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Starbucks was facing two new lawsuits over spilled hot drinks Wednesday, just weeks after a court ordered the coffee giant to pay $50 million to a man who was injured by a cup of tea.Both suits were lodged in California, and seek damages over what they say are problems caused by scalding liquids slopped over customers at drive-throughs.One case filed last week claims Sabrina Michelle Hermes was seriously hurt when hot liquid tipped into her lap at a branch in Norwalk, near Los Angeles, two years ago.The suit says one of the cups in her order was not properly secured when it was handed to her, and the drink sloshed onto her legs, a hip, a knee and her feet, causing severe injuries.Starbucks “owed a duty to exercise reasonable care with respect to the preparation, handling and service of hot beverages so as to prevent them from spilling onto and injuring customers such as plaintiff,” the suit says.The negligence suit seeks unspecified general and special damages, including reimbursement for past and future medical costs and lost earnings.A spokesperson for Starbucks told AFP on Wednesday the company would be contesting the claim.”We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks,” the spokesperson said.”We are aware of Ms. Hermes’ claims and firmly believe they are without merit. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”In nearby Alhambra Superior Court, lawyers for Ernesto Vladimir Sanchez Avendano were also seeking unspecified damages for negligence.Their suit, filed Wednesday, says Avendano was handed a drink at a North Hollywood drive-through, with a lid that was not properly fastened.The drink spilled onto his lap, leaving him with “severe burns, disfigurement and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals and buttocks,” the suit says.The Starbucks spokesman said the company had not yet been served with the suit “but will carefully review Mr. Avendano’s claims.”Last month a jury in Los Angeles ordered the firm to pay $50 million to delivery driver Michael Garcia, who suffered burns when a super-sized drink spilled in his lap at a drive-through.Garcia’s lawyers claimed the server who handed him three large drinks in February 2020 did not push one of them into the cardboard cupholder properly.Starbucks said at the time of the ruling that it would appeal the award, which it said was “excessive.”A landmark legal ruling against McDonalds in New Mexico in 1994 established something of a precedent for Americans suing fast food companies when 79-year-old Stella Liebeck was awarded over $2.8 million after spilling hot coffee on herself.Although the award was reduced on appeal, the case was often cited as an example of the need to reform US tort law.

US President Donald Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs on Wednesday, sending fears of a trade war ricocheting around the world.In a closely watched speech in the White House Rose Garden, the billionaire businessman said April 2, 2025 would “forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn,” insisting that domestic manufacturing would surge with companies flocking to the United States to make their products.That has yet to be seen, but Trump made clear he was no longer allowing imports into the United States without an appropriate tariff — and said countries should embrace “a little tough love.””Foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn aport our once-beautiful American Dream,” Trump warned. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”Here are the other highlight quotes from his remarks.- ‘Independence’ -“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said, stressing that trade abuse by allies was often more intense than that committed by rivals.”This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It’s our declaration of economic independence.””Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already. We will supercharge our domestic industrial base. We will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers, and ultimately, more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers.”- Benevolence? -Despite unveiling “minimum baseline” tariffs of 10 percent on trading partners, Trump sought to spin his move as a positive for global trade.”We are being very kind,” the president said. “We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us.”And if countries recoil? “If they complain, if you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America.”- China hit hard -The world’s second largest economy, China, appeared at the top of the tariffs list Trump held up at the podium, with the president claiming that total tariffs on US goods charged by Beijing — with currency manipulation factored in — amounted to 67 percent.”So we’re going to be charging a discounted reciprocal tariff of 34 percent” on China imports, Trump said. “They charge us, we charge them, we charge them less. So how can anybody be upset? They will be, because we never charged anybody anything. But now we’re going to charge.”Trump said China’s President Xi Jinping was among several world leaders who “understand” the need for the tariffs, such as the ones he slapped on Chinese steel and other products during his first term as president. “They all understand we’re going to have to go through a little tough love, maybe. But they all understand. They’re ripping us off and they understood it.”- Way back when -“From 1789 to 1913 we were a tariff-backed nation, and the United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been,” said Trump, who has repeatedly elevated 1890s protectionist president William McKinley as one of his heroes who also slapped tariffs on imports.”In 1913 for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government,” Trump said. “Then in 1929 it all came to a very abrupt end with the Great Depression. And it would have never happened if they had stayed with the tariff policy,” Trump said, conveniently ignoring the multiple factors — including global economics, bank troubles, and the stock market crash — that led to the Great Depression.- No surrender -In addition to highlighting tariffs on China, other Asian powers and the European Union, Trump turned his ire closer to home. “The United States can no longer continue with the policy of unilateral economic surrender,” he said. “We cannot pay the deficits of Canada, Mexico and so many other countries. We used to do it. We can’t do it anymore.”

US President Donald Trump ignited a potentially ruinous global trade war Wednesday as he slapped 10 percent tariffs on imports from around the world and harsh extra levies on key trading partners.Holding up a chart of the sweeping measures in the White House Rose Garden, Trump unveiled particularly stinging tariffs on major trade partners China and the European Union on what he called “Liberation Day.””This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history,” said Trump. “It’s our declaration of economic independence.”The announcement triggered immediate anger — with US ally Australia blasting the tariffs as “not the act of a friend” — and threats of retaliation from around the world.Stock markets looked set for major volatility on reopening Thursday. US futures plummeted and safe haven gold hit a new record as investors took fright.Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called “nations that treat us badly,” including 34 percent on goods from superpower rival China, 20 percent the European Union and 24 percent on Japan.For the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent, including another key ally, Britain.The 78-year-old Republican brushed off fears of turmoil, insisting that the tariffs would restore the US economy to a lost “Golden Age”.”For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said.- ‘Make America wealthy again’ -A hand-picked audience of cabinet members, as well as workers in hard hats from industries including steel, oil and gas, whooped and cheered as Trump said the tariffs would “make America wealthy again.”Sweeping auto tariffs of 25 percent that Trump announced last week were due to take effect at 12:01 am (0401 GMT) Thursday.Trump labelled Wednesday’s tariffs “reciprocal” but many experts say his administration’s estimates for levies placed on US imports by other countries are wildly exaggeratedThe US president had telegraphed the move for weeks, sparking fears of a recession at  home as costs are passed on to US consumers, and a damaging trade war abroad.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned nations not to impose countermeasures, saying on Fox News: “If you retaliate, there will be escalation.”Some of the worst hit trading partners were in Asia, including 49 percent for Cambodia, 47 percent for Vietnam and 44 percent for military-ruled Myanmar, which was recently hit by a devastating earthquake.Russia was not affected because it is already facing sanctions over the Ukraine war “which preclude any meaningful trade,” a White House official said.The tariffs will also reinforce fears that Trump is backing even further away from US allies towards a new order based on a vision of American supremacy.- ‘Fight’ -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday said the tariffs were “totally unwarranted”.Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a close Trump ally, said the levies on the EU were “wrong” but pledged to work with Washington for a deal.Britain escaped relatively lightly after a diplomatic offensive that included Prime Minister Keir Starmer turning up to the White House with an invitation from King Charles III for a state visit, but said it still wanted to “mitigate” the tariffs.Canada and Mexico are not affected by the new levies as Trump has already punished the two US neighbors for what he says is their failure to crack down on trafficking of the drug fentanyl and illegal immigration.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to “fight” the existing levies on steel, aluminum and automobiles and to impose “countermeasures.”Brazil’s Congress reacted by approving a law allowing the executive in Latin America’s largest economy to respond to trade barriers.Trump’s announcement less than three months into his second term is culmination of a long love affair with tariffs, which he has seen for decades as a cure-all for America’s trade imbalances and economic ills.

The world’s remotest corners couldn’t hide from US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs onslaught Wednesday — even the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands.The Australian territory in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean was slapped with 10 percent tariffs on all its exports, despite the icy archipelago having zero residents — other than many seals, penguins and other birds.Strings of ocean specks around the globe, including Australia’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Comoros off the coast of Africa, were likewise subjected to 10 percent new tariffs.Another eye-catching inclusion in the tariffs list was Myanmar, which is digging out from an earthquake that left nearly 3,000 people dead, and whose exports to the United States will now face 44 percent in new levies.Britain’s Falkland Islands — population 3,200 people and around one million penguins — got particular punishment.The South Atlantic territory — mostly famous for a 1982 war fought by Britain to expel an Argentinian invasion — was walloped with tariffs of 41 percent on exports to the United States.The Falklands’ would-be ruler Argentina only faces 10 percent new tariffs.According to the Falklands Chamber of Commerce, the territory is ranked 173 in the world in terms of global exports, with only $306 million of products exported in 2019. This included $255 million in exports of mollusks and $30 million of frozen fish.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio headed Wednesday to a NATO meeting in Europe as transatlantic tensions soar, with President Donald Trump unleashing a trade war and challenging Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland.Rubio flew out of Andrews Air Force Base shortly after Trump made his long-awaited announcement of sweeping global tariffs, part of an effort to remake the world’s economic order and shatter decades of efforts toward freer trade.European allies have warned they will respond in kind, although Britain, which has left the European Union, said Wednesday it would take its time as it seeks a trade deal with Washington.Rubio, as the top US diplomat, has used more delicate language than Trump. But ahead of his trip, he said Trump was right “that the state of global trade is completely unfair to America.””So I get why all these countries are unhappy, because they got a great deal going on and they want to keep it going,” Rubio said in a Fox News Radio interview in March.Rubio will be taking part in two days of talks among NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, which will prepare for a June leaders’ summit in The Hague.The new US administration has quickly shown itself ideologically at odds with much of Europe. Vice President JD Vance made the Trump team’s European debut in February by calling on Germany to stop shunning the far right.Other than Canada, which Trump has mocked as the 51st US state, perhaps no ally has come under as much fire as Denmark.Trump covets its Arctic territory Greenland, which is rich in resources and strategically located.Vance flew last week to an American space base there and said: “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.”Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who hopes to meet Rubio in Brussels, said that Denmark did “not appreciate the tone” of Vance.”This is not how you speak to your close allies, and I still consider Denmark and the United States to be close allies,” Rasmussen said on X after Vance’s trip.- Swings on Ukraine -The talks come a month after Trump stunned Europeans by dressing down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a White House meeting, with Vance calling him ungrateful for the billions of dollars of US weapons sent to repel a Russian invasion.The White House showdown prompted European allies to reconsider US commitments to the continent as never before.Germany changed its constitution to ramp up defense spending and France redoubled calls for European-led collective defense.Since then, however, diplomacy has shifted, with Rubio meeting senior Ukrainian officials who backed a US-led proposal of a 30-day ceasefire.Putin rejected the truce proposal and instead has stepped up calls to remove Zelensky, prompting annoyance from Trump.Rubio is expected to hear calls in Brussels from Eastern European nations that want the United States to push forward on sanctions against Russia unless it budges.The Trump administration has sought to reprioritize US defense strategy to focus on China, as tensions rise over Taiwan, and to let Europeans handle more of their own security.The sentiment was laid bare in a text exchange on US strikes on Yemen, to which a journalist of The Atlantic was inadvertently added. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, backing up assertions to Vance, described “European freeloading” as “PATHETIC.”Ahead of the summit in The Hague, Trump is pushing NATO members to show their commitment by raising defense expenditure to five percent of GDP — more than any, including the United States, now spends. 

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled a raft of punishing tariffs targeting countries around the world including some of its closest trading partners, in a move that risks sparking a ruinous trade war. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden against a backdrop of US flags, Trump slapped the most stinging tariffs on China and the European Union on what he called “Liberation Day.”The dollar fell one percent against the euro and slipped against other major currencies as Trump was speaking.”For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said.Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called the “nations that treat us badly,” including 34 percent on goods from superpower rival China, 20 percent on key ally the European Union and 24 percent on Japan.But the 78-year-old Republican — who held up a chart with a list of levies — said that he was “very kind” and so was only imposing half the amount that those countries taxed US exports.For the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent, including Britain.An audience of cabinet members, as well as workers in hard hats from industries including steel, oil and gas, whooped and cheered as Trump said the tariffs would “make America wealthy again.””This is Liberation Day,” Trump said, adding that it would “forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed.”Sweeping auto tariffs of 25 percent that Trump announced last week are also due to take effect at 12:01 am (0401 GMT) Thursday.- ‘Golden Age’ -Trump has telegraphed the move for weeks, insisting tariffs will keep the United States from being “ripped off” by other countries and spur a new “Golden Age” of American industry.But many experts warn the tariffs risk triggering a recession at home as costs are passed on to US consumers, and a damaging trade war abroad.The world has been on edge ahead of Trump’s announcement.Markets have been volatile as investors hedged their bets, and the announcement came after Wall Street stocks closed.The tariffs will also reinforce fears that Trump is backing even further away from US allies towards a new order based on a vision of American supremacy.US trading partners have vowed swift retribution, while also trying to persuade Trump to reach deals to avoid tariffs in the first place.  Germany warned Wednesday that trade wars hurt “both sides.”The European Union will react to new Trump tariffs “before the end of April,” said a French government spokeswoman.The 27-nation bloc’s initial salvo would counter US actions on steel and aluminum, followed by sector-by-sector measures.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who made intense, said a “trade war is in nobody’s interests.” “We have prepared for all eventualities — and we will rule nothing out,” he told parliament.- Recession fears -Trump has had a long love affair with tariffs, insisting in the face of experts that they are a cure-all for America’s trade imbalances and economic ills.The billionaire insists the levies will bring a “rebirth” of America’s hollowed-out manufacturing capacity, and says companies can avoid tariffs by moving to the United States.But critics say US businesses and consumers could bear the burden if importers pass on the cost, adding that the policy could increase risks of a recession.”If this trade war continues through Labor Day (on September 1), the US economy will likely suffer a recession this year,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, told AFP.Negotiations are likely to continue though as countries seek to halt the tariffs.Trump has previously been persuaded however to halt tariffs on neighbors Canada and Mexico while trade talks continued.He ordered levies on both on the grounds that they had failed to stop the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States.”I understand that it’s a game of tug-of-war,” truck driver Alejandro Espinoza told AFP as he waited in a queue to cross the Mexican-US border. “But unfortunately, we’re the ones who pay in the end.” burs-dk/sst

Tesla’s worldwide sales tumbled in the first quarter, piling further pressure on CEO Elon Musk who faces a growing backlash for his role overseeing US federal spending cuts under President Donald Trump.Musk’s electric vehicle company delivered 336,681 autos globally in the first three months of 2025, a drop of 13 percent, figures showed Wednesday.The quarterly figures were the lowest in nearly three years and lagged analyst expectations, as Tesla pointed to the “loss of several weeks of production” while it ramps up upgrades for its Model Y output.Tesla shares initially fell more than six percent, but they bounced following a news report that Trump will soon scale back Musk’s involvement in his administration.Musk, the world’s richest person, donated more than $270 million to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Trump tasked Musk with leading the “Department of Government Efficiency” or DOGE, which has slashed the federal workforce and moved to shut down swaths of the US government.DOGE has become a lightning rod over its murky legal standing and questions about Musk’s conflicts of interest and public accountability as an unelected figure driving radical change.Since Trump returned to the White House, Tesla has been targeted for consumer boycotts and vandalism as its chief executive has helped engineer thousands of job cuts across the US government while aggressively attacking Trump critics on the Musk-owned X social media platform.Wedbush’s Dan Ives, a prominent technology analyst and longtime believer in Tesla’s growth potential, called the figures “a disaster on every metric,” according to a note.”It’s a fork in the road moment,” said Ives, who has called for Musk to publicly outline how he is balancing his Tesla commitments with his work for Trump.”The more political he gets… the more the brand suffers, there is no debate. This quarter was an example of the damage Musk is causing Tesla,” he added, calling early 2025 “a moment of truth” for Musk and his car company.Ives and other long-term Tesla bulls have viewed the EV maker as poised for potentially massive growth, viewing Musk as a guru in state-of-the-art autonomous driving and artificial intelligence technology expected to play a growing role for the foreseeable future.- Leaving soon? -Politico reported that Musk will soon retreat from his role with Trump, citing unnamed sources who described frustration within the White House at the Tesla chief’s unpredictability.The article also cited concerns that Musk has become a political liability, noting that a Musk-backed judicial candidate in Wisconsin was soundly defeated by a liberal on Tuesday.Trump himself signaled a potential change, praising Musk as “amazing” late Monday in the Oval Office.”I also think he’s got a big company to run,” Trump added, “and so at some point he’s going to be going back. He wants to.”Trump said he expects Cabinet secretaries to succeed with Musk’s mission, saying of DOGE, “at a certain point, I think it will end.”Politico quoted sources saying Musk would remain an informal advisor.While Tesla’s release Wednesday did not break out Cybertruck deliveries, the figures suggest anemic sales for the vehicle, which Musk has passionately embraced.In March, Tesla announced it was recalling essentially all Cybertrucks because of an exterior panel defect.Tesla also did not specify deliveries by country, but figures from national auto authorities have shown big drops across Europe, where Musk’s association with Trump has sparked criticism.Tesla shareholder Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, who has previously called for the board to remove Musk as CEO, slammed the figures on X.”These numbers suck,” Gerber posted. “The Cybertruck is basically not selling. The brand is broken and may not be fixable. The board of directors is 100 percent responsible.”Tesla shares finished up 5.3 percent.

The head of Boeing acknowledged to lawmakers Wednesday that it made “serious missteps in recent years” while insisting the aviation giant has chalked up progress in winning back consumer and investor confidence.On the eve of this hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg sent a message to the company’s 160,000 employees saying his testimony would be key to restoring trust in the crisis-plagued manufacturer.”Boeing made serious missteps in recent years, and it’s unacceptable,” Ortberg told the panel.But Ortberg, who was received cordially by the committee, said near the end of the two-hour hearing that the “progress we’ve made so far looks like we’re getting the results we want.”Boeing has suffered for several years from production quality problems, with the latest major incident coming in January of last year when an Alaska Airlines 737 saw a door part fly off in mid-flight.Prior to that, new Boeing 737 MAX planes were involved in fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that together claimed 346 lives.In January, it reported a loss of $3.9 billion as the company continued to experience a hit from a more than seven-week labor strike that shuttered two major assembly plants.Ortberg, who took over in August, said the company had made “sweeping changes” since the Alaska Airlines incident, committing to a series of key performance indicators monitored closely by the Federal Aviation Administration.These include reducing by 50 percent the “traveled” work in factories, referring to work performed out of sequence, which can elevate the risk of mistakes.Ortberg said the company had made progress on these pursuits, but there was more work to do.More employees are utilizing a “speak up” program designed to encourage workers to flag worries about safety, said Ortberg, while maintaining that some workers still don’t feel comfortable doing this.”We still have culture work to do,” Ortberg said. “But we are seeing an improvement.” Ortberg told the panel that the company was still not publicly releasing financial or plane production delivery targets, making those issues secondary to the company’s commitment to safety.Several lawmakers expressed hopes that Ortberg could turn around the fortunes at Boeing, which has fallen far behind archrival Airbus in the last few years as safety concerns have mounted.The hearing lacked some of the sharp jabs aimed at Ortberg predecessors Dennis Muilenburg and Dave Calhoun following major safety problems.But Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, pressed Ortberg on a decision not to include union representatives among company directors, telling the Boeing CEO that the board should be hearing from line workers “in every board meeting.” 

The US Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday over a move by the state of South Carolina to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood because the reproductive health organization provides abortions.South Carolina’s Republican governor Henry McMaster issued an executive order in 2018 cutting off reimbursements to the two Planned Parenthood clinics in the state for services provided to low-income Americans under the government’s Medicaid program.The Medicaid reimbursements were not for abortion-related services, but McMaster said providing any funding to Planned Parenthood amounts to a taxpayer “subsidy of abortion,” which is banned in South Carolina for women who are more than six weeks pregnant.Planned Parenthood, which provides a wide range of health services, and a South Carolina woman suffering from diabetes filed suit against the state arguing that Medicaid patients have the right to receive care from any qualified provider.An appeals court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot be excluded from the state’s Medicaid program and South Carolina appealed to the Supreme Court, where conservatives wield a 6-3 majority.The court appeared divided after hearing nearly two hours of oral arguments and it was not immediately clear how the justices would rule.Justice Elena Kagan, one of the three liberals on the top court, said the ban on Planned Parenthood appeared to be at odds with the requirement that Medicaid patients can receive health care from a doctor of their choosing.”The state has to ensure that individuals have a right to choose their doctor,” Kagan said. “That’s what this provision is.”Otherwise, she said, every state could split up the world by medical providers.”It could be people who do provide abortion, people who don’t provide abortion, people who do provide contraception, people who don’t provide contraception,” Kagan said.Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative nominated to the court by President Donald Trump, questioned whether a ruling in favor of Planned Parenthood might open the “floodgates” to lawsuits from people “because they can’t see the provider of their choice.”- ‘Magic wand’ -John Bursch, an attorney with the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, arguing the case for South Carolina before the court, said Medicaid patients do not have the right to “whip out a magic wand and then just hit on the head the doctor that they want.””It’s like when I go to Blue Cross and Blue Shield,” Bursch said, referring to a major US health insurance company. “I don’t get to pick any doctor that I want.”He said the qualified provider provision works in the same fashion.”The state decides who the providers are, who are qualified, and you get to choose among them,” he said. “And they decided that Planned Parenthood was unqualified for many reasons, chiefly because they’re the nation’s largest abortion provider.”Nicole Saharsky, representing Planned Parenthood, said it has never been argued in the case that the organization is “unqualified, medically, professionally unqualified.””It is only because there is something that Planned Parenthood is doing outside of Medicaid that the state wants to disqualify it from the program,” Saharsky said.A loss in the Supreme Court could lead to other conservative states with strict abortion laws stripping Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funding.The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the case by the end of its term in June.

Elon Musk’s rise as President Donald Trump’s all-powerful wingman was as rapid and unstoppable as one of his SpaceX rockets. But reports Wednesday are fueling speculation that the billionaire’s political career may be coming back to Earth.Politico and ABC News quoted unnamed sources saying Musk could step away from an unprecedented role in which he is spearheading brutal cuts to US government services and has emerged only second to Trump as the face of the administration.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Politico’s report “garbage.” Another spokesman, Harrison Fields, said Politico is a “tabloid paper that would rather run fake news for clicks than real reporting.”However, there has been speculation from day one over how long Musk can maintain his extraordinary position, one that has seen him get so close to Trump that critics dub him the “co-president.”For two months, the world’s richest person has overseen an ideologically driven crusade by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. While DOGE aims ostensibly to save money, Musk has triggered widespread alarm by crippling US foreign aid programs and scientific research almost overnight.And his prominence inside the White House has reportedly created friction in Trump’s inner circle.Not only was the South Africa-born tech mogul given a leading voice at a much-publicized cabinet meeting — despite having no official cabinet position — but he regularly appears with Trump in the Oval Office and flies with the president on weekends to his Florida golf resort.Trump hinted at a gradual break-up this week, telling reporters that “at some point Elon’s going to want to go back to his company.””He wants to. I’d keep him as long as I could keep him,” Trump said.- Musk loses ‘referendum’ -The reports of tension inside the White House have been growing gradually, as have questions over how long Trump — not known for liking to share the limelight — could put up with such an out-sized personality.But Trump officials may want to give the Tesla, SpaceX and X magnate a harder push after his resounding flop in trying to tilt an important election in the American heartland.Tuesday’s contest to fill a vacant seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court quickly took on national implications after Trump and especially Musk threw their weight behind the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel.Reprising his successful 2024 campaign tactics for Trump, Musk doled out cash to voters to drum up publicity and turnout for Schimel. In all, he poured some $20 million into Wisconsin’s race and campaigned in the state over the weekend.Yet all for nothing: the Democrats’ favored candidate, Susan Crawford, won handily.There was more bad news for Musk on Wednesday when his beloved Tesla posted a 13 percent drop in worldwide first quarter results — a slump that follows steadily declining share prices for the once stellar brand.There’s a purely bureaucratic reason Musk may have to leave the White House and his DOGE role — his current legal status as a “special government employee” is theoretically set to expire by early June.But analysts say the entrepreneur’s political future may be decided on another level.Andrew Koneschusky, a political communications expert and former press secretary to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, called the Wisconsin vote a “referendum” on Musk.”Watch closely for whether vulnerable Republicans begin to distance themselves from him in the weeks and months ahead.”