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Right now, at this very moment, Walmart is preparing to shut down more than 250 stores across California, not because of consumer demand, not because of competition, but because the math no longer works. And while Governor Gavin Newsom scrambles to control the narrative, families across the state are waking up to empty shelves, longer drives, and the slow collapse of the retail infrastructure they've depended on for decades. This is happening in real time. And what you're about to hear should concern every single American, regardless of where you live. My name is Megan Wright, and this is where we investigate the stories the mainstream media won't touch. If you value independent journalism that follows the money, exposes the decisions, and holds power accountable, then subscribe to this channel right now. Hit that like button. Share this video with everyone you know. And here's my question for you. Drop a comment below and tell me, how far do you have to drive to reach your nearest grocery store because for millions of Californians, that distance is about to get a whole lot longer. Let's talk. This isn't a story about corporate greed or free market failure. This is a story about incentives, mandates, and economic gravity. Over the past 18 months, California has implemented a cascade of regulatory policies, wage mandates, and enforcement actions that have fundamentally altered the cost structure of operating large-scale retail in the state. Walmart, the largest private employer in America, has done the math. And the math says leave. What you're witnessing is not a sudden decision. It's the inevitable result of policies that ignored basic economics, punished employers, and assumed that businesses would simply absorb infinite costs. They won't. They can't. And now the people who can least afford it are going to pay the price. I'm going to walk you through exactly how we got here, who made the decisions, what the consequences are, and why this matters far beyond California's borders. Let's go back to April of last year. That's when California's new minimum wage law for large retail and grocery workers took effect, pushing the hourly wage floor to $22. On paper, it sounded compassionate. In practice, it was a financial grenade. Walmart operates on razor-thin profit margins in grocery, typically between 1% and 3%. When labor costs, which already represent the largest operating expense for any big-box retailer, jump by 35% overnight, something has to give. Within days of the law's implementation, Walmart's corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas began receiving store-level profitability reports from California. The numbers were brutal. Stores that had been marginally profitable were now bleeding cash. Stores in rural and low-income areas, where sales volumes are lower and theft rates higher, were posting losses that couldn't be offset by price increases alone. Translation, the very communities the wage law was supposed to help were the first ones marked for closure. Then came the compli-

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- You talked about the weapon, the discombobulator. - Discombobulator, well, I'm not allowed to talk about it. - What does it do? - Let me just tell you, you know what it does? None of their equipment works, that's what it does. Everything was-- - How does it-- - It was my name, I'm very proud of the name. Everything was discombobulated. It was, you know, practically a shot wasn't, you know, they were ready. - Right. - And when we came, they couldn't do anything. - You saw this in the video, you could tell. - Tom, it discombobulated everything. Nothing worked, even including humans. It knocks the humans out. - Well, let's put it this way. We lost no equipment in a very strong, and they're good fighters, great fighters. In a very bad environment, it was a military base. The biggest in South America. In a very, 'cause the house was in a base in South, in a very, very tough environment, we lost no men and we lost no equipment. - The discombobulator just knocked everything out. - Well, it did something.

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I mean, I am one of many American conservatives who found him to be pretty repugnant when he first came on the scene in 2016, when the way that he talks, the way that he does negotiation, the way that he talks about war and peace, and life and death is sometimes overly strong. But what Donald Trump has done around the entire world is he has asked for people to advocate for themselves, actually stand up for themselves, and fight, fight, fight. That is his whole thing. And when you look at someone like Marco Rubio. Although to be clear, when it came to January the 6th, he didn't say fight, fight, fight. That's what we're going to be seeing in trouble, but carry on. But no, that's what he said when he got shot in the year. He got shot in the year, he stood up and yelled fight, fight, fight. Yeah, good point. But when you look at what he did with Marco Rubio, Marco Rubio was one of his foils in 2016. He was a good conservative, a good boy, but he was a squish, and he rolled right over him. According to Marco Rubio today, Donald Trump has taught him how to fight and how to stand up for himself and dismantle people in an argument. And he wants that from Europe. He wants that from the UK. He wants these people to be allies who will defend themselves and be pugnacious and willing to fight like Netanyahu does. Do you know what it is? I think he smells confidence. He smells confidence across the room. I was there today in that cabinet room. It was amazing. What an honor. What an privilege to be amongst those phenomenal human beings there. And you can see him look across the room and he gravitates towards people who he thinks are happy in their own skin. You don't see it at all, do you? Well, I think President Trump certainly has a lot of powerful political characteristics. He has had an ability to message and drive a message that I haven't seen really in any politician, for the exception of President Obama, if you look at the two seminal political figures of Stephen and I's lifetime, or like just the last 50 years, it would be President Obama and President Trump. I would say this though, I think sometimes the skills that get you where you are can also be the skills that lead to your downfall. And his ability to dig in and fight on things is certainly a skill that was able to get him back into the White House. But I also think they're missing a key point here, which is the Iran war is unpopular. There's a lot of talk about, well, what does the MAGA base think about it? Well, the MAGA base is 25, 30% of the entire US population. Look at the broader polling. The broader polling shows that this war is very unpopular. And the issue Trump has is that to accomplish the objectives he says he wants accomplished, taking out the regime and getting rid of the nuclear program, hold on, taking out the regime or getting rid of the nuclear program is going to require boots on the ground, something he campaigned against, and it would be a major escalation. And then even if we get rid of the regime, that is going to open up a huge box of issues. And every week that goes by where we don't have an end to this war, the economic pain is going to mount. And a recent Reuters poll showed that the Americans are more unhappy with this economy now under Trump than they were with Biden. So I think the Trump administration and President Trump needs to take a step back and see digging in their heels and fighting on every topic might not be the right strategy. Yeah, but that point about them wanting to change the regime, they have been crystal clear that that is not their aim. Hang on, hang on. Caroline Levitt said in the briefing room yesterday when she was asked about that, she said, "Of course, we want somebody in charge who is more favorable, who doesn't chance death to America." She said, "Of course we would want that." But she said their entire leadership has changed, but it is too soon to say if we will be happy with the new regime. Well, Bev, I would say I was on the show with you for the six hours, I don't know how you did it, when this war started. And GB News platformed a ton of guests who were in favor of this war, and they didn't have a fetish for destroying the Navy. What they wanted to do, and they repeatedly said, was regime change. GB News interviewed a ton of people who talked about how we need to get rid of this regime, and the Trump administration parroted that line, and they talked about getting rid of the nuclear program. Now, what's going to happen is the Trump administration might need to claim that getting rid of their Navy is the only thing they wanted to do, because that's the best way to back out. There's minor success, and then there's total success. Minor success with Chuck Schumer got himself into trouble when he couldn't articulate this on Morning Joe. The Senate Majority Leader of the Democrats was asked, "Would it be a good thing if Iran had no naval or military capacity at the end of this thing?" And he was like, "Well, we can't really say, because we don't know what's going to happen." No, it is actually just... Because he's a Democrat. It is just a good thing that Iran is feckless and weak compared to its neighbors. Not just Israel, but the Qataris, the Emiratis, the Saudis, none of these people actually like the Iranian regime, it's good that they are completely decimated militarily. But the total victory, of course, would be regime change, and regime change can either be a change of heart within the regime, that they're going to act differently, or the Iranian people install leaders that might bring them back to the days before the Iranian Revolution.

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UFC fans have traveled far and wide across the United States and around the globe all to witness history and be a part of this uniquely special mixed martial arts showcase that is UFC Freedom. - Freedom at the White House on Donald Trump's birthday. What an event. - Welcome to UFC Freedom 250. Here is the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump. - From the South Park of the White House, Diego Lopez was serving. - Now, that is a nickel on the White House. - What is your white house? - He's too sick. - On the feet of Josh Hookett. - All eyes, rock shot on Ali. - Give him a shot! - Ladies and gentlemen, this is the many men! - And look at where we are. - This is insane. - The only until 40 against the tried and true American. - Justin Gaetschy. - These dudes are going at it. - Justin Gaetschy with the ultimate career capstone at the loss. - One of the great upsets in the history of the sport. - On the 250th anniversary, Justin Gaetschy showed that American spirit that allowed them to become a world champion. - This is the greatest night in the history of combat sports.

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235 days since the House passed the SAVE Act, which would secure our elections, the Constitution is clear. You can provide some integration and some framework for our elections, voter ID, things like that. But the Senate's not moving on it. What is going on here? Listen, the Senate doesn't work. I've been very clear on this one. The filibuster is a major hurdle to getting common sense policy through both chambers of Congress here in Washington, D.C. The SAVE Act is common sense. It should go up for a vote. If Democrat senators want to vote it down, let them be on the record for it. But for it to not even get a vote in the Senate makes no sense. And this is actually one of the big issues we're having here on Capitol Hill. A lot of people are upset. They're saying, well, why isn't Congress doing more? I will tell you, a lot of policy ideas that are filed in the House don't even get to the floor because leadership is concerned -- I don't agree with them -- but they're concerned about things just going to sit in the Senate and not getting any action. I think we should continue to do our jobs here in the House, send bills over to the Senate. But the Senate has got to start voting for things. If Democrats want to vote things down, like the SAVE Act, or if they want to vote down voter ID in federal elections, or if they want to vote down simple common sense things like making sure that illegals are not counted for the purpose of setting congressional districts, that should all be voted for in the United States Senate, and if Democrats vote no, let the American people see that clearly. Yeah. And get them on the record, like you said. Well, Congress can buy them down, so we appreciate it.

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