Trump and Musk Given a Face Slap by Wisconsin
Despite spending millions of dollars, Musk comes up empty
In the first major election since Donald Trump took office in January, Republicans received a slap in the face from Wisconsin voters.
The election was for a new judge on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, with the race won by liberal candidate, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, defeating Brad Schimel, the conservative-aligned candidate.
Schimel was openly backed by Donald Trump and his campaign was supported financially by Elon Musk, George Soros and others, in what became a referendum on the Republican president.
A record $90m was said to have been spent during the campaign, making it the most expensive court judge election in US history. Musk injected significant funds, around $25m according to reports, and gave away two separate $1m checks to encourage voting for Schimel. Despite the amount of money thrown at the right-leaning campaign, he lost.
Musk the unelected billionaire close to the president, making this court election as much a (non) vote of confidence in him, as it was in Trump. To use a Trump style quote, ”We both lost Wisconsin bigly.”
Meanwhile in Florida, Democrats closed the gap in votes for the First district around Pensacola, the congressional seat vacated by Matt Gaetz, with Republican Jimmy Patronis taking the seat. The vote narrowed from 32 points to 17 points, widely seen as another opinion poll on Donald Trump.
In the central Florida Sixth district, the Republicans retained the seat, where the margin narrowed even more, reduced from 33 to 14 points.
Are the Republicans in Trouble?
It could be seen that way.
Failing to gain the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat despite the millions of dollars invested, won’t go down well in the White House. The court remains 4-3 in liberal favour.
The significant narrowing of the vote in the two Florida elections could be expected for an administration in the middle or towards the end of its reign. It is only two months since Trump arrived back in the Oval Office, so that is going to be a worry. A new administration usually expects period of calm and expectation from the electorate, something which Trump has managed to destroy two months in.
The results arrived on Trump’s desk on the morning of his self-proclaimed “Liberation Day”, where he is expected to announce sweeping trade tariffs on most of the world.
Americans are starting to realise, finally, that when these tariffs feed through to prices in malls and on car forecourts, they will be paying more for foreign goods. In addition, American assembled products which use some imported materials and parts, cars being a good example, will also see price rises.
The average American consumer is starting to realise that “tariff” means “an extra tax when we buy something”.
Trump promised to reduce prices and reduce inflation. The exact opposite to that claim has been put into place.
Welcome to Liberation Day!