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Ron DeSantis’s bid to out-Trump his rival leaves presidential campaign adrift – Financial Times

  1. Ron DeSantis’s bid to out-Trump his rival leaves presidential campaign adrift Financial Times
  2. DeSantis defends video bashing Trump on LGBTQ issues as ‘totally fair game’ MSNBC
  3. ‘Peaky Blinders’ says video shared by Ron DeSantis campaign used footage of Cillian Murphy ‘without permission’ CNN
  4. Quickcast: DeSantis Ad Slammed As ‘Homophobic’, WH Cocaine Investigation. Titanic Sub Developments. CBS Miami
  5. Analysis | DeSantis targets a significant primary demographic: Insecure men The Washington Post
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Burning cargo ship carrying Porsches, Volkswagens, Bentleys is adrift in the Atlantic Ocean

The Portuguese navy said it rescued all 22 crew members via helicopter. Authorities described the rescue mission as “highly skilled and physically demanding.” The crew members were taken to a hotel on Faial Island in the Azores, according to the Associated Press. None of the crew members were injured in the fire.

The fire was still burning on the ship as of Friday, according to the Portuguese navy, and photos showed white smoke billowing out of the vessel. Joao Mendes Cabecas, a captain of the nearby port of Hortas, told Reuters that lithium-ion batteries in the electric cars on the Felicity Ace caught fire, but it was unclear whether that is what started the blaze.

“The ship is burning from one end to the other,” Cabecas said. “Everything is on fire about five meters [16 feet] above the water line.”

Angus Fitton, a spokesman with Porsche North America, told The Washington Post that the company was thankful that the Felicity Ace crew members were safe. He confirmed that “a number of our cars are among the cargo.”

“We are in contact with the shipping company, and the details of the cars on board are now known,” Fitton said. “While it remains too early to confirm what occurred and next steps, we are — along with our colleagues at Porsche AG — supporting our customers and our dealers as best we can to find solutions. Anyone concerned by this incident and the implications on the car they’ve ordered should contact their Porsche dealer.”

It remains unclear how many of the thousands of luxury vehicles onboard have been lost in the blaze, but it’s probably millions of dollars worth. The Felicity Ace can carry more than 18,700 tons of cargo.

Depending on the model of the Porsche, the average price for the German-made vehicle can range from $101,000 to $174,000, according to U.S. dealers. In addition to the Porsches and Volkswagens, there were also 189 Bentleys on the ship, the Drive reported. Newer-model Bentleys can cost between $166,000 and $348,000, according to Car and Driver.

A spokesman for the Volkswagen Group confirmed that the Felicity Ace was transporting its vehicles to the United States but declined to elaborate on the extent of the losses.

“We are in contact with the shipping company to get more information about the incident,” said the spokesman, Dirk Ameer.

The Japanese shipping line Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, which operates the Felicity Ace, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cargo ship fire is the latest wrinkle in the ongoing supply chain struggles that have affected U.S. retailers large and small since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Agriculture Department recently suspended imports of avocados from Mexico at a time when Americans were celebrating one of their two most avocado-centric events: the Super Bowl. (The other is Cinco de Mayo.)

Felicity Ace crew members issued a distress signal Wednesday morning after a blaze was reported on one of the cargo decks. Soon thereafter, the ship was designated as “NUC” — not under command — and the crew members were swiftly evacuated, according to FleetMon, a ship-tracking database.

“Welp, some folks aren’t getting their long awaited Porsches and whatever else was on this boat,” wrote writer and photographer Zerin Dube.

That same day, Porsche acknowledged the Felicity Ace fire in notices sent to customers tracking the status of their cars.

“We kindly ask for your patience while we work diligently on getting the Porsche of your dreams to you as quickly as possible,” the company wrote.

A Portuguese navy ship is monitoring the Felicity Ace to see whether the cargo ship is sinking or causing pollution, authorities said. A navy spokesperson told the AP that it’s unlikely the ship will be towed to a port in the Azores because of its massive size.

Matt Farah, a car enthusiast and editor of the Smoking Tire, is one of the customers who believes his vehicle is stuck at sea. Farah tweeted that he had been waiting since August for a 2022 Boxster Spyder that was modified to his specifications. The vehicle, which he declared as “the best sports car of all time, hands down,” has a retail price of about $123,000.

But when he got the call from his dealer, he was left disappointed and stunned.

“My car is now adrift, possibly on fire, in the middle of the ocean,” he wrote.

While he’s not sure if his car survived the fire, Farah said it’s likely the vehicle will need to be rebuilt.

“Odds are a new build and hopefully not another 8 months wait for it,” he tweeted.



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Felicity Ace ship full of luxury cars catches on fire, adrift in Atlantic Ocean

That’s a lot of burning rubber.

Thousands of Porsches, Audis, and Lamborghinis were marooned on an unmanned burning cargo ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean Thursday.

Crew members of the 650-feet-long Felicity Ace were evacuated from the transport ship to a hotel in the Azores Islands, as the ship was adrift 100 miles away from the Portuguese archipelago, according to the country’s military. None of the 22 sailors were harmed.

The ship was still burning and billowing out clouds of white smoke as a Portugal navy ship inspected whether it was in danger of sinking, officials said.

Felicity Ace was likely too large to be towed to a port in the archipelago, which is more than 900 miles from the European mainland. The ship had been en route to Rhode Island from Germany.

The Portuguese Air Force heads toward the burning ship.
@PortugueseAirForce/Newsflash
A Portuguese Air Force helicopter rescued 22 crew members of the Felicity Ace.
@PortugueseAirForce/Newsflash

There were 3,965 Volkswagen AG vehicles on board, including 1,100 Porches, according to Bloomberg. Volkswagen’s parent company manufactures its Volkswagen brand, as well as Porsche, Audi, and Lamborghini models, all of which were on board, an internal company email seen by the outlet said.

“Our immediate thoughts are of relief that the 22 crew of the merchant ship Felicity Ace are safe and well,” a spokesperson for Porsche said.

Anyone concerned by this incident and the implications on the car they’ve ordered should contact their Porsche dealer,” the statement read.

Rescued crew members of the Felicity Ace
@PortugueseAirForce/Newsflash
Crew members on the Felicity Ace were evacuated from the transport ship to a hotel in the Azores Islands, as the ship was adrift 100 miles away from the Portuguese archipelago.
Marinha Portuguesa

One man tweeted that his custom-ordered Porsche Boxster Spyder was on the doomed ship. Base models of the vehicle sell for $100,000.

In 2019, $300,000 Porsche models were among two thousand vehicles that sank with an Italian cargo ship near France, The Sun reported.

With AP wires



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Felicity Ace: A cargo ship full of luxury cars is on fire and adrift in the middle of the Atlantic

The 656 foot-long Felicity Ace roll-on/roll-off car-carrying ship caught fire in the North Atlantic on Wednesday as it carried cargo, including Porsches and Volkswagens, from Emden, Germany to Davisville, Rhode Island. At the time of the fire’s outbreak, the ship was sailing 90 nautical miles southwest of Portugal’s Azores, according to a statement on Wednesday by the Portuguese Navy.

After the fire broke out in the cargo hold, it spread and forced all 22 crew members to abandon ship. According to another statement by the Portuguese Navy, the crew was safely picked up and taken to a local hotel, with the rescue coordinated by the Ponta Delgada Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center. There has been no noticeable source of pollution from the fire, according to the statement.

The ship’s owners have arranged for a tow as it continues to burn. Registered to Panama, the Felicity Alice is operated by Japanese shipping line Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL). MOL has not responded to request for comment.

Porsche confirmed to CNN Business that a number of its cars were among the cargo and that customers with cars on board the burning ship are being contacted by their dealers.

“While it remains too early to confirm what occurred and next steps, we are — along with our colleagues at Porsche AG — supporting our customers and our dealers as best we can to find solutions,” said Angus Fitton, Vice President of PR at Porsche Cars North America. “We are in contact with the shipping company and the details of the cars on board are now known.”

Expectant Porsche owners with cars on board like journalist and host Matt Farah, who said he had a 2022 Porsche Boxster Spyder awaiting delivery, have already started receiving word from dealerships about the status of their vehicles.

“The dealer confirmed that my car, along with at least a dozen other vehicles they were expecting, is on that boat,” Farah said. “They had no further information for me beyond confirming my car was on the boat, and said that as soon as Porsche Cars North America has a plan of any kind with how to proceed, that they would share the plans with me.”

Volkswagen also has customers awaiting vehicles on the burning cargo ship. “We are aware of an incident involving a third-party cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic. The vessel was on its way to North America,” said Dirk Ameer, a Volkswagen spokesperson. “At this time, we are not aware of any injuries. We are in contact with the shipping company to get more information about the incident.”

The Felicity Ace can carry over 17,000 metric tons of cargo, according to the Associated Press, with possibly thousands of cars on board . The Portugese Navy said that as of Thursday, the fire is ongoing, and an ocean patrol vessel remains on site to monitor the abandoned ship.

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Trump was supposed to be a political Godzilla in exile. Instead, he’s adrift.

Ex-president Donald Trump finds himself adrift while in political exile. And Republicans, and even some allies, say he is disorganized, torn between playing the role of antagonist and party leader.

“There is no apparatus, no structure and part of that is due to a lack of political understanding on Trump’s behalf,” said a person close to the former president, noting that Trump has struggled to learn the ropes of post-presidential politicking.

“It’s like political phantom limbs. He doesn’t have the same political infrastructure he did three months ago as president,” added GOP strategist Matt Gorman, who previously served as communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The version of Trump that has emerged in the month and a half since he left office is far from the political godzilla many expected him to be. He was supposed to unleash hell on a party apparatus that recoiled when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and declined to fiercely defend him during his second impeachment. Instead, Trump has maintained close ties to GOP officials who have committed to supporting incumbents, stayed almost entirely out of the spotlight, delivered fairly anodyne remarks the one time he emerged, and offered only sparse criticism of his successor, Joe Biden.

The cumulative result is political whiplash, as the former president shifts from wanting to support the GOP with his resources and grassroots appeal one day to refocusing on his own brand and thirst for vengeance the next. In the past week alone, Trump has gone from threatening party bodies for using his name and likeness in their fundraising efforts to offering up his Mar-a-Lago estate as a host site for part of the Republican National Committee’s spring donor retreat. He savagely attacked veteran GOP operative Karl Rove for criticizing his first post-presidency speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee, and endorsed Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who repeatedly scrutinized Trump’s own trade practices while in office.

And in the span of 24 hours this week, Trump went from encouraging NFL running back Herschel Walker to mount a primary bid against Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to hosting a vocal opponent of insurgent primary challenges, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. In his role as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Scott has promised to stick by GOP incumbents — including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted to convict Trump in his Senate trial last month on charges of inciting an insurrection. The Florida Republican said he had a “great meeting” with Trump in a tweet he shared Friday.

“For any normal politician, it would look like he’s trying to have it both ways but really he’s trying to have it his way,” said a former Trump White House official. “He only cares about maintaining his power and his stranglehold over the Republican Party and it doesn’t matter to him how any of the moves he makes affect the long-term success of institutions or individuals other than himself.”

Trump has always been an impulsive figure who demanded loyalty from those around him. But those traits have come with positions of power: whether atop a real estate empire, as a media celebrity, or — in his last iteration — as president of the United States.

No longer occupying a powerful office, the task has been made more complicated. The former president has appeared to settle into life outside the confines of the West Wing, and even made his first trip to New York earlier this week. He continues to hold court on the patio of his Mar-a-Lago resort where he is greeted by a standing ovation from members when he and the former first lady walk by. He spends his days monitoring the news, making calls and playing golf at his eponymous club just a few miles away.

He has assembled a barebones staff of paid and unpaid advisers who say they are working to vet primary candidates seeking his support and get his fundraising operation off the ground. But the factions that have already formed among those surrounding him suggest potential turbulence ahead. Three veterans of Trump’s 2020 campaign — Brad Parscale, Bill Stepien and Justin Clark — have been screening primary recruitments and brainstorming ways to reestablish his online presence, while Dave Bossie and Corey Lewandowski are in talks with the ex-president to launch a new fundraising entity on his behalf, according to people briefed on the recent discussions.

At the same time, Trump has continued to phone pals from his real estate days and former White House officials — soliciting their counsel on which Republicans he should try to unseat and whether they approve of the primary challengers he’s considering. One former administration official who has been in contact with Trump described him as a “pinball,” noting that his tendency to abruptly change directions or seize on a new idea after speaking with a friend or outside adviser — a habit that often frustrated aides during his time in office — has carried into his post-presidency life.

“You’ve got Trump making endorsements of people without going through the process he agreed to three days ago,” said the former White House official. “It’s really disorganized.”

The fear among Republicans is that Trump’s indecisiveness will extend to his personal political future as well. Trump has continued to dangle a 2024 run over the party, and the will-he-won’t-he guessing game has held presidential hopefuls in limbo.

“Politics is his hobby and he’s having fun with his hobby in between his rounds of golf,” said a former Trump adviser. “His big test is does he run again? Because if he doesn’t, you’ll see people lose interest in the guy in the next hour. As long as he plays the theatrics he’s going to run again, he still garners attention and creates headlines.”

But stripped of a social media platform like Twitter, the former president has had to rely on issuing statements — some mimicking the tone and length of his past tweets — via his post-presidency office or political PAC press lists. So far, he’s issued more than two dozen endorsements and statements since leaving the White House. The more recent ones have bashed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and sought credit for the current Covid-19 vaccine distribution.

And while Trump, an avid cable news consumer, has avoided publicly responding to TV segments that are critical of him or the wave of recent “cancel culture” headlines, he’s been tempted. Before a Wednesday appearance by his senior adviser Jason Miller on the “War Room” podcast hosted by former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, Trump told Miller he could “make a little news” by relaying the ex-president’s thoughts on last Sunday’s bombshell Oprah interview of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle.

“When I was talking to the president this morning… he’s like, ‘Yeah, she’s no good. I said that and now everybody’s seeing it. But you realize if you say anything negative about Meghan Markle you get canceled. Look at Piers,’” Miller said, recounting his conversation with Trump, who had been referring to Piers Morgan, the polarizing “Good Morning Britain” host who parted ways with the show this week after dismissing Markle’s revelations as lies.

Some close aides have described Trump’s hiatus from Twitter as a welcome break that allows his rare statements to carry more weight than the thought bubbles he would release on the internet.

But so far, many of his recent political maneuverings have been met with a shrug by the GOP. Trump’s public tussle with the Republican Party over fundraising and the use of his name and likeness in appeals for money appeared to fizzle out after attorneys for the Republican National Committee denied Trump’s cease-and-desist demands. By week’s end, the RNC was not only still using Trump’s name in fundraising solicitations, it was offering him up as an enticement.

“Want to meet President Trump?” a fundraising appeal read, touting the opportunity to dine with the former president at an upcoming spring retreat and even “take a photo” with him too.



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