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Yesterday β€” 20 January 2025Main stream

Trump to hold off on tariffs, report says, easing trade war fears

20 January 2025 at 18:46

President Trump held off imposing broad tariffs on Day 1 of his presidency, and instead ordered reviews of trade and currency imbalances.

Why it matters: Global markets feared Trump would immediately make good on his campaign promise to place sweeping tariffs on U.S. imports, which could have sparked both inflation and a trade war.


Driving the news: Trump's memo orders federal investigations of trade deficits, alleged unfair trade practices and purported currency manipulation by other countries.

  • The memo directs specific attention to trade deals with China, Canada and Mexico and whether their terms are being honored.
  • An unnamed senior adviser told the Wall Street Journal the memo showed Trump was approaching trade "in a measured way."
  • Reports on findings are due from senior officials on April 1, per the memo.

By the numbers: The U.S. dollar, which is sensitive to the rise and fall of tariffs, weakened on the news, which first broke Monday morning.

  • The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the value of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, dropped 1% after the initial Journal report.
  • European stock markets rose, while Asian markets were flat early Tuesday.

What to watch: Trump has vehemently denied any softening of his tariff plans in recent weeks, despite reports to the contrary.

  • The memo could signal an overall more moderate approach, even as Trump continues to call tariffs "the greatest thing ever invented" and among "the most beautiful words" in the language.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with details of the president's memo.

Before yesterdayMain stream

Melania Trump offers MELANIA meme coin, instantly worth billions

19 January 2025 at 14:25

Two days after her president-elect husband generated potentially tens of billions of dollars with a new meme coin, first-lady-in-waiting Melania Trump launched her own coin Sunday night: MELANIA.

Why it matters: The Trump family became crypto billionaires this weekend, simultaneously raising difficult questions about the boundaries between their official roles and personal profits.


By the numbers: The details on this new coin are sketchier, but we can see that it also has a supply of a billion tokens. It's not clear how many are on the market now.

  • According to the token's site, the team is only setting aside 35% for themselves, but it will also only take 13 months for it all to unlock.
  • More than 22,000 wallets held it early Sunday evening, shortly after launch, according to Solscan, a site for checking the details of assets on the Solana blockchain.
  • The meme coin is offered by MKT World, a company associated with the incoming first lady.

What we're watching: The token for Trump's wife is rising in price fast, quickly breaking $5 on Dexscreener (with a fully diluted market cap of more than $5 billion).

  • Which would mean something well over $1.5 billion for the team's allocation.
  • Concurrently, TRUMP fell about 36% on the news that there was more than one family coin out there, from $72 to $44 on CoinGecko, at press time.

Trump launched a meme coin and it became worth $72 billion overnight

19 January 2025 at 05:05

President-elect Trump launched his own cryptocurrency Friday night, and as of Sunday morning appeared to have made more than $50 billion on paper for himself and his companies.

Why it matters: The stunning launch of $TRUMP caught the entire industry off-guard, and speaks to both his personal influence and the ascendancy of cryptocurrency in his administration.


  • It also speaks to the nature of the crypto industry that someone could have more than $50 billion worth of something that literally did not exist 48 hours previously.
  • Combined with the value of his social media business and his real estate holdings, it nominally makes Trump one of the world's 25 wealthiest people.

Catch up quick: Friday night, while Trump was reportedly hosting a "Crypto Ball" for the industry in Washington, the president-elect launched his own meme-linked cryptocurrency.

  • His website bills it as "the only official Trump meme."
  • While a number of Trump-branded meme coins popped up in recent months, none had his official endorsement until now.
  • His wife Melania joined him Sunday night with her own coin launch, $MELANIA, which was worth more than $5 billion within a couple hours.

By the numbers: According to CoinGecko price data, $TRUMP rose more than 600% overnight Friday into Saturday, and then more than 150% Saturday night into Sunday morning.

  • It was trading just over $72 as of 7 a.m. ET Sunday.
  • That gives the coin a fully diluted market capitalization just north of $72 billion.
  • The meme website says 80% of the supply is held by Trump Organization affiliate CIC Digital, and a CIC co-owned entity called Fight Fight Fight LLC. ("Fight fight fight" is what Trump said after being shot at a rally in July.)
  • They are subject to a three-year unlocking schedule, which means they cannot dump all of their holdings at once.

The intrigue: Trump has warmly embraced cryptocurrency as a concept and an industry, to the point that he is reportedly considering designating it a "national priority" as soon as this week, per Bloomberg.

πŸ’­ Brady's thought bubble: No politician has ever given their supporters a way to monetize that support -- until now.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the latest prices for the $TRUMP coin.

Yellen: Treasury starts "extraordinary measures" Jan. 21 to avoid debt limit

18 January 2025 at 05:51

Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, in one of her final major acts in office, warned Congress late Friday that the Treasury will need to begin "extraordinary measures" on Tuesday to avoid hitting the debt limit.

Why it matters: The first full day of the Trump 2.0 presidency will see the government scrambling to move money around, increasing the urgency of the problem he's demanded Congress address.


Driving the news: Yellen warned Congress about three weeks ago that measures would be necessary sometime this month unless they acted to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.

  • On Friday, she indicated those measures were now necessary as of Jan. 21.
  • The debt limit was suspended by legislation in 2023, but went back into effect on Jan. 1 of this year.
  • President-elect Trump wants the debt limit abolished entirely, but equally wanted that done before he took office.

Zoom in: Yellen outlined a variety of steps the Treasury would take, including freezing certain investment activities for civil service and postal retiree benefits and suspending debt issuance.

What she's saying: "The debt limit does not authorize new spending, but it creates a risk that the federal government might not be able to finance its existing legal obligations that Congresses and Presidents of both parties have made in the past," she wrote.

  • "I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States."

Between the lines: The Treasury deploying a toolkit of extraordinary measures to avoid the debt ceiling is nothing new.

  • But every time it happens, it amplifies the long-running debate and raises the pressure on Congress to act.

The intrigue: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said this week he wants to raise the limit through the end of Trump's presidency, floating the prospect of tying it to LA wildfire aid.

  • Because so many House Republicans are fundamentally opposed to raising or eliminating the debt limit, that may require Johnson to make a deal with Democrats to get it passed - and they are vehemently opposed to conditioning fire aid.

SEC sues Elon Musk, saying he failed to disclose Twitter shares purchases

14 January 2025 at 16:03

The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Elon Musk on Tuesday, alleging he failed to properly disclose his purchase of Twitter shares before eventually buying the company.

Why it matters: The suit comes just days before President-elect Trump's inauguration as president, amid uncertainty over what legal scrutiny "first buddy" Musk might face in the new administration.


Zoom out: The SEC, in a suit filed in federal court in Washington, alleges that Musk did not file disclosures in a timely manner in March 2022 as he was acquiring shares of Twitter, now known as X.

  • Because investors did not know the size of his holdings, that allegedly let him buy stock at "artificially low prices," the SEC said, underpaying by an estimated $150 million.

What they're saying: "Today's action is an admission by the SEC that the they cannot bring an actual case β€” because Mr. Musk has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is," his attorney Alex Spiro said in a statement.

  • Spiro went on to call the case a "single-count ticky tak complaint."

Zoom in: The complaint requests an order forcing Musk to give up his "unjust" profits and pay unspecified civil penalties.

Flashback: Musk said he was joining Twitter's board in April 2022, after he'd already purchased 9% of the company's stock.

  • He later backed out of the board seat and acquired the company outright.

Go deeper: Elon Musk fight with SEC reaches tipping point

Trump promises "External Revenue Service" to collect tariffs

14 January 2025 at 09:01

President-elect Trump on Tuesday promised to create an "External Revenue Service" to oversee tariffs and other potential foreign revenue.

Why it matters: It's yet another sign Trump is serious about his promised widespread tariff program, despite recent reports it might be pulled back.


Driving the news: In a Truth Social post, Trump blasted the country's existing trade agreements and its reliance on income taxes for revenue.

  • "I am today announcing that I will create the EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE to collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources. We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share," he posted.
  • He said Jan. 20, his inauguration day, would be the "birth date" of the ERS.

Between the lines: Customs and Border Protection currently collects tariffs at points of entry. It's unclear if Trump intends to create a new government entity to replace CBP.

  • The Trump transition team did not immediately return requests for comment.

The intrigue: Though Trump insists foreign countries pay when the U.S. levies tariffs, in fact importers pay the tariffs when they bring goods in.

Go deeper: Trump's Day One tariff options carry huge economic, legal risks

L.A. fire insured losses could top $20 billion

11 January 2025 at 04:39

Risk experts believe the insured losses from the Los Angeles wildfires will easily top $20 billion, but in some ways that's only the start of the crisis California now faces.

Why it matters: Anything above $12.5 billion would pass 2018's Camp Fire to become the largest insured wildfire loss ever, per data from insurance broker Aon. Economic losses will be substantially higher, perhaps tens of billions of dollars more.


  • Stunning stat: At the high end of the range, the L.A. fires would be near the list of the 10 costliest natural disasters in global history by inflation-adjusted insured loss, per data from the Insurance Information Institute.

The big picture: The loss number in and of itself is staggering, but only tells a small portion of the story.

  • Thousands upon thousands of homes and businesses have been lost, and tough decisions about if and how to rebuild will take years, even as climate change makes this sort of disaster more likely.
  • California's insurance market was already struggling as carriers fled the state's many risks. As a result the state insurer of last resort, FAIR Plan, has ballooned to an unsustainable size.
  • Systematic reforms designed to expand coverage and let insurers reprice risk are just now coming online, but may be too little too late, given the scope of losses at play.

What they're saying: "A $20 billion to $30 billion, insured loss event is now on the table," says Jon Schneyer, research director at analytics firm CoreLogic.

  • Risk assessment firm Verisk said the insured property at risk in the Palisades area alone is at least $15 billion. That's not a loss estimate, but gives a clear sense of what's at stake.

Zoom in: "It's going to be a challenge to the affordability and availability of insurance," says Sridhar Manyem, senior director of industry research at insurance ratings agency A.M. Best.

  • Ironically, homeowners' insurance premiums in major California cities are much lower than the rest of the country on a cost-per-$1,000-of-coverage basis, per a report from ICE Mortgage Monitor.
  • But if the houses are more expensive, the premium ends up being higher anyway. In the Pacific Palisades, the median house is worth $3.5 million.
  • "That is a demographically well-off area. When their only alternative is to get the FAIR Plan, you have to wonder what happens to people who don't have the same resources," says Michelle Meyers, an insurance litigator with Singleton Schreiber in Sacramento.

What's next: The immediate question will be what happens to FAIR Plan, which is not built to handle billions of dollars of simultaneous losses.

  • It's a last resort, but an increasingly important last resort after so many insurers left the state. The state's reforms were designed to keep more from leaving, but the risk may overwhelm those reforms.
  • "I don't have a lot of faith that a good amount of what's in the sustainable insurance plan really incentivizes carriers to really want to write in the state," says Lindsey Frase, a managing director at reinsurance brokers Howden Re. "I suspect there may need to be an intervening step where there is some support from the state government to weather this storm."

What to watch: Experts say the L.A. fires will also reopen conversations about mitigation, because while insurance may be a first line of recovery, steps like clearing brush and hardening roofs are still the first line of defense.

  • "If you can prevent that first home from picking up an ember and catching fire, it's like a natural fire break," CoreLogic's Schneyer says.

The bottom line: The fires are still burning, but the end of their impact isn't days away. It's years or more down the road.

L.A. fires put stress on an already troubled insurance industry

9 January 2025 at 01:30

The devastating wildfires raging through Los Angeles are re-opening the debate about how to model and manage risk for the insurance industry, as climate change makes such destruction more inevitable.

Why it matters: California's insurance market is in the middle of major reforms to deal with the cost of fire, but they may not be fast enough given the billions of dollars at stake.


  • Some market experts warn the state may need to consider becoming a primary insurer for fire risk β€” much as it already did with earthquakes and Florida did with hurricanes.

The big picture: Climate change has made California vastly more susceptible to wildfires β€” previously in summer, now no matter the season.

  • That growing risk has made insurers wary of covering the state, and led many to pull out of the market altogether.
  • California FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort for fire risk, is soaking up that demand β€” protecting homeowners, but squeezing other insurers and weakening its own financial condition.
  • "When the FAIR Plan takes on more customers, it causes traditional insurance companies to withdraw from certain areas, further increasing dependence on the FAIR Plan. This cycle can ultimately weaken the FAIR Plan's financial stability and limit consumer choice," state insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara wrote in a Sept. 2024 bulletin.

By the numbers: As of Sept. 2024, FAIR Plan's exposure to residential fire risk was $431.45 billion, up almost 60% from the year before.

  • The number of policies in force rose 123% in four years, the agency says.
  • One of the biggest risk areas in the state is the currently burning Pacific Palisades, with $5.89 billion in exposure due in large part to high property values.
  • FAIR Plan does have a mechanism to share its burden with insurers in the state if its solvency is at risk, but insurers now have the ability to pass those assessment costs onto their customers.
Data: First Street Foundation; Map: Kavya Beheraj/Axios

Between the lines: The California Department of Insurance (CDI) moved in recent years to implement a "Sustainable Insurance Strategy," changes that traded more flexibility for insurers for more coverage of at-risk areas.

  • Lara issued new regulations letting insurers pass along some of their reinsurance costs to their customers, and letting them use "catastrophe modeling" to project possible future losses instead of simply relying on historical data.
  • Those changes were controversial, as opponents said they would cause rates to rise faster than coverage would expand.
  • The Insurance Information Institute, a clearinghouse for the industry, says the regulations are having a positive effect, prompting more insurers to write more coverage.
  • This week's fires may have complicated matters, though.

What they're saying: "I think that California is being progressive in a lot of ways in the insurance market," says Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at risk modeling firm First Street.

  • "The downside of that is, there's a correction that has to be made. There's what I call a climate debt," Porter says. "All of those fees, all of those insurance premiums, they're all going to adjust upward as we talk about risk."
  • In other words, Californians have to accept they're going to pay more if the risk of fires is modeled properly and insured in a sound manner.

What's next: It's far too soon to say what kind of losses this week's fires will generate, for FAIR Plan or the industry. But the evident damage is enough to get people thinking about outcomes.

  • "Things could still break for the positive, but it is seeming more likely that the losses from tonight's fires could push insurance markets over the brink in California β€” despite all the good work CDI and stakeholders have done over the past few years to stabilize the situation," Michael Wara, a senior research scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, posted on X.
  • "I am beginning to think that we need to be having a much bigger conversation about the structure and assumptions that underlie this rate regulated industry. The current model may just not be sustainable," Wara wrote, pointing to the difficulties in Florida, which has a strained state-run insurer for hurricanes.

Quantum computing stock bubble bursts after Nvidia CEO warning.

8 January 2025 at 07:26

Shares in the ultra-hot quantum computing sector plunged on Wednesday after Nvidia's CEO said useful quantum computers were decades away.

Why it matters: Quantum computing stocks have been on a ferocious run, with some names rising almost 20x in the last year.


Driving the news: Nvidia held a Q&A with Wall Street analysts on Tuesday, during which CEO Jensen Huang was asked about the growth path for the still-nascent technology.

  • "And so if you kind of said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that'd probably be on the early side. If you said 30 is probably on the late side. But if you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it," Huang said.
  • Nvidia's dominance in AI computing gives Huang's technology forecasts outsized impact β€” and his comments tend to move stocks.

By the numbers: Shares in Rigetti Computing plunged 46% in early trading Wednesday. Before that collapse, the stock had risen more than 1,800% in just one year.

  • Shares in Quantum Computing Inc. also fell 45%, while shares in IonQ dropped more than 42%.
  • Together, the losses exceeded $4 billion in market capitalization.

Context: Quantum computing is bleeding-edge stuff, applying the principles of quantum mechanics to perform computing tasks far too difficult for traditional computing.

  • As MIT scientists describe it, traditional binary computers use electrical signals that can be either 0 or 1. Quantum computing uses subatomic particles that can be both simultaneously. It sounds like a small difference but the power is exponential.
  • Google said last year its new quantum computing chip, code named Willow, did computations in five minutes that would take today's supercomputers 10 septillion years.
  • But as Google itself points out, Willow's achievement is little more than a "convincing prototype" that offers a "strong sign" quantum systems can be built at scale.

Editor's note: This report has been updated with early Wednesday trading levels for stocks.

The biggest S&P 500 winners and losers of 2024, led by AI names

31 December 2024 at 13:51
Data: FactSet; Chart: Axios Visuals

It was a good year for AI-linked companies in 2024, as they led the stock market with eye-watering returns.

  • Execution problems plagued some well-known businesses, though, causing their shares to sink.

Why it matters: Those AI names helped the S&P 500 to its best two-year gain since the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s.


By the numbers: Nine S&P 500 stocks doubled in value (or more) this year, while four lost at least half their value.

  • Three AI-linked stocks topped the list: Software company Palantir gained more than 340%; Vistra, a power producer that serves data centers, rose almost 260%; and chipmaker Nvidia gained more than 170%.
  • If the bottom of the list has a theme, it's execution. Walgreens Boots Alliance (closing stores, heavily indebted, possibly for sale) lost more than 64% of its value. Intel (sinking AI market share, heavy layoffs) shed more than 60%, and Moderna (pulling back on new vaccines as COVID revenue tails off) dropped almost 60%.

Yes, but: Past performance does not guarantee future results.

  • While AI names led the market this year, tech stocks have pulled back of late, with the Nasdaq down about 4% in just the last two weeks.
  • The vast majority of the year's top gainers were down on the last trading day of 2024.

Elon Musk is dominating Bezos, Zuckerberg (in the headlines)

31 December 2024 at 02:00
Data: Taboola; Chart: Kavya Beheraj/Axios

We know Elon Musk dominated the headlines in 2024, but the scale by which he overshadowed other CEOs is stunning.

Why it matters: It's a self-sustaining cycle β€” stories about Musk get clicks, and so publishers write more about Musk, who provides plenty of raw material.


  • This year, however, the effect has become exponential.

By the numbers: Taboola, which powers advertising for thousands of websites, tracks views on news articles in its publisher network.

  • Taboola's data, shared exclusively with Axios, shows Musk has outpaced his closest peers β€” Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg β€” for years, but the gap widened dramatically in 2024.
  • Articles about Musk had 1.03 billion page views from Jan. 1 to Nov. 12 this year, up 120% from 2023 and 528% from 2022.
  • Other CEOs are getting written about more, too, but their rates of annual growth (e.g. 85% for Bezos and 44% for Zuckerberg) don't come close.
  • This year, traffic on Musk stories is almost 3x the total traffic on stories about the next nine most-read-about CEOs combined, per the Taboola data.

The bottom line: Don't expect anything to change anytime soon, as Musk's personal megaphones get louder by the day.

Stock markets to close for Jimmy Carter day of mourning

30 December 2024 at 10:47

Financial markets will be largely β€” but not entirely β€” closed for the National Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter on Thursday, Jan. 9.

State of play: Markets typically close on such days, as they did in December 2018 for the funeral of President George H.W. Bush.


The big picture: Carter died Sunday at age 100, and President Biden declared a day of mourning, usually treated as a federal holiday, to mark his passing.

  • Both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq tell Axios they will close for the full day.
  • SIFMA, the trade association for investment banks and asset managers, is recommending bond markets close early at 2pm ET, in line with a 2019 policy change. (In 2018 it recommended a full closure for Bush's funeral.)
  • Banks might be closed. For Bush, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said banks could close offices in any state where the day had been declared a holiday.
  • President Biden issued an executive order closing federal agencies and offices on Jan. 9 as well.

Go deeper: How Jimmy Carter rebuilt his reputation post-presidency

Editor's note: The story has been updated with government closure plans.

Trump sides with Musk in H-1B fight as billionaire pledges "war" to protect the visas

28 December 2024 at 14:06

President-elect Trump backs H-1B visas, siding with Elon Musk after the tech billionaire pledged to go to "war" to defend the program and branded GOP opponents "hateful, unrepentant racists."

Why it matters: The MAGA-DOGE civil war that erupted over the last 48 hours has now come to a tipping point, with Trump's new techno-libertarian coalition of billionaires taking full aim at his traditional base.


  • Trump's support for the controversial visas is the first sign of his picking sides between his richest and most powerful advisors on one hand, and the people who swept him to office on the other.

The latest: The president-elect told the New York Post on Saturday he has "always liked the visas."

  • "I have many H-1B visas on my properties," he said of the program for highly-skilled, foreign workers. "I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great program."

Reality check: Trump pledged to end the program in 2016.

  • "The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay," he said.
  • He added he was "totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse."
  • Late in Trump's first term, his administration moved to tighten rules around eligible jobs and wages, though the program largely remained intact otherwise.

Catch up quick: The MAGA-DOGE skirmishes started last Sunday, with anti-immigration and anti-Indian vitriol against Trump's pick of venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his AI advisor.

  • It escalated into full conflict Thursday when Musk ally and DOGE co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy took to X to blast American "mediocrity" culture. Musk defended Ramaswamy, and the two sides started engaging in an increasingly bitter war of words.
  • On Friday afternoon, Musk doubled down, saying MAGA adherents who continued to blast immigration and the tech community were "contemptible fools," later clarifying he was talking about "racists" who would "absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed."

Zoom in: Just before midnight Friday, Musk once again defended the H-1B program in vulgar, all-caps terms, saying the program was the key to the success of his (and other big American) companies.

  • "Take a big step back and F--K YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend," Musk wrote.
  • In a separate post, he pledged to "fight to my last drop of blood" to keep America a meritocracy.

What they're saying: As with Musk's previous posts defending Ramaswamy and condemning his opponents, Trump supporters did not react well to Musk's promise to defend the H-1B program.

  • "May God bless and protect President Trump from these people," outspoken right-wing commentator Laura Loomer wrote, after accusing Musk of trying to censor her.

The intrigue: Though Trump has been mostly quiet on the matter, those around him have started showing their hands.

  • Michael Seifert, the CEO of online marketplace Public Square, whose board of directors includes Donald Trump Jr., took to social media Friday to say the H-1B program was "destroying the lives of American workers."
  • Steve Bannon, one of the longest-tenured voices in Trump's orbit, had multiple guests on his show this week to talk about his hardline anti-H-1B views.
  • Bannon tells Axios he helped kick off the debate with a now-viral Gettr post earlier this month calling out a lack of support for the Black and Hispanic communities in Big Tech.
  • On Saturday Bannon called Musk a "toddler" in a Gettr post, and in another post accused him and Ramaswamy of attacking American workers, families and culture.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional statements and context.

Big Lots saves 200-400 stores in deal with Roses, Maxway parent company

27 December 2024 at 14:22

Bankrupt retailer Big Lots said Friday it struck an 11th-hour deal to save hundreds of its stores via a sale to Gordon Brothers and Variety Wholesalers.

Why it matters: The Columbus, Ohio-based company had about 27,700 employees and more than 1,300 stores in 48 states when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.


  • Last Friday, the company said its restructuring plans had collapsed and it would have to liquidate all its stores.

Zoom out: Big Lots said Variety Wholesalers would take over somewhere between 200 and 400 locations, which will keep the Big Lots name; and up to two distribution centers.

  • Variety operates chains including Roses, Maxway and Bargain Town.

Yes, but: The deal that saves stores gives no guarantee on jobs.

  • In a statement, Big Lots said Variety "may" employ current associates at the saved facilities.
  • The deal still has to be approved by the bankruptcy court.

Elon Musk blasts MAGA element as "contemptible fools," calls for their GOP ouster

27 December 2024 at 13:34

Elon Musk condemned a segment of the MAGA movement as "contemptible fools" who should be purged from the Republican Party in a social media post Friday.

Why it matters: A virtual right-wing civil war has broken out over race, class, immigration and the future of President-elect Trump's movement, and Musk is increasingly at odds with Trump's historic base.


  • The schism may force Trump to ultimately take sides between the largely white, working-class supporters who first made MAGA succeed, and the techno-libertarian billionaires like Musk who are at the center of his new administration.

Catch up quick: On Thursday, Musk ally and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy posted a lengthy condemnation of American culture and its supposed embrace of mediocrity.

  • Musk spent the next 24 hours defending Ramaswamy and advancing his argument that America needs highly skilled immigrants to fill high-tech jobs.
  • That argument landed with a thud in the MAGA wing that wants to stop immigration and preserve jobs for American workers.

Zoom in: On Friday, cartoonist and right-wing commentator Scott Adams posted on X that MAGA was "taking a page from Democrats on how to lose elections while feeling good about themselves."

  • Musk agreed, and took it a step further.
  • "And those contemptible fools must be removed from the Republican Party, root and stem," he posted.

What they're saying: For people used to being called "deplorables" by Democrats, the condemnation from one of the most important advisors in Trump's inner circle stoked instant outrage.

  • "Calling people who have their country's best interests at heart and wanting to NOT sell out the American people 'contemptible fools' is the biggest L that I've seen Elon make in a long time. Dude needs to relax," gaming streamer Hooks posted.
  • Right-wing activist Laura Loomer tagged Trump in her message. "The Trump base is being replaced by Big Tech executives. So sad to see this. I feel so sad for MAGA," she said. Loomer has alleged Musk was censoring her for her opposition to his immigration comments.
  • Andrew Torba, the CEO of the far-right social network Gab, said in an X post: "He's declaring war on us btw. Should go over well for him as it has for everyone else who has tried."

Go deeper: MAGA vs. Musk: Right-wing critics allege censorship, loss of X badges

"Nonsense": Panama's president slams Trump's claims that Chinese soldiers operate in canal

26 December 2024 at 17:53

Panamanian President JosΓ© RaΓΊl Mulino on Thursday vehemently denied President-elect Trump's claims of Chinese interference in the Panama Canal.

Why it matters: Trump has accused Panamanian authorities of charging "exorbitant" shipping rates and cited the increasing dominance of China's government in trade throughout the Americas as a reason to take control of the Panama Canal, one of the world's most crucial pieces of infrastructure that the U.S. ceded in 1999.


Driving the news: The president-elect doubled down in a Christmas Day message, writing on Truth Social: "Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal."

What they're saying: "There is absolutely not any interference" from China or any other nation in the operation of the canal, Mulino said during a Thursday briefing, emphasizing that Panama is open for business equally to all interested parties.

  • "If they're Chinese, if they're Costa Rican, if they're American, all are welcome who want to invest in the country. There is no discrimination here in foreign investment," he said.
  • "There are no Chinese soldiers in the canal, for the love of God," added an animated Mulino, addressing Trump's post directly. "It's nonsense. There is not a single Chinese soldier in the canal."
  • Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.

Between the lines: China's government has in recent years heavily invested in operations in the Canal Zone, raising concerns about its neutrality.

  • It's the primary source of products going through the ColΓ³n Free Trade Zone, a free port in Panama dedicated to re-exporting a variety of merchandise to Latin America and the Caribbean, noted the Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2021.
  • Beijing's "increasing presence in and around the Canal has made the waterway a flashpoint for U.S.-China competition over spheres of influence," added the CSIS in the report.

Go deeper: Trump demands return of Panama Canal if rates aren't cut

Editor's note: This article has been updated with more context.

MAGA civil war breaks out over American "mediocrity" culture

26 December 2024 at 15:18

A MAGA-world civil war erupted over Christmas when a social media post on American culture turned into a pitched battle over race, immigration and billionaires versus the working class.

Why it matters: The fight exposes one of the MAGA movement's deepest contradictions: It came to prominence chiefly via the white, less-educated, working class but is now under the full control of billionaire technologists and industrialists, many of them immigrants.


  • It also sets up a tense MAGA vs. DOGE moment that could infect the early stages of President-elect Trump's second presidency.
  • While some want to make America great by restricting immigration and promoting the American worker, others want to cut costs and increase efficiency no matter who does the work.

Catch up quick: The skirmishes started Sunday when Trump named venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his adviser on AI policy.

  • Krishnan's appointment triggered an anti-Indian backlash on social media, particularly given his past advocacy for lifting caps on green cards.

Vivek Ramaswamy escalated the conflict into a full-blown war Thursday morning with a post on X blaming an American culture that "venerated mediocrity over excellence" for the growth in foreign tech workers.

  • "A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers," Ramaswamy wrote, calling for a 1950s-style "Sputnik moment" to prioritize "nerdiness over conformity."
  • "That's the work we have cut out for us, rather than wallowing in victimhood & just wishing (or legislating) alternative hiring practices into existence," he said.

Between the lines: Elon Musk's X is the town square for the MAGA movement, and by stepping into that square and firmly criticizing American culture β€” while praising the immigrant work ethic and parenting model β€” Ramaswamy threw down a gauntlet.

  • Musk spent most of the afternoon trying to defend his DOGE co-leader and explain his argument, framing it as using immigration to supplement, rather than replace, American workers.
  • "Maybe this is a helpful clarification: I am referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1% of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning," Musk wrote.

The problem for many MAGA adherents, though, was accepting the very notion of immigrants telling them America needs more immigration to fill lucrative jobs in America.

  • It revived old tensions around the H-1B visa, which is reserved for people who "perform services in a specialty obligation" but practically speaking has become a crucial tool of Silicon Valley's growth.
  • In some recent years, as many as 75% of those petitioning for that visa came from India, from where Ramaswamy's parents immigrated.

What they're saying: "The Woodstock generation managed to build out aerospace, the one before went to the moon, America was doing great. Underlying your post is that we were all living in squalor until being rescued by H-1B's. Then why did everyone want to come here?" right-wing personality Mike Cernovich responded to Ramaswamy on X.

  • "There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers," Nikki Haley, the former GOP presidential candidate and herself a daughter of Indian immigrants, wrote.
  • "I want the little guy to matter too. Not everyone has $1 million but they still love their country and want to MAGA and close the border," far-right activist Laura Loomer posted.
  • Loomer posted a series of missives throughout the afternoon, calling out Ramaswamy, Musk and anyone else in Trump's orbit who isn't fully committed to closing the borders.

Zoom out: The fracture was familiar to anyone who's seen a movement expand β€” early adopters criticizing the latecomers for bringing different ideas.

  • "Tech bros who took 8+ years to figure out that President Trump is not the bad guy and is in fact, the solution to America's problems, are really out here pontificating to MAGA patriots who figured it out a decade before them?" conservative streaming host Brenden Dilley posted on X.

The bottom line: For now the fight is mostly confined to X. But it's sure to raise difficult questions in the coming days about what Trump's administration will mean for immigration, labor and the American worker.

  • It will also potentially settle a looming conflict over who has the most influence in Trump 2.0 β€” his historic base or his new-found techno-libertarian allies.

American Airlines briefly halts all flights on Christmas Eve

24 December 2024 at 13:45

All American Airlines flights nationwide were halted for about an hour Tuesday morning after what the airline called a "technical issue."

Why it matters: The nationwide outage snarled early traffic on Christmas Eve for the world's largest carrier.


Screenshot: American Airlines/X

Catch up quick: The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all American flights at the airline's request as of 6:49 a.m. ET.

  • It was cancelled at 7:50 a.m. ET.

What they're saying: "A vendor technology issue briefly affected flights this morning. That issue has been resolved and flights have resumed," the airline said in a statement.

  • The issue "impacted systems needed to release flights," American added.
  • Multiple passengers posted on X that their planes had been forced to return to gates, and in some cases all passengers had to get off.

Between the lines: Even a temporary morning pause can throw an airline's daily schedule into chaos.

  • FlightAware showed just over 300 flight delays nationwide around 8 a.m. ET, mostly impacting East Coast airports like New York's John F. Kennedy International and Boston's Logan International Airport.
  • By 6pm ET, nearly 650 flights had been delayed. However, this was mostly at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, which experienced delays due to severe weather.
  • Christmas Eve is one of the lightest air travel days of the holiday season, though nearly 2 million people flew on Dec. 24 last year, per the TSA.

The intrigue: On Monday, American touted its recent performance in a note to reporters, boasting it had more on-time departures than any competitor since the holiday season started.

Flashback: American isn't the only airline to have suffered holiday snafus.

  • Southwest Airlines was fined $140 million and spent months rebuilding customers' trust after an extended Christmas week meltdown in 2022.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with additional statements from American Airlines and more details from FlightAware.

Trump names Biden admin critic Miran head of Council of Economic Advisers

22 December 2024 at 08:22

President-elect Trump tapped Stephen Miran, an economist who served in his first administration, as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Why it matters: This past summer, Miran co-authored a paper accusing the Biden administration of manipulating the economy ahead of the election.


Driving the news: Trump announced Miran's appointment in a Truth Social post Sunday morning.

  • "Steve will work with the rest of my Economic Team to deliver a Great Economic Boom that lifts up all Americans," Trump wrote.
  • The three-member CEA, whose chair must be confirmed by the Senate, advises the president on economic policy.

Zoom out: Miran, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, was senior advisor for economic policy at the Treasury Department during Trump's first term.

The intrigue: Last July, Miran and Nouriel Roubini published a paper accusing the administration of manipulating debt markets and "usurping" a core function of the Federal Reserve to hold down long-term interest rates ahead of the election.

  • Treasury vehemently denied the allegation.

Miran has been critical of Fed chairman Jerome Powell as well, saying he was "wrong politically and economically" to recommend a major stimulus package in late 2020.

What they're saying: "I look forward to working to help implement the President's policy agenda to create a booming, noninflationary economy that brings prosperity to all Americans!" Miran posted on X.

"Not negotiable": Panama's president hits back at Trump over canal threat

22 December 2024 at 15:18

President-elect Trump demanded Panamanian authorities either lower fees for U.S. ships to transit the Panama Canal, or return its control to the United States.

Why it matters: The U.S. ceded one of the world's most crucial pieces of infrastructure in 1999, and China has become increasingly influential in its operations since.


Catch up quick: Trump, in a lengthy series of Saturday evening posts to Truth Social, said American naval and commercial ships were being treated in an "unfair and injudicious way."

  • Trump blasted past administrations for returning the canal to Panama's control, which he called a "token of cooperation."
  • "If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question," Trump said.

The other side: Panama's president, Jose RaΓΊl Mulino, posted a video on social media Sunday night rejecting Trump's demands.

  • "The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable," Mulino said.
  • "Our canal has the mission to serve humanity and its commerce," Mulino added. "That is one of the greatest values that the Panamanians offer to the world."

The intrigue: Trump quoted Mulino's response on Truth Social and said "We'll see about that!"

  • He subsequently posted a picture of the American flag flying over the canal and the message "Welcome to the United States Canal!"

Context: Panama granted the U.S. the right to build the canal and control the land on either side in 1904.

  • In 1977 President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty that returned the canal to full Panamanian control by the end of 1999 in exchange for its permanent neutrality.
  • The canal has long been viewed as a tool of colonialism and colonial control. Panama sees the canal today as a key factor in its self -determination and national interest amid a changing global economy.

By the numbers: About 10,000 ships a year transit the canal, though in recent times severe drought has limited capacity and helped push transit rates higher.

  • The International Trade Administration estimates more than 70% of all ships transiting the canal are going to or from a U.S. port.
  • About 2.5% of all global maritime trade passes through the canal, per McKinsey.

Zoom out: China has invested heavily in operations in the Canal Zone in recent years, raising concerns about the zone's neutrality.

  • In 2021 the Center for Strategic and International Studies warned a "key decision point" was coming for U.S. interests in the region, given China's expansion.
  • The U.S. ambassador reportedly cautioned last year about the situation not escalating to where Panama has to choose between the U.S. and China.

What they're saying: Panamanian politicians blasted Trump's statement.

  • "This young Panamanian independent deputy will defend his country with his life if necessary," National Assembly member Manuel Alberto Samaniego Rodriguez posted on X, calling Trump's remarks "regrettable."

Trump, speaking Sunday at the Turning Point Action Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, called Panama's fees "ridiculous" and "highly unfair."

  • "The United States has a big and vested interest in the secure, efficient and reliable operation of the Panama Canal," he said.
  • It's falling into the wrong hands β€” it was not given for the benefit of others," Trump continued. "It was given with provisions, you have to treat us fairly and you are not treating us fairly."

Go deeper: Trump suggests he wants to buy Greenland

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments by Panamanian Jose RaΓΊl Mulino and additional remarks by President-elect Trump and Jose RaΓΊl Mulino.

Russell Contreras contributed reporting.

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