the White House for direct negotiations. While Trump said they should have been more willing to talk before the war began, he didn’t entirely shut down the idea.
According to Reuters, preliminary talks between the United States and Iran have already begun. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly held a series of phone calls with Iran’s Foreign Minister over the last few days, hoping to find a diplomatic solution. Iran reportedly told Witkoff that it would be willing to restart negotiations on a nuclear deal, but only if the U.S. could first convince Israel to pause its airstrikes. As one diplomat put it, Tehran “could show flexibility in the nuclear issue” if Washington helps broker a ceasefire. But Israel seems resolute on pushing forward until Iran’s nuclear program is dismantled.
Economic Update
Topline: Inflation is down, wages are up. The latest data reveals a strong economy – but uncertainty continues.
New data is painting a positive picture of the economy, even as war in the Middle East has caused a spike in oil prices. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell declined to lower interest rates this week despite President Trump’s calls for doing so, partly due to instability abroad and the ongoing tariff negotiations, both of which have the potential to raise prices, although as now year-over-year inflation is relatively low – in May it was only 2.4%, compared to a high of 9.1% in June 2022.
“The Fed is not going to lower rates this year at all,” Kenny Polcari, Chief Market Strategist at Slatestone Wealth, told The Daily Wire. “The hard data, which is measurable data on the economy, continues to be fairly robust and strong. And so therefore, I think current rates are not restrictive. They’re certainly not causing the economy to go off the edge … every president wants rates to be lower. I get that. But in this case, I think Powell’s right.”
Crude oil prices have spiked by more than 10% since Israel launched its recent bombing campaign against Iran. Nevertheless, Polcari told The Daily Wire he’s bullish on the American economy and does not believe the price surge will drive inflation in the long term.
“Had this not exploded in the Mideast the way it had, oil would be trading in the mid to low 60s,” Polcari said. “I think it’s going to go back there once this Middle East situation calms down. But until that happens, the potential is for gas prices to rise because the price of oil has gone up … over the short term, like next month, you could see the rise in energy prices kind of leak into PPI and CPI, causing inflation to kind of either remain steady or even tick a little bit higher. But I don’t think that’s a long-term issue.”
Is AI Assisting Underage Abortions?
Topline: Is ChatGPT assisting underage girls with secret abortions?
When prompted by The Daily Wire about what ChatGPT would say to a 14-year-old girl in Tennessee looking to get an abortion without her parents’ knowledge, version GPT-4o of ChatGPT provided a detailed list of abortion providers and gave a step-by-step guide on how to discreetly obtain abortion pills.
ChatGPT encouraged the minor to hide this from her parents and advised her on how to effectively break the law in a state like Tennessee, where medication abortions are illegal and parental consent for abortion for a minor is required. The chatbot specifically advised the minor to delete her browser history and not tell anyone about the abortion. It offered to help her connect with an activist group that would ship her abortion pills. The chatbot suggested that the minor use the name and mailing address of a different adult, who is “not a parent.” And it suggested the child open the abortion pills “privately” when “no one is home” and “carefully” throw out the packaging “somewhere not at home.”
The abortion pill mifepristone is currently enmeshed in legal battles over serious — and sometimes fatal — safety concerns. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration committed to a full review of the pill’s safety.
The responses were very abortion-focused, but when the chatbot was specifically asked about pro-life pregnancy centers, it denigrated these facilities. Its responses mirrored left-wing talking points about crisis pregnancy centers, which serve millions of women every year. One other note on this report: when you review some of these responses, ChatGPT is not just spitting out clearly biased information; it’s often delivering it in a personal way, trying to elicit trust. The bot also called this hypothetical 14-year-old “brave” for secretly seeking the abortion pills. And at another point, it told her, “You’re doing everything right, and I’ve got your back.”
