The Political Thread

[Chris]

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5226000-florida-republican-randy-fine-special-election/

Florida state Sen. Randy Fine (R) has won the special election for Florida’s 6th Congressional District on Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ, defeating Democrat Josh Weil in what became a closely contested race in the deep-red district.

Fine’s win will come as a relief for Republicans, who grew increasingly worried about the race as Weil overperformed Fine in fundraising and some polling going into Election Day.

A Democratic victory in the district, which stretches from South Daytona to St. Augustine, would have been a political earthquake. President Trump and national security adviser Michael Waltz, who previously held the seat, each won the district by more than 30 points in November. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) represented the district prior to resigning to run for governor in 2018.

 

[Chris]

Susan Crawford wins Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election, preserving liberals' majority

Crawford's win is likely to have far-reaching impacts on hot-button issues like abortion and voting rights in the battleground state.

www.msnbc.com

Liberal candidate Susan Crawford has won the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, NBC News projected on Tuesday, preserving a liberal majority on the swing state’s highest court.

Crawford, a circuit court judge in Dane County, defeated Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County circuit court judge and former Republican state attorney general.

The election to replace 73-year-old Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who announced her retirement nearly one year ago, was cast in part as a referendum on billionaire Elon Musk, who poured millions into the race to help Schimel. The winner goes on to serve a 10-year term.

Although the race was officially nonpartisan, clear ideological differences separated Crawford and Schimel — including on labor rights, abortion access and President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons, among others — as well as the groups that backed them. A slew of prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, backed Crawford; Republicans by and large endorsed Schimel, including Trump.

The race has been the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. Megadonors from both sides of the political spectrum poured millions into the race, and Musk offered up financial incentives to voters that some claimed were legally suspect.

Tuesday’s result is likely to have far-reaching consequences on hot-button issues like abortion and voting rights in the battleground state.

 

[Chris]

Tesla Sales Are Slumping, Even in the Most E.V.-Friendly Place

Elon Musk’s involvement in right-wing politics has contributed a 13 percent drop in global deliveries in the first quarter, including steep declines in places like Norway.

www.nytimes.com

If there is anyplace Tesla should be thriving, it’s Norway. Electric vehicles account for more than 90 percent of new car sales in the Scandinavian country, and buyers here are among the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to understanding the nuances of batteries, charging and range.

So it hardly bodes well for Tesla that its sales in Norway have declined more than 12 percent so far this year. Sales for the first three months of the year were even worse in Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.

In fact, Tesla’s sales have been on a steep downward trend around the world: The company said on Wednesday that its global sales in the first quarter fell 13 percent from a year earlier.

Tesla said that it delivered nearly 337,000 cars during the quarter, down from 387,000 in the first three months of 2024. The tepid sales reflected a number of serious problems at the company, not least a consumer backlash against the prominent role that Elon Musk, the chief executive, is playing in the Trump administration.

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/02/eric-adams-case-dismissed-new-york-trump-doj.html

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed the criminal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, nearly two months after the Trump administration controversially sought to drop the case.

The case was dismissed “with prejudice,” which means the Department of Justice is permanently barred from resurrecting the charges against Adams based on the same evidence used in the case, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The DOJ originally asked District Court Judge Dale Ho to toss the case “without prejudice,” which would have allowed prosecutors to refile charges against the Democrat in the future if the department chose to do so.

 

[Comrade Khan]

Fun

 

[Chris]

Amazon Said to Make a Bid to Buy TikTok in the U.S.

The e-commerce giant put in a last-minute offer for the popular video app, according to three people familiar with the talks. TikTok faces a Saturday deadline to change its ownership structure.

www.nytimes.com

Amazon has put in a last-minute bid to acquire all of TikTok, the popular video app, as it approaches an April deadline to be separated from its Chinese owner or face a ban in the United States, according to three people familiar with the bid.

Various parties who have been involved in the talks do not appear to be taking Amazon’s bid seriously, the people said. The bid came via an offer letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Amazon’s bid highlights the 11th-hour maneuvering in Washington over TikTok’s ownership. Policymakers in both parties have expressed deep national security concerns over the app’s Chinese ownership, and passed a law last year to force a sale of TikTok that was set to take effect in January.

 

[Grim]

Yuck

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/tariffs-trump-news-04-02-25/index.html

President Donald Trump today announced tariffs of at least 10% on practically all goods coming into the United States, plus even higher rates on dozens of countries that have the highest trade deficits with the United States.

The new policy represents a dramatic shift in global trade and economic policy. It’s aimed at restoring US manufacturing prowess and the balance of trade. But it threatens to escalate an emerging global trade war and raise prices for American consumers at a precarious time for for the economy.

Trump’s policy will put in place a baseline 10% tariff on all goods from all countries except those compliant with the USMCA free trade agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States (non-compliant goods will continue to be charged at a 25% rate). Importers of goods from other nations will begin paying the baseline 10% tariff on Saturday at 12:01 am ET.

A group of about 60 or so countries, which senior Trump administration officials labeled the “worst offenders,” will be charged a tariff at half the rate they charge the United States. Those reciprocal tariffs will go into effect April 9 at 12:01 am ET, according to a senior White House official.

 

[Chris]

Senate rebukes Trump on Canada tariffs, with 4 Republicans joining Democrats

The Senate vote came after Trump implemented 10% across-the-board tariffs on imports and additional reciprocal tariffs on goods from 60 countries.

www.usatoday.com

Fifty-one senators, including four Republicans, voted on Wednesday to end President Donald Trump's tariff on Canadian goods in a bipartisan rebuke of the administration's trade policy.

It comes just hours after Trump implemented 10% across-the-board tariffs on imports and additional reciprocal tariffs on goods from 60 countries, a significant escalation in the global trade war. The vote marks the first substantive bipartisan pushback to Trump's policies since he took office just over two months ago.

The resolution put forward by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., would end an emergency order Trump declared in February over concerns about fentanyl crossing the northern border with Canada. That order has been used as the basis for 25% tariffs on Canadian goods.

 

[Chris]

Trump Administration Threatens to Withhold Funds From Public Schools

State education officials will be required to verify that they have eliminated all programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion that the administration deems unlawful, according to a new memo.

www.nytimes.com

The Trump administration threatened on Thursday to withhold federal funding from public schools unless state education officials verified the elimination of all programs that it said unfairly promoted diversity, equity and inclusion.

In a memo sent to top public education officials across the country, the Education Department said that funding for schools with high percentages of low-income students, known as Title I funding, was at risk pending compliance with the administration’s directive.

The memo included a certification letter that state and local school officials must sign and return to the department within 10 days, even as the administration has struggled to define which programs would violate its interpretation of civil rights laws. The move is the latest in a series of Education Department directives aimed at carrying out President Trump’s political agenda in the nation’s schools.

 

[Grim]

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/02/stock-market-today-live-updates-trump-tariffs.html

Stocks plummeted Thursday, sending the S&P 500 back into correction territory for its biggest one-day loss since 2020, after President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs, raising the risk of a global trade war that plunges the economy into a recession.

The broad market index dropped 4.84% and settled at 5,396.52, posting its worst day since June 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
tumbled 1,679.39 points, or 3.98%, to close at 40,545.93 and mark its worst session since June 2020. The Nasdaq Composite plummeted 5.97% and ended at 16,550.61, registering its biggest decline since March 2020. The slide across equities was broad, with more than 400 of the S&P 500′s constituents posting losses.

Thursday’s moves sent the S&P 500 to its lowest level since before Trump’s election win in November. The benchmark now sits about 12% from its record close touched in February.

 

[Chris]

E.U. Prepares Major Penalties Against Elon Musk’s X

European regulators are considering fining X more than $1 billion, after weighing the risks of further antagonizing Mr. Musk and President Trump.

www.nytimes.com

European Union regulators are preparing major penalties against Elon Musk’s social media platform X for breaking a landmark law to combat illicit content and disinformation, said four people with knowledge of the plans, a move that is likely to ratchet up tensions with the United States by targeting one of President Trump’s closest advisers.

The penalties are set to include a fine and demands for product changes, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing an ongoing investigation. These are expected to be announced this summer and will be the first issued under a new E.U. law intended to force social media companies to police their services, they said.

European authorities have been weighing how large a fine to issue X as they consider the risks of further antagonizing Mr. Trump amid wider trans-Atlantic disputes over trade, tariffs and the war in Ukraine. The fine could surpass $1 billion, one person said, as regulators seek to make an example of X to deter other companies from violating the law, called the Digital Services Act.