Monday, March 31 | By Jonathan Easley

©  AP Photo/Matt Rourke

WASHINGTON WILL BE CLOSELY WATCHING elections in Florida and Wisconsin on Tuesday for signs of backlash against President Trump and Elon Musk, who have overhauled the government with sweeping cuts to agencies and the federal workforce only 70 days into Trump’s second term.

The special elections to replace former Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), as well as the battle for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, will also serve as a gauge of Democrats’ ability to harness liberal anger at Trump and Musk ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Republicans are heavily favored to win both special House elections in Florida, which take place in districts Trump carried by more than 30 points in 2024.

However, Republican Randy Fine, who is running to replace Waltz, is seen as a weak candidate by Florida Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.).

Trump has sought to give Fine a boost, calling into town hall events to support the GOP candidate, who has been massively out-raised by Democratic opponent Josh Weil.

Republicans can’t afford to lose either seat with their narrow majority in the House, underscored by Trump’s decision to pull Rep. Ellise Stefanik’s (R-N.Y.) nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations.

Stefanik will stay in the House, rather than risk a special election upset in the upstate district.

Musk is risking a lot of political capital on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.

Musk-aligned groups have spent more than $20 million on the race, and the billionaire Trump adviser campaigned for conservative Brad Schimel over the weekend wearing a cheesehead hat.

“This Wisconsin Supreme Court race might decide the future of America and Western Civilization!” Musk posted on X. “It’s a big deal.”

Musk has courted controversy for his methods, handing out $1 million checks to random voters. That move was challenged in the courts, but judges declined to block it over the weekend.

The race has attracted almost $76 million in ad spending, making it the most expensive state Supreme Court race in history.

Trump won Wisconsin in 2024 by less than 1 point over former Vice President Harris.

Democrats will be hoping to marshal grassroots anger at Musk, as liberals have turned out in big numbers to rallies and town halls across the country to vent their frustration with the billionaire’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts.

• Musk will to visit the CIA to discuss government efficiency.

• A federal employee union is suing to block a Trump administration order that would strip bargaining rights at 18 departments.

• A federal appeals court allowed Musk and DOGE to resume efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

Trump continues to stoke speculation about serving a third term, although Republicans argue he’s trolling his critics.

Over the weekend, Trump told NBC News that he’s “not joking” about it.

“A lot of people would like me to do that,” Trump said. “But, I mean, I basically tell them, we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Trump is just “messing with” his opponents and the media.

“Not without a change in the Constitution,” Thune told reporters. “You guys keep asking the question and I think he’s probably having some fun with it, probably messing with you.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) likened it to Trump’s talk about annexing Greenland or taking over the Panama Canal.

“There’s a lot of things the president talks about,” Scalise told NBC News. “Ultimately, it gets people talking and addresses some other issues too.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday “it's not really something we're thinking about.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Liberal Patriot: A political proxy war in Wisconsin.

• MSNBC: The GOP’s subservience to Trump is problematic for Democrats.

• New York Post: Meet DOGE’s patriotic Musketeers.

• Lee Fang: Harris' social-media millions couldn't sync 'Brat' with ‘Democrat’.

• New York Times: Democrats are in denial about 2024.

Read more: 

• Elon Musk tries to rehab DOGE after backlash, mistakes.

• Withdrawal of Stefanik UN nod puts spotlight on slim House margin.

• Democrats ramp up town halls in GOP districts.

• Bondi dismisses Biden-era lawsuit against Georgia election law.

• FIRST IN THE HILL: An exclusive excerpt from the forthcoming book “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House” by The Hill senior political correspondent Amie Parnes and NBC News senior national politics reporter Jonathan Allen reveals how former President Biden's frailties hampered former Vice President Harris's campaign. Harris pushed Biden for a speedy endorsement once he made the decision to drop out of the race.
  

   

• The Supreme Court seemed swayed by a Catholic charity group’s bid for tax relief in Wisconsin in a case that could drastically alter eligibility for religious tax exemptions. 
  
  

• A French court convicted right-wing populist leader Marine Le Pen of embezzlement and barred her from seeking public office for five years, triggering an uproar across France and beyond.

©  AP Photo/Seth Wenig

President Trump’s sweeping global tariffs are set to take hold Wednesday, despite warnings from economists that a trade war could stoke inflation and torpedo the economy.

There is widespread uncertainty over just how far Trump will go.

Initially, Trump had promised only reciprocal tariffs hitting back at countries that have imposed levies on U.S.-made products.

Since then, Trump has promised tariffs on all cars built outside the U.S. and indicated an openness to unilateral tariffs. However, Trump has also considered limited carve-outs or exemptions for countries that are open to giving the U.S. more favorable trade terms.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday there would be "no exemptions at this time." Leavitt also indicated Trump has not made a final decision on how big to go.

"The goal of Wednesday is country-based tariffs but certainly sectoral tariffs. The president has said he's committed to implementing them, and I'll leave it to him on when he makes that decision," she said.

Stock market indices were mixed Monday, although there has been a broad sell-off over the past month.

A new Associated Press-NORC poll released Monday found 60 percent disapprove of Trump’s trade negotiations.

The president’s handling of the economy — once his strongest suit — is now a drag on his administration, with only 40 percent approving.

Trump has brushed off concerns regarding the issue, saying over the weekend that he “couldn’t care less” if car companies raise their prices due to tariffs.

“The world has been ripping off the United States for the last 40 years and more,” Trump said. “And all we're doing is being fair, and frankly, I'm being very generous.”

"People [who] manufacture automobiles in the United States are going to make money the likes of which they've never seen before,” he added. “But beyond that, we have the computer companies, the chip companies, the pharmaceutical companies. We have lumber, we have everything, steel. They're all going to do really well as long as they do their product in the United States.” 

Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro says Trump’s tariffs will raise more than $6 trillion for the federal government over the next decade.

The administration also argues that the tariffs will bring manufacturing back into the U.S.

💡Perspectives:

• CNN: Why Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff transformation is so risky.

• The Guardian: Will Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ be the start of a trade war?

• The Wall Street Journal: A bill to stop nationwide injunctions.

• Politico: How Trump forced elite institutions to bend to his will.

• The Hill: Judges, stay in your lane and stay out of politics.

Read more: 

• Trump faces crucial week on the economy.

• Senate Republicans urge Trump, allies to stop threatening courts.

• Five takeaways as Trump’s clash with the legal world intensifies.

• Oliver Stone to testify at House hearing on JFK files. 

©  AP Photo/Ben Curtis - Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP

The U.S. bombed targets in Yemen on Monday, with new strikes hitting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels near the capital city of Sanaa.

"Their capabilities that threaten Shipping and the Region are rapidly being destroyed," President Trump said Monday on Truth Social. "Our attacks will continue until they are no longer a threat to Freedom of Navigation. The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at U.S. ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran."

Trump has been ramping up his rhetoric against Iran, telling NBC News over the weekend that the U.S. is ready to go to war if Iran doesn’t agree to new limitations on its nuclear program.

“If they don't make a deal there will be bombing,” Trump said. “It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”

The latest U.S. attacks in Yemen come a week after The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published a story revealing that senior Trump administration officials included him on a text chain discussing a prior bombing campaign against the Houthis.

• Trump is also escalating his rhetoric against Russian President Vladimir Putin as the U.S. seeks to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump said over the weekend that he is “very angry” and “pissed off” at Putin’s suggestion that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky is not a legitimate leader.

Trump warned Putin he'd slap new tariffs on Russian oil if he believes they're slow-walking a peace deal.

Trump has not given a hard deadline to Putin, but said there’s a “psychological deadline” to reach a deal.

“If I think they’re tapping us along, I will not be happy about it,” Trump said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday talks with the U.S. would continue.

“We are working to implement some ideas in connection with the Ukrainian settlement,” he said. “This work is ongoing.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Free Press: I applied for a work visa and was thrown in prison.

• The American Conservative: Europe needs Trump’s new realism.

• The Atlantic: Steven Cheung is the voice of Trump.

• Sasha Stone: How NPR was sucked into the cult of the left.

Read more: 

• Trump’s Signal scandal fuels growing distrust from allies.

• Trump education moves: Where the legal challenges stand.

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