Raw Story

Donald Trump's former lawyer argued that Elon Musk would be a major liability for his agenda moving forward.

The tech billionaire bought himself a prominent perch in the president's second administration by contributing more than $277 million to his 2024 re-election campaign, but former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen wrote on his Substack page that Musk would present a major political problem for Republicans.

"It takes a special kind of arrogance, bordering on megalomania, to look at a former astronaut, Navy captain, and combat veteran who nearly lost his wife to an assassination attempt and call him a traitor," Cohen wrote. "But that’s exactly what Elon Musk did to Senator Mark Kelly after the Arizona Democrat voiced his unwavering support for Ukraine. And in doing so, Musk just handed Donald Trump and the GOP another ticking time bomb set to detonate right in their laps."

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

The South Africa-born Musk fancies himself a kingmaker in the Republican Party, Cohen wrote, but he has torched his credibility with veterans by cutting more than 80,000 jobs at the Veterans Administration and alienated others by attacking Kelly, who flew combat missions in Operation Desert Storm and served as a NASA astronaut.

"By attacking a decorated veteran, he’s driving even more of them away from the GOP; a party that still desperately needs their votes," Cohen wrote. "For Trump, this is disastrous. Veterans are still pissed with him, thanks to his documented history of calling them 'suckers' and 'losers,' disrespecting Senator John McCain by refusing to acknowledge him as a war hero, and botching policies meant to support them. Musk’s latest meltdown isn’t going to help. Veterans aren’t going to look at Musk’s unhinged ranting against Mark Kelly and think, 'Yeah, this guy speaks for me.' They’re going to see yet another wealthy, out-of-touch billionaire attacking one of their own; and by extension, themselves."

Cohen wrote that Republicans faced a long-term electoral crisis in the making as independents shift left and suburban voters turn against MAGA policies, and he said Musk's attacks on veterans presented another obstacle to retaining their congressional majorities in next year's midterms.

"The GOP’s continued obsession with Musk isn’t just bad politics; it’s electoral suicide," Cohen wrote. "They have hitched their wagon to a man who not only has no loyalty to their party but also thrives on controversy, chaos, and alienating crucial voting blocs. It’s a disaster in the making, and the worst part? They know it. They just don’t have the spine to do anything about it."

"Elon Musk may think he’s the future of American politics," Cohen added Wednesday. "But if he keeps this up, he’s going to make sure the GOP doesn’t have one."

Two Texans in Congress defend CHIPS Act in the face of Trump’s criticism" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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Two Texas Republicans in Congress are defending the CHIPS Act, saying it benefits national security and creates jobs, and downplaying President Donald Trump’s recent request to get rid of the law.

The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden, gives funding to companies to manufacture semiconductors in the United States. This includes billions to help build and improve Texas factories producing materials for microchips.

The CHIPS Act – formally the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act – was an effort by the federal government to encourage more semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. Semiconductors, which make up microchips, are found in nearly every electronic device including cars, cellphones and computers.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced the Chips for America Act, the bill that set up the programs funded by the CHIPS and Sciences Act, in 2020. The lawmakers are prominent Republican supporters of government programs that encourage semiconductor production.

The Chips for America Act was included in the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which became law after Congress overrode a Trump veto for reasons unrelated to semiconductor production.

McCaul said the foundations for the CHIPS act go back to when members of Trump’s national security team – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross – approached him in 2020, while he headed the House China Task Force. They asked for help to start manufacturing “national security assets” inside the country and to pull supply chains out of Taiwan, McCaul said.

In his second term, Trump shocked many lawmakers during his March 4 joint address to Congress by asking House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, to “get rid of” the act.

“Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump said. “We give hundreds of billions of dollars, and it doesn’t mean a thing.”

The president implied that tariffs on semiconductors would be enough to encourage companies to move production to the United States.

But McCaul told The Texas Tribune that he thinks the president “went off script and was not well informed,” during the joint address.

“I think there's a little bit of cleanup behind the scenes,” McCaul said.

Trump might think it was a Biden administration idea, McCaul said, because Biden signed the CHIPS and Sciences Act into law. McCaul said Trump’s comment against the act “defies the history of CHIPS, which goes back to his administration and his national security team.”

The joint address wasn’t the first time Trump criticized the act. In January, Trump called CHIPS a “ridiculous program.”

Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, during his January Senate confirmation hearing, called the act an “excellent downpayment,” to begin to bring semiconductor manufacturing to the United States, but added that the administration needs to study the law to “make sure that you get the benefit of the bargain.” Lutnick did not fully commit to continuing to fund CHIPS after being asked to by Democrats.

McCaul and Cornyn penned an op-ed days into the second Trump administration that called for Republicans to “reclaim rightful credit,” for the act and remove some grant recipient criteria.

Cornyn, one of 17 Senate Republicans to vote for the CHIPS Act, told The Texas Tribune Tuesday that he does not think getting rid of the act is likely.

“If something were to happen to the supply chain for advanced semiconductors, which is largely based in Asia, we would be in a depression,” Sen. John Cornyn said. “It would very negatively affect our national security interests.”

While the United States used to produce a significant portion of the world’s semiconductors, in recent years Asia – specifically Taiwan – has become the center of production. Taiwan, as of 2023, produces over 60% of semiconductors worldwide.

Sen. Ted Cruz, who voted against the CHIPS Act, was a leader on a successful bipartisan bill last year to take away some requirements for applicants – such as environmental reviews and permits.

Asked for comment, Cruz’s team did not send a statement about his current stances on the CHIPS Act in time for publication.

McCaul said the manufacturing jobs the law created and the national security aspect “plays right in line with America First,” a goal of Trump’s policies.

Multiple Texas facilities have been awarded funding from the CHIPS Act. This includes up to $4.7 billion for Samsung to build new facilities in Taylor and to improve one in Austin. Three new facilities in Sherman – up to $900 million for two Texas Instruments facilities and as much as $380 million for a GlobalWafers facility – were also granted funding under the act.

Other planned Texas projects have a more uncertain fate. In December, the federal government signed a $50 million nonbinding preliminary memorandum to modernize a X-Fab facility in the state. On Jan. 16, the federal government signed similar agreements with IntelliEPI for over $10 million to improve a facility and with Sumika to construct a Baytown factory for around $52 million.

The federal CHIPS Act was replicated by the Texas state government in 2023, setting aside almost $700 million to subsidize companies that make microchips.

Disclosure: Texas Instruments has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/12/texas-congress-cornyn-mccaul-trump-chips-act/.

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By Hazel Velasco Palacios, Penn State and Kathleen Sexsmith, Penn State

“I had never worked with mushrooms before,” Luis said, reflecting on his time in Chester County’s mushroom industry. “But my family has always worked in agriculture, so I like it. I’m used to hard work.”

Luis, whose name is a pseudonym to protect his identity, is part of the latest wave of immigrant workers who have, for decades, come to Chester County to work in Pennsylvania’s US$1.1 billion mushroom industry. He is a Venezuelan migrant who was granted Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, under the 2023 designation. TPS allows foreign nationals already in the U.S. to remain for six, 12 or 18 months – regardless of how they entered – if their home country is deemed too dangerous for them to return.

In February 2025, President Donald Trump terminated TPS for Venezuelans who received protection under the 2023 expansion. According to the Department of Homeland Security, this designation had allowed approximately 348,000 Venezuelans to remain in the U.S. legally, with many eligible for work authorization. Meanwhile, Venezuelans who were granted TPS under the earlier 2021 designation can retain their status until Sept. 10, 2025. This provides temporary relief but leaves their long-term status uncertain.

We are rural sociologists – a Penn State professor and a Ph.D. candidate – who study labor, migration and agriculture in the U.S. Our research examines how industries such as mushroom farming maintain a stable workforce. One of us recently published an article in the peer-reviewed journal Rural Sociology that highlights how Pennsylvania’s mushroom industry was already struggling with a labor shortage.

The termination of TPS for many Venezuelans, along with President Donald Trump’s broader immigration policies – including stricter border enforcement, increased deportations and tighter restrictions on work permits and asylum protections – will likely shrink the pool of available workers in Pennsylvania’s mushroom industry and other agricultural and food industries.

Kennett Square, Pa., bills itself as the ‘mushroom capital of the world.’

Nolabob/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Changing face of the mushroom workforce

The mushroom industry in Pennsylvania has been shaped and sustained by major waves of U.S. immigration since the late 19th century.

William Swayne, a Quaker florist, is credited with beginning mushroom cultivation in Kennett Square, a small borough in Chester County, in the 1880s.

However, it was Italian immigrants, who began arriving in the early 20th century, who transformed Kennett Square into the “mushroom capital of the world.”

Today, Pennsylvania produces 69% of all mushrooms sold in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chester County alone produced 199 million pounds of mushrooms – mostly white button mushrooms – in the 2023-24 season. While Chester County remains the hub of production, mushroom farms also extend into adjacent Berks County and parts of northeastern Maryland.

Yet, workforce instability remains a pressing issue, as the industry has struggled for decades to recruit and retain workers.

Mushroom picking is physically demanding. Workers in humid, enclosed growing rooms carefully harvest delicate mushrooms by hand to prevent bruising. Pay is structured around a piece-rate system, where earnings depend on speed and productivity. While this model allows some workers to earn more, it also creates instability, as take-home pay fluctuates based on harvest conditions and market demand. These factors make it difficult to maintain a stable workforce.

As a result, mushroom production in Pennsylvania is highly dependent on immigrant labor. While there are no national statistics tracking the nationalities of workers in the industry, our empirical studies and ongoing field research indicate that most of today’s workers are from Mexico and Guatemala. In recent years, more have arrived from Venezuela and elsewhere.

Many of these newer arrivals have entered the U.S. through programs such as TPS and the Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, or CHNV. CHNV allows certain people from those four countries who have a sponsor in the U.S. and who pass a background check to live and work in the U.S. for two years. It was established to grant temporary work authorization to individuals fleeing crises in their home countries.

TPS and CHNV have been instrumental in addressing labor shortages in essential U.S. industries such as agriculture.

At the same time, the long-standing Mexican mushroom workforce is undergoing a generational shift and aging out of field labor. Their U.S.-born children sometimes work harvesting jobs in their teens but are unlikely to stay in agriculture long term.

Rise of mushroom labor contractors

To fill employment gaps, many mushroom farms now turn to labor contractors to recruit, manage and employ workers.

Contractors typically handle payroll, workers’ compensation and access to medical care if someone is injured.

On the surface, this system offers benefits for growers. It allows them to adjust their workforce depending on demand while reducing administrative burden and liability.

But for workers, this system can be a double-edged sword.

Evidence from other agricultural industries shows that workers hired through contractors may have less job security, fewer or no benefits, and less direct contact with farm owners – which makes it more difficult to negotiate wages or report workplace concerns.

Some Kennett Square farmworkers we have interviewed see contractors as a source of flexibility.

“I had to miss work for some weeks because my kid was sick, and I lost my spot,” one worker shared. “But then I reached out to a contractor and was able to get another job at a different farm within a day.”

However, that same worker went on to say that this new farm “has wider harvesting beds, and I am getting more tired and have more pain because of it.”

In other words, while labor contractors provide continuity in employment, workers may have less control over where they are placed or the conditions they work under.

For growers, contractors serve as an effective stopgap to keep mushroom farms in operation, but they do not solve their ongoing problem of attracting long-term employees.

Fewer workers, more expensive mushrooms

With fewer workers, mushroom farms may struggle to meet the demand from grocery stores, restaurants and food processors.

A reduced supply could mean customers pay more for mushrooms at grocery stores and restaurants. If retailers must source mushrooms from other states or abroad, prices could rise further due to transportation expenses, tariffs and supply chain disruptions.

Without policies that recognize the industry’s year-round labor needs, Pennsylvania mushroom growers will be left scrambling for alternative workforce solutions.

Lawmakers have attempted to address this issue through the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021, which passed the House but stalled in the Senate. If enacted, the bill would create a Certified Agricultural Worker status, which would offer legal protection to experienced farmworkers, and expand H-2A visa eligibility to agricultural workers in year-round jobs such as mushroom farming. The bill also includes a mandatory phase-in of E-Verify for agricultural employers, a federal system used to confirm workers’ legal authorization to work in the U.S.

For now, mushroom farms – and the broader agricultural sector – must prepare for the ripple effects of more rigid immigration restrictions. Without intervention from policymakers, the strain on workers, growers and consumers is likely to intensify.

Read more of our stories about Pennsylvania.

Hazel Velasco Palacios, Ph.D. Candidate in Rural Sociology & Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Penn State and Kathleen Sexsmith, Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology, Penn State

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Financial markets are still reeling from this week's back-and-forth with the United States' key trade partners, as President Donald Trump announced and then almost immediately withdrew crippling new tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Tuesday down another 478 points, down 1.1%. Trading on the S&P 500 closed after a decline of 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.2%, for the worst day of trading since September according to Yahoo Finance. The stock market has been sliding amid fears that consumer spending would contract in response to tariffs Trump announced would be going into effect on Canada and Mexico in particular. While those tariffs have been reversed for now, Trump has indicated that 50% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from Canada will still go into effect early Wednesday morning at midnight.

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

Trump has attempted to boost investor confidence by walking back his previous comments to Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo in which he didn't rule out a recession happening as soon as this year. But Politico reported Tuesday that one of his top Cabinet secretaries may be "forced to take the fall," with "few friends in the administration" left to defend him.

According to the outlet, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — who co-chaired Trump's presidential transition team along with former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon (now Trump's secretary of education) — could be out of a job if the fallout over Trump's tariffs continues to roil markets. One unnamed source "close to the administration" told Politico that Lutnick was lately "trying to be a mini-Trump."

“I don’t think he got the memo that only Trump gets to be Trump,” the source said. “It just reinforces that he doesn’t really know how to do the job.”

Politico additionally reported that administration officials are "growing increasingly frustrated" with the commerce secretary, complaining that he often gets "out in front" of Trump and has "contradicted his messaging." They add that he has "a lack of understanding of even the basics about how tariffs and the economy work."

Last week, Lutnick made headlines after telling CNBC that "prices are going to rise" as a result of tariffs, but that companies can avoid tariffs by making their products in the United States. When hosts reminded him that companies offshore production because labor costs are lower, Lutnick proclaimed that manufacturing jobs would be done by "robots."

Click here to read Politico's report in its entirety.

Israel said Tuesday it killed a senior Hezbollah militant responsible for drones and missiles, even as it freed Lebanese prisoners as a "goodwill" gesture to the country's new president.

Despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has continued to carry out air strikes in Lebanon, claiming they are necessary to prevent the Iran-backed militant group from rearming or re-establishing a presence along its northern border.

"Earlier today, the IAF (air force) conducted a precise intelligence-based strike in the area of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, eliminating Hassan Abbas Ezzedine, the head of Hezbollah's aerial array in the Bader regional unit," the military said in a statement.

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

It said it carried out a second strike on Tuesday in the Froun area, targeting several militants.

"Several terrorists were identified in a site used by Hezbollah in the area of Froun in southern Lebanon," the military said. "An IAF aircraft struck the suspects."

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that two people were killed in the Israeli strikes.

"An enemy Israeli drone strike targeting a car on the Deir El-Zahrani road resulted in one fatality," the news agency said, citing the health ministry.

It later reported that a second person was killed in an Israeli air strike on a vehicle in the Froun area.

Although a truce reached on November 27 largely ended more than a year of hostilities — including two months of full-scale war in which Israeli ground troops crossed the border — Israel has continued to launch periodic strikes in Lebanese territory.

Israel was initially expected to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18, after missing a January deadline, but it has maintained a presence in five strategic locations.

The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

- Border disputes -

In a separate development on Tuesday, Israel announced it had agreed to release five Lebanese citizens detained during its war with Hezbollah.

"In coordination with the United States and as a gesture to Lebanon's new president, Israel has agreed to release five Lebanese detainees," a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's office said four of the prisoners had been freed on Tuesday and the fifth would follow on Wednesday.

Their release followed a meeting earlier Tuesday in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura, attended by representatives of Israel, Lebanon and mediators France and the United States.

"During the meeting, it was agreed to establish three joint working groups aimed at stabilising the region," the prime minister's statement said.

"These groups will focus on the five points controlled by Israel in southern Lebanon, discussions on the Blue Line and remaining disputed areas, and the issue of Lebanese detainees held by Israel."

The Blue Line is the UN-patrolled demarcation line that has served as de facto border since 2000.

In an interview with Lebanese news channel Al Jadeed, US Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus emphasised Washington's efforts to resolve the border issue.

"We want to get a political resolution, finally, to the border disputes," Ortagus said.

"When it comes to the border agreement, the land border agreement, there are 13 points -- I think that six are still problematic," she said.

Ortagus said Israel had "withdrawn from over 99 percent of the territory".

"I feel fairly confident that... we can have final resolution on the five points and ultimately on the remaining issues related to the Blue Line".

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow went after congressional Republicans for quietly barreling forward with a tactic that effectively hands President Donald Trump their power to rescind his tariff policies on a silver platter.

The host devoted her opening monologue on Tuesday to a Republican plan to cede their ability under the National Emergencies Act to end Trump’s tariffs, which Maddow said are causing the American public and businesses across the nation “very real pain and loss of money.”

“So Republicans in Congress have the power to stop Trump from doing what he's doing on tariffs,” Maddow said. “What will they do with that power? The Democrats are going to force them to take a vote on this."

“They’re literally ceding their power. Giving it up. 'We don't want that power,'” Maddow said as she told viewers that Republican leaders "slipped language into a procedural measure that would prevent any such resolution to end the tariffs from receiving any vote this year.”

She added: “They literally had the power to stop Trump from doing something that is hurting the country materially every single day. They have the power to stop him from what he's doing, and so what did they decide to do with that power? They decided to give that power away, so they no longer have that power, so they don't have to decide what to do with it.”

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

And, Maddow said, “it gets better” as Republicans found a way to “save themselves from the terrible dilemma of whether or not to cast a recorded vote.”

“Republicans had to figure out some way out of this trap,” she said. “The national emergency law says Congress can end the emergency – he declared a national emergency in order to give himself the ability to proclaim these tariffs.”

“The national emergency law says if a resolution to end the emergency is introduced in Congress, Congress must consider that. They have to start the process of voting on it within 15 days. So now we know Democrats are introducing that resolution that starts the clock ticking. That means Congress is going to have to vote on this in 15 days – tick tock – in order to get around that binding requirement in the law.”

So, she pointed out, Republicans “proclaimed that between now and the end of this Congress, that is just one long day. That’s just one day. The whole rest of the Congress. I am not kidding.”

Watch the clip below or at this link: