News & Brews June 4, 2025
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Trump’s higher tariffs on steel start today
The AP reports that beginning today, President Trump’s 50% tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum are in effect. Trump announced the hike from 25% last week while in West Mifflin Pa. Reactions, not surprisingly, are mixed. United Steelworkers President David McCall, who tried to stop the U.S. Steel/Nippon Steel merger, said, “While tariffs, used strategically, serve as a valuable tool in balancing the scales, it’s essential that we also pursue wider reforms of our global trading system.” And the Aluminum Association’s Matt Meehan noted that “tariffs alone will not increase U.S. primary aluminum production.” Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Foundation’s Nathan Benefield correctly wrote during last year’s presidential campaign, “Tariffs increase prices. A tariff is a tax on imported goods — paid by U.S. consumers.”
Early findings from Dems’ study of men
POLITICO reports on Democrats’ “widely mocked project” to figure out why they’re losing the male voting bloc. But early findings of the two-year effort give a few hints. “Democrats are seen as weak, whereas Republicans are seen as strong,” one of the study’s co-founders said. Focus groups “found that young men feel they are in crisis: stressed, ashamed and confused over what it means to be a man in 2025.” (Democrats are unlikely to be helpful here, as they don’t know the difference between a man and a woman.) “Young men’s feelings of crisis are connected to their exodus from the party.”
Pa.’s judicial retention elections, explained
Veteran Republican consultant Chris Nicholas has a great explainer in RealClear Pennsylvania about how our judicial retention elections work. He also explains why this year’s retention elections—in which three Democrat Supreme Court justices will be on the ballot—offer voters a once-in-a-decade choice.
Pa. lawmakers advance bipartisan AI regulations
The Pa. House Communications and Technology Committee and the Pa. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced bills—sponsored by Democrat Rep. Tarik Khan (Philadelphia) and GOP Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (Berks & Montgomery), respectively—that would implement new AI regulations. Khan’s bill, the LNP explains, would “require political campaigns to disclose when they use AI to impersonate a candidate.” And Pennycuick’s bill would “classify nonconsensual deepfakes — false audio, video or images made by AI to appear real — as digital forgery.” The votes came even as Congress is considering a temporary block on state AI regulations.
Fetterman loses chief of staff & faces poll alarm
The Inquirer reports that a new poll shows Democrat U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has only a 28% favorability rating among likely Democrat primary voters. (This comes after the pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat party turned against him due to his support for Israel.) Separately, the Inky also reports the departure of Fetterman’s chief of staff, who had been in the role for a little over a year.