Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk told The Wall Street Journal’s London CEO Council Summit in a virtual broadcast that he had a “major announcement” coming – Musk will interview Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Twitter Spaces Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern time. NBC News scooped DeSantis’ plans to announce ahead of Musk’s virtual appearance at the CEO Council Summit.
DeSantis also is expected to make his run formal by filing with the Federal Election Commission Wednesday, the WSJ says. It’s all part of DeSantis’ multi-day rollout.
Did we bury the lede? Depends on whether you consider DeSantis’ drawn-out announcement he will run for the GOP nomination for president next year more or less newsworthy compared with anything Twitter-owner Musk does. For his part, Musk says he would make no endorsements for the ’24 presidential race, but rather he wants to establish Twitter Spaces as a public town square (as opposed, we presume, to a “private” town square).
_______________________________________________
Scott Files to Run in '24
Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, has filed paperwork to become the second GOP candidate for president from South Carolina, after its former Gov. Nikki Haley, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Scott’s upbeat, optimistic attitude is considered a counterpoint to the party’s current frontrunner in the ’24 presidential race, ex-President Trump.
Meanwhile, Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has announced he will challenge centrist Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) expected re-election bid in 2024, according to Morning Edition. In 2016, Manchin endorsed Justice – a coal industry magnate that Forbes once called a billionaire – for his first bid for the state’s governor.
•••
Join the political conversation and become a citizen pundit with your Comments in the section on this page (or on the left page, if more appropriate), or email editors@thehustings.news.
Civil comments are welcome from never-Trumpers and pro-MAGAs alike.
There’s plenty of issues on which to weight in, including the shaky start to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential run, and Republicans’ refusal to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from the House of Representatives.
Also up for discussion:
•The Consumer Price Index was up 4.9% in April, still too high for the Federal Reserve, but reflecting a slow and continuing improvement over last year. Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported a week earlier that the U.S. economy added 253,000 jobs in April, higher than most economists had predicted. This comes after the Fed indicated its latest quarter-point interest rate hike might be its last for a while. All these high numbers could be fond memories of our 2023 economy if Congress fails to pass a debt ceiling increase in coming weeks.
•A Manhattan court awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million in her sexual abuse and defamation case against Donald J. Trump, who of course, will appeal.