| | | | | | | Presented By PhRMA | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen · Apr 30, 2022 | | Happy Saturday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,139 words ... 4½ mins. Edited by TuAnh Dam. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Musk's dream |  | | | Via Twitter | | | | Despite apoplexy among many Twitter power users, plenty of optimists — in tech and beyond — believe Elon Musk could make Twitter better, Axios Closer co-author Hope King writes. - Why it matters: With the deal expected to close later this year, what happens on the platform will help shape the elections of '22 and '24.
State of play: Twitter has struggled as a public company. By taking it private, Musk could experiment more boldly because Twitter wouldn't have to live up to quarterly pressures to show results. - Musk has 89.2 million Twitter followers. He tweets lots of product ideas, and engages with feedback. The people who support his takeover believe a leader who isn't a "buttoned-up suit" could bring new energy and creativity.
The big picture: Musk's stance on "free speech" is driving much of the consternation. He says he wants less content moderation, and people are worried he may reinstate former President Trump's account. - Lots of people — especially those already subject to a lot of online harassment — are worried about the prospect of Twitter loosening its moderation policies.
- "I'm not saying I have all the answers here," Musk said at the TED2022 conference two weeks ago, "but I do think we want to be very reluctant to delete things, and just be very cautious with permanent bans."
Reality check: Musk won't be able to enforce a blanket policy about what can be said or shared. And he'll fail at making everyone happy: What's considered acceptable free speech depends on who's in power. Our thought bubble: Musk's unpredictability makes him hard to trust. Unpredictability, from someone so wealthy and popular, inspires fear. - But social media as we know it is less than 20 years old. In about the same amount of time, Musk helped make electric cars mainstream ... and got space rockets to land themselves back on Earth.
Share this story. |     | | | | | | 2. Retirement funds hammered as tech plunges |  | | | Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios | | | | Many of the big 401(k) funds are down 10%+ this year, Bloomberg reports. - Why it matters: Some are in — or near — bear-market territory.
What's happening: "The epic bull run in mega-cap tech that began in March 2020 led many funds to become ever more concentrated in a handful of companies," Bloomberg reports. - While the volatility "is gut-wrenching for many people nearing or in retirement, it's an opportunity for millennial investors."
Zoom out: April's rout of tech stocks left the Nasdaq with its worst month (down 13%) in more than a decade — since the 2008 financial crisis. - The S&P 500 had its worst month (down 9%) since the pandemic hit in 2020.
🥊 Stunning stat: The S&P 500's 13% decline so far this year is the index's worst start to the year since 1939 — 83 years ago. (Reuters) Go deeper: Chart of 15 popular 401(k) funds moving deeper into red. | | | | | | | | 3. Mapped: Russia pounds Mariupol | Data: UN Satellite Center, State Department, Maxar Technologies. Graphic: Associated Press This graphic annotates a satellite image to show Russian attacks on the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, where Ukrainian defenders and hundreds of civilians are sheltering. - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Mariupol, once one of the country's most developed cities, is now a "Russian concentration camp among the ruins."
| | | | | | | | A message from PhRMA | | Out-of-pocket costs create significant barriers to care | | |  | | | | New data show that 35% of insured Americans spent more on out-of-pocket costs than they could afford in the past month. The story: Many patients are experiencing an insurance system that isn't working for those who need care. Learn how insurance is leaving patients exposed to deepening inequities. | | | | | | 4. 🚲 Top cycling cities |  Data: WalletHub analysis of Walk Score metrics. Table: Axios Visuals Axios Local newsletters featured this WalletHub analysis, which included metrics for bike lanes and bike-sharing programs. | | | | | | | | 5. Primary season's new drama | | Spotted in Worthington, Ohio. Photo: Julie Carr Smyth/AP As the primary season kicks off this week, voters will get their say on well-funded efforts by pro-Trump forces to use secretary-of-state races to take control of vote counting in crucial states ahead of the 2024 election. - Why it matters: Seven Republican secretaries of state face at least one GOP opponent who either denies President Biden won, or makes unsubstantiated claims that elections aren't secure, AP reports.
What's happening: Primary season begins in earnest Tuesday in Ohio. - John Adams, a former state lawmaker, is challenging Ohio's incumbent secretary of state, Frank LaRose, in a GOP primary. Adams has said "there's no way that Trump lost."
- LaRose — who has denounced conspiracy theories about voting, but said it's "right to be concerned about election integrity" — is endorsed by former President Trump.
Primaries for top election offices will follow over the next few weeks in Nebraska, Idaho, Alabama and the presidential battleground of Georgia. - Voters in about two dozen states will decide who will be their state's next chief election official this year.
The most high-profile races will unfold in four states where Trump disputed his 2020 loss to Biden: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Michigan. - Trump has endorsed secretary of state candidates in all but one, backing those who support his false claims.
Reality check: There is no evidence of widespread fraud or wrongdoing. Judges, including ones appointed by Trump, dismissed dozens of lawsuits filed by the former president and allies after the 2020 election. - An AP review of every potential voter fraud case in six states disputed by Trump found nowhere near enough cases to change the outcome.
Keep reading. | | | | | | | | 6. 🥂 1 fun thing: D.C. party circuit returns | Will the DJ at last night's Motion Picture Association party, backed by a video of MPA chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin. Photo: Mike Allen/Axios White House Correspondents' Association weekend kicked off last night for the first time since 2019. In a 2022 twist, bouncers on the party circuit checked not only if you were "on the list," but then wanted to see your vaccination card and a same-day negative COVID test. - Tonight's dinner will have the same requirements, via an app.
Once you were in the door, there were few masks and people mostly partied like it was 2019 — though with lighter crowds and fewer Hollywood celebrities than during the weekend's Obama heyday. - In a funny Washington ritual, my group kept running into the same people at the four events we hit between 5 and 10 p.m.
Passed food at Funny or Die. Photo: Mike Allen/Axios A signature cocktail at the Vanity Fair and Power to the Patients party was the Berry Transparent (wild-berry seltzer, orange aperitif, strawberry juice). - At the Motion Picture Association, a grilled-cheese cart was set up among props from "Cinderella," "Batman v Superman" and "Titanic."
The most elaborate spread was at the Funny or Die studio's late-night bash at The Reach at the Kennedy Center. (A wrong turn at first took us to a William Shatner appearance — really — in the Concert Hall.) - This Town could down a Swamp Water tequila or Majority Margarita ... refuel on churros and ice-cream tacos ... or hit the Extreme Milkshake Station.
Brooke Shields, 56, was cheerfully posing for photos. - Go deeper: "Your Washington Weekend," from Axios DC.
| | | | | | | | A message from PhRMA | | Voters want Congress to address health insurance | | | | | | | | According to a new poll, 71% of Americans would like to see Congress focus more on reducing the overall costs of health care coverage such as premiums, deductibles and copays. The reason: Many believe current health insurance coverage options are confusing and unaffordable. | | | | 📬 Invite your friends to sign up here to get their daily essentials — Axios AM, PM and Finish Line. |  | It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications. | | | |
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