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NBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- NBC News
Elon Musk's missed opportunity: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. In today's edition, Jonathan Allen reviews Elon Musk's stint in the White House as he prepares to leave Washington. Plus, we have the latest on the back-and-forth in the courts over President Donald Trump's tariff regime. — Adam Wollner Elon Musk's missed opportunity Analysis by Jonathan Allen Elon Musk rocketed out of the Beltway this week having blown a golden opportunity to make bigger, better and more beautiful changes to the way the American people are served by their government. The megabillionaire misjudged his own popularity and that of his mission, alienated key stakeholders in both parties, overpromised and underdelivered. The shame of it for those who believe in deficit reduction and government efficiency is that Musk might have found more utility in a scalpel than his famous faux chainsaw. It's not shocking that someone who is accustomed to making unilateral decisions about corporate strategies, budgets and functions would fail to live up to his own expectations about retrofitting a government in which power is diffuse and the shareholders — American citizens — have concerns that go beyond the bottom line. If voters cared only about profit and loss, the nation would not be $36 trillion in debt, with more deficits lined up on the horizon. Surely, Musk can claim success in having cut some federal programs, reduced the workforce and canceled contracts. But it's a drop in the bucket. Even his DOGE website claims only $175 billion in savings — a far cry from his target of ' at least $2 trillion.' And he and his team misrepresented their work over and over and over and over again. DOGE's most important legacy may be in catalyzing a modernization of government systems — though critics have raised concerns about his team's access to Americans' personal data. And it remains unclear how various lawsuits against DOGE actions will turn out. Musk could have come into Washington with the modest promise to make the government run more smoothly at a lower cost to the public. He could have taken bipartisan congressional interest in his plans as an invitation to work with lawmakers — the people who authorize and fund the executive branch — to make lasting changes. Instead of reading Donald Trump's election as a blank check from the citizenry, he could have marketed his plans through a national campaign to build public support. But Musk chose to see everyone outside his insular group of advisers as an enemy, and he tried to vanquish them all with a shock-and-awe strategy more suited to corporate warfare than governance. By the time the White House quietly acknowledged his departure Wednesday night, Musk had become a lightning rod in Washington. He emerged as a leading political boogeyman for the Democrats while angering some congressional Republicans by slashing programs they like and forcing them to try to fill the budgetary hole left by his unmet goals. By one measure, his national approval rating is slightly below 40% — making him a drag on Trump. Tesla, his car company, has recovered from bottoming out earlier this year, but its stock is still down about 5% for the year. And while SpaceX hasn't disintegrated without him at the helm full time, some of its projectiles have. Musk whisked into Washington with a mandate from the man in charge and he's walking away having failed to achieve it. A blast from the past: Musk isn't the first case of one of the world's richest men taking an influential position in Washington that didn't quite go as planned. As Scott Bland writes, his story has some key similarities to that of Andrew Mellon, who served as treasury secretary to three GOP presidents in the 1920s and '30s. This time, it was the courts that were responsible for a round of off-again, on-again tariffs. On Thursday afternoon, an appeals court reversed a federal trade panel's ruling some 24 hours earlier that struck down a slew of President Donald Trump's tariffs targeting other countries, Rob Wile and Steve Kopack report. A second court ruling earlier Thursday by a U.S. district court came to a similar conclusion as the trade court. By granting the Trump administration's request for a stay, the appeals court put those tariffs back into effect while it weighs the case. The trade court's ruling would have the effect of lowering the U.S.'s average effective tariff rate from 15% to 6.5%, according to Capital Economics consultancy. The ruling did not affect import duties on automobiles, auto parts, and steel and aluminum. How the markets responded: Markets initially cheered the possible elimination of some import taxes. But by Thursday afternoon, most gains had dwindled. Experts said the courts' decisions ultimately add another layer of uncertainty to Trump's trade war effort. How the White House responded: Trump administration officials said that they were considering alternative ways of reimposing the affected tariffs, but were confident that their original directives would be reinstated. 'We're going to see what happens on appeal, and we're very confident in our success there,' National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett told Fox Business. 'But the fact is that there are things, measures ... that we could start right now.' 'But we're not planning to pursue those right now because we're very, very confident that this really is incorrect,' Hassett added. Vote in our reader poll!
The Intercept
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
Marco Rubio Silences Every Last Little Criticism of Israel at State Department
When Secretary Marco Rubio proposed a sweeping reorganization of the State Department on Tuesday, he singled out a human rights office that he said had become a platform for 'left-wing activists' to pursue 'arms embargoes' on Israel: the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Rubio is proposing to rename the bureau, downsize it, and shunt it under another section of the State Department. The bureau's duties include writing an annual human rights report — which has been critical of Israel — and enforcing a law banning aid to military units that violate human rights that has rankled Israeli leaders. On one level, the accusation that the bureau was a hotbed of anti-Israel activism baffled critics of the State Department's handling of the Gaza war. Their push to block weapon sales to Israel went nowhere under Joe Biden's secretary of state, Antony Blinken. Even some of the most skeptical voices on Israel on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, have never pushed for a full-on arms embargo. Instead, they have unsuccessfully attempted to block the sales of specific offensive weapons that have already caused widespread civilian casualties. On another level, advocates say, Rubio's statement offers a worrisome sign that the Trump administration is crippling one of the few forums where critics of Israel can even have their arguments heard — albeit routinely ignored by the department's top ranks. 'This 'anti-Israel' stuff is so deeply incorrect,' said Charles Blaha, who served as director of the human rights bureau's office of security and human rights from 2016 until his 2023 retirement. 'The tendency in the Department is exactly the opposite. The Department is pro-Israel to the point of overlooking gross violations of human rights. The Department closes its eyes to it.' Days after the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and the start of Israel's bombardment of Palestinian civilians, longtime State Department staffer Josh Paul left his post in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in protest of continued arms shipments to Israel. Paul called Hamas's attack on Israel a 'monstrosity' before adding that 'the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.' His high-profile departure presaged months of internal disputes within the State Department over whether to keep supplying Israel with offensive weapons, including 2,000-pound bombs that caused devastation in Gaza's densely populated urban areas. Critics of Israel have almost always been on the losing side, even when the Biden administration was publicly voicing sympathy for Palestinian civilians. Only once, as the Biden administration faced criticism from the Democratic Party's left wing in the run-up to the 2024 election, did the administration halt a single arms sale of 2,000-pound bombs. The decision had little operational effect, but Republican critics nonetheless claimed that it amounted to a 'partial arms embargo.' Inside the State Department, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor was seen as one of the few bureaucratic factions pushing Blinken and Biden to take a tougher approach to Israel. The human rights bureau, Paul said in a Wednesday interview, 'certainly had a role in arguing for that suspension' of 2,000-pound bomb transfers. But there was nothing inappropriate about that given the way Israel shrugged off Biden administration calls for restraint, he said. 'These are tools of foreign policy, so it is absolutely appropriate, when a partner is acting in a way that is contrary to U.S. interests, that is contrary to U.S. and international law, that arms transfers should be suspended as a point of leverage,' he said. The State Department said this week that the bureau will be renamed the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Religious Freedom — dropping the emphasis on 'labor' — and moved under a new coordinator for foreign assistance and humanitarian affairs, merging it with another bureau. Paul said that on its own, slotting the bureau under the coordinator would not necessarily forecast a weakening of influence, but the move had to be placed in a broader context. 'I think it's really going to depend a lot on who is in that role, and of course the broader intent of the secretary and the State Department,' he said. Rubio, in a Substack post on Tuesday, explained why he was pursuing the reorganization. 'The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor became a platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas against 'anti-woke' leaders in nations such as Poland, Hungary, and Brazil, and to transform their hatred of Israel into concrete policies such as arms embargoes,' he said. Blaha, the former bureau director, rejected that characterization. He said the bureau's role in the State Department as a sounding board for human rights advocates had to be weighed against the power of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs — the State Department's Middle East office — which both argued in favor of unqualified support for Israel. 'The human rights bureau is the place that activists most frequently interact with, with regards to Israel. The Israel desk doesn't really want to have anything to do with that, in my experience' he said. 'How is the State Department going to interact with civil society?' Drawing on sources such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the bureau was responsible for writing annual reports that have been critical of Israel. The last report produced under the Biden administration stated that there were 'credible reports' that Israel had committed 'arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings,' 'enforced disappearance' and 'torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by government officials.' The State Department is planning to scale down those congressionally mandated human rights reports, NPR reported last week. Blaha's former office was at the center of an even more pointed debate under the Biden administration about whether to block aid to specific Israeli military units accused of crimes — as opposed to the larger question of arm sales to Israel as a whole. The future of that office under Rubio's proposed reorganization of the State Department is unclear. Its name does not appear on a high-level chart about the new proposed structure. (The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.) Under legislation named after former Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who championed it in the late 1990s, the State Department and Defense Department are forbidden from providing aid to foreign security units that have been credibly accused of 'gross' human rights violations. The office of security and human rights was responsible for vetting specific units for U.S. aid. To its namesake's chagrin, Leahy law has never been applied to Israel. Months into the war on Gaza, however, a special Israel-vetting forum recommended cutting off aid to several Israeli military and police units — a recommendation Blinken ultimately ignored. Reports indicating that Blinken might sanction one unit led to an outcry last year from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Rubio, then serving as a senator, said that it would 'stigmatize the entire IDF and encourage Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian regime.' Blinken never followed through. Read our complete coverage
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Joy Behar worries Pope Francis will be replaced by 'conservative guy'
"The View" co-host Joy Behar reacted to Pope Francis' death on Tuesday and lamented that the late Pontiff could be replaced by some "conservative guy." "I wonder because there might be a backlash against how good he was and how much humility he had compared to some of the leaders in this world right now, so there might be a backlash to it, and they'll get some conservative guy in there who, you know, is anti-gay and everything else," Behar said. Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, died Monday morning, Vatican camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced. The Pope's funeral is set for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter's Square. Five Ways Pope Francis Impacted The Catholic Church Co-host Sunny Hostin also said she hoped Francis would be replaced by someone similar to him and talked about how she had struggled with being a Catholic due to sex scandals and the Church's views on the LGBTQ+ community. "I've struggled with being a Catholic, but this pope changed things for me," she said. "I remember I was having this discussion with you, Joy, about how I feel like there's a crisis of empathy in this country, that unless it happens to you, you can't feel the empathy of it happening to somebody else. They're going to deport that person. It's not going to affect my family, so I don't care that it's affecting others," Hostin said. Read On The Fox News App Hostin said she watched a "60 Minutes" interview with the Pope and quoted him saying, "We have to get over our hearts to feel again. We cannot remain indifferent in the face of such human dramas. The globalization of indifference is a very ugly disease." Hostin then added to his quote, saying that she thought it was a condition that "this country is suffering from." Co-host Whoopi Goldberg recalled her 2023 visit with Pope Francis during the show on Tuesday. "Listen, he brought, and this sounds crazy, but he brought 100 comedians from around the world. One hundred of us into meet with him. And what he said was, 'I want to laugh more, we all need to laugh more,' and then he looked at the 100 of us, and he said, 'what you do is very important, because without you, it's a grayer day,'" Goldberg said. "He is exactly what I hoped he would be, which is a pope for all people regardless of religion, which I really appreciated, and I wanted to thank him for all of my gay friends, and for all of my divorced friends, because he basically has said, listen, God loves you no matter what. Come back to the church. I appreciated that," Goldberg said in an October 2023 episode of "The View," during which she discussed meeting Francis. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture The Pope preached frequently on the Catholic virtues of mercy, kindness and humility. He did not shy away from controversy. And American presidents, including Donald Trump and Joe Biden, were not immune from his views. Less than a month into President Donald Trump's presidency, the Pontiff criticized the Republican's plans for the mass deportations of migrants, stressing that the forceful removal of people simply for their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and "will end badly." Fox News' Caitlin McFall, Emma Colton and Chris Massaro contributed to this article source: Joy Behar worries Pope Francis will be replaced by 'conservative guy'
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California defies Trump order to certify that all school districts have eliminated DEI
California on Friday defied a Trump administration order to certify that the state's 1,000 school districts have ended all diversity, equity and inclusion programs despite federal threats to cut billions of dollars in education funding if the state does not comply. The U.S. Department of Education has given states until April 24 to collect certifications from every school district in the nation — confirming that all DEI efforts have been eliminated, as it contends such programs are a form of race-based discrimination and violate civil rights laws. In a letter to school district superintendents Friday, the California Department of Education, or CDE, defended the legality of DEI efforts. "There is nothing in state or federal law ... that outlaws the broad concepts of 'diversity,' 'equity,' or 'inclusion,'" wrote Chief Deputy Supt. David Schapira in the letter to school districts, county education offices and charter schools. CDE also sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education about the decision not to comply — and said the federal request was vague. "It is also unclear which specific programs or activities [the federal agency] seeks to regulate by this certification, although the request for certification references 'certain DEI practices' or 'illegal DEI.' It does not define such..." Although federal funding for education is challenging to calculate and arrives through multiple channels, some tallies put the figure at $16.3 billion per year in California — including money for school meals, students with disabilities and early education Head Start programs. The Los Angeles Unified School District has estimated that it receives about $1.26 billion a year, somewhat less than 10% of its annual budget. Sixteen states are attempting to comply with the order, including New Hampshire, North Carolina and Texas. Ten others have refused — including New York, Wisconsin and Oregon, according to a state-by-state tracker compiled by the news site Education Week. California's decision was foreshadowed by an April 4 letter to school leaders noting that school districts regularly and routinely affirm that they are complying with federal law and "have already submitted such assurances" and compliance is "monitored annually through ... multiple accounting mechanisms." Read more: Schools have 10 days to comply with Trump anti-DEI policy or face losing federal funds The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond Friday to the decision by California. However, Education Secretary Linda McMahon on social media praised the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico for complying. She also praised New Hampshire for posting the certifications from individual school districts. A small number of California school systems are controlled by pro-Trump leadership. These include Chino Valley Unified, which has bypassed state education officials and certified directly to federal officials. "This was a no-brainer for us," said school board President Sonja Shaw, who is a Republican candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. "I want to make it absolutely clear: Our focus remains where it belongs — on reading, writing, math and achieving the best outcomes for our students... not in the ideologies and divisiveness that the state of California, [Gov.] Gavin Newsom and his cronies continue to push." The federal demand follows a Feb. 14 letter in which the U.S. Department of Education told all K-12 school districts and higher education institutions to end the consideration of race in 'admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.' Read more: Colleges, K-12 schools ordered by Trump administration to abolish DEI or face funding cuts Since then, many colleges and universities in California and throughout the country have eliminated diversity efforts, scrubbing references from their websites. The certification demand is a next step in the enforcement process, federal officials said. 'Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,' Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. He said many schools have flouted their legal obligations, 'including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another.' The certification form includes several pages of legal analysis in support of the administration's demands, which are based, in large part, on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to ban affirmative action in college admissions through a lawsuit brought against Harvard University. Read more: How Trump's fight with California could harm poor students who rely on school meals Trainor quoted Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who said: 'Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.' But following the reasoning of other states that refuse to comply, California challenged Trainor's conclusions in its April 11 letter to the U.S. Department of Education. "We are concerned that [the Department of Education] seemingly seeks to change the terms and conditions of California's award without formal administrative process," the letter stated. The U.S. agency "cannot make changes to legal assurances and impose new requirements on recipients without adhering to rule-making procedures." The letter is signed by Len Garfinkel, general counsel for the California Department of Education, and by Kirin K. Gill, chief counsel for the State Board of Education. In their refusal, New York officials directly challenged the linkage to the Supreme Court case cited by Trainor. A recent statement from L.A. Unified approached the issue with caution, saying the school system would follow state guidance in complying with federal law. The Trump administration already has issued similar threats over school funding to school districts and states over policies related to transgender students and sex education curriculum. On Friday, the department announced an enforcement action against the state of Maine that could lead to withdrawing federal education funding. In a separate action, federal officials have launched an investigation of the California Department of Education for allegedly withholding from parents information about changes to their child's gender identity, once again with billions of dollars potentially at stake. Federal officials contend that the California law, called the SAFETY Act, violates a federal law that guarantees parents' access to their child's school records. They say the federal law, called the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or FERPA, takes precedence. On Friday, state education officials also responded to this investigation by defending the state law. 'There is no conflict between California's SAFETY Act and FERPA," said state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. "Today, California affirmed existing and continued compliance with federal laws while we stay the course to move the needle for all students," Thurmond said. "As our responses to the United States Department of Education state, and as the plain text of state and federal laws affirm, there is nothing unlawful about broad core values such as diversity, equity, and inclusion." He added: "I am proud of our students, educators, and school communities, who continue to focus on teaching and learning despite federal actions intended to distract and disrupt.' Times staff writer Daniel Miller contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California defies Trump order to certify that all school districts have eliminated DEI
California on Friday defied a Trump administration order to certify that the state's 1,000 school districts have ended all diversity, equity and inclusion programs despite federal threats to cut billions of dollars in education funding if the state does not comply. The U.S. Department of Education has given states until April 24 to collect certifications from every school district in the nation — confirming that all DEI efforts have been eliminated, as it contends such programs are a form of race-based discrimination and violate civil rights laws. In a letter to school district superintendents Friday, the California Department of Education, or CDE, defended the legality of DEI efforts. "There is nothing in state or federal law ... that outlaws the broad concepts of 'diversity,' 'equity,' or 'inclusion,'" wrote Chief Deputy Supt. David Schapira in the letter to school districts, county education offices and charter schools. CDE also sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education about the decision not to comply — and said the federal request was vague. "It is also unclear which specific programs or activities [the federal agency] seeks to regulate by this certification, although the request for certification references 'certain DEI practices' or 'illegal DEI.' It does not define such..." Although federal funding for education is challenging to calculate and arrives through multiple channels, some tallies put the figure at $16.3 billion per year in California — including money for school meals, students with disabilities and early education Head Start programs. The Los Angeles Unified School District has estimated that it receives about $1.26 billion a year, somewhat less than 10% of its annual budget. Sixteen states are attempting to comply with the order, including New Hampshire, North Carolina and Texas. Ten others have refused — including New York, Wisconsin and Oregon, according to a state-by-state tracker compiled by the news site Education Week. California's decision was foreshadowed by an April 4 letter to school leaders noting that school districts regularly and routinely affirm that they are complying with federal law and "have already submitted such assurances" and compliance is "monitored annually through ... multiple accounting mechanisms." Read more: Schools have 10 days to comply with Trump anti-DEI policy or face losing federal funds The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond Friday to the decision by California. However, Education Secretary Linda McMahon on social media praised the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico for complying. She also praised New Hampshire for posting the certifications from individual school districts. A small number of California school systems are controlled by pro-Trump leadership. These include Chino Valley Unified, which has bypassed state education officials and certified directly to federal officials. "This was a no-brainer for us," said school board President Sonja Shaw, who is a Republican candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. "I want to make it absolutely clear: Our focus remains where it belongs — on reading, writing, math and achieving the best outcomes for our students... not in the ideologies and divisiveness that the state of California, [Gov.] Gavin Newsom and his cronies continue to push." The federal demand follows a Feb. 14 letter in which the U.S. Department of Education told all K-12 school districts and higher education institutions to end the consideration of race in 'admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.' Read more: Colleges, K-12 schools ordered by Trump administration to abolish DEI or face funding cuts Since then, many colleges and universities in California and throughout the country have eliminated diversity efforts, scrubbing references from their websites. The certification demand is a next step in the enforcement process, federal officials said. 'Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,' Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. He said many schools have flouted their legal obligations, 'including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another.' The certification form includes several pages of legal analysis in support of the administration's demands, which are based, in large part, on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to ban affirmative action in college admissions through a lawsuit brought against Harvard University. Read more: How Trump's fight with California could harm poor students who rely on school meals Trainor quoted Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who said: 'Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.' But following the reasoning of other states that refuse to comply, California challenged Trainor's conclusions in its April 11 letter to the U.S. Department of Education. "We are concerned that [the Department of Education] seemingly seeks to change the terms and conditions of California's award without formal administrative process," the letter stated. The U.S. agency "cannot make changes to legal assurances and impose new requirements on recipients without adhering to rule-making procedures." The letter is signed by Len Garfinkel, general counsel for the California Department of Education, and by Kirin K. Gill, chief counsel for the State Board of Education. In their refusal, New York officials directly challenged the linkage to the Supreme Court case cited by Trainor. A recent statement from L.A. Unified approached the issue with caution, saying the school system would follow state guidance in complying with federal law. The Trump administration already has issued similar threats over school funding to school districts and states over policies related to transgender students and sex education curriculum. On Friday, the department announced an enforcement action against the state of Maine that could lead to withdrawing federal education funding. In a separate action, federal officials have launched an investigation of the California Department of Education for allegedly withholding from parents information about changes to their child's gender identity, once again with billions of dollars potentially at stake. Federal officials contend that the California law, called the SAFETY Act, violates a federal law that guarantees parents' access to their child's school records. They say the federal law, called the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or FERPA, takes precedence. On Friday, state education officials also responded to this investigation by defending the state law. 'There is no conflict between California's SAFETY Act and FERPA," said state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. "Today, California affirmed existing and continued compliance with federal laws while we stay the course to move the needle for all students," Thurmond said. "As our responses to the United States Department of Education state, and as the plain text of state and federal laws affirm, there is nothing unlawful about broad core values such as diversity, equity, and inclusion." He added: "I am proud of our students, educators, and school communities, who continue to focus on teaching and learning despite federal actions intended to distract and disrupt.' Times staff writer Daniel Miller contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
