News in brief for July 1

Musk promises a new political party if the GOP bill passes

(NYT) — The country’s biggest Republican donor called Monday for the formation of a new political party and suggested he would back primary challengers against nearly every single Republican in Congress.

That was the saber-rattling declaration of Elon Musk, should Republicans on Capitol Hill pass President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill.

Although Musk’s words are often just that, he has dramatically escalated his anti-Republican rhetoric over the past few days. On Monday, he suggested that if the GOP bill passed, he would swiftly form a new “America Party.”

“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” he wrote in one of several Monday posts to his 220 million followers on the social platform X. “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”

By evening, Musk was committing to specific action, saying that he would support Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., among the most prominent holdouts against Trump’s bill. Although various GOP factions have voiced concerns about the legislative package, potentially imperiling its passage, almost every Republican member in Congress supports some version of it.

Forming a viable third party would be a herculean task, and there were no immediate signs Monday that Musk or his advisers were preparing to do anything concrete.

Juniper fire in California prompts evacuation order

(NYT) — About 5,000 residents of Riverside County, California, east of Los Angeles, were under an evacuation order Monday because of a quickly spreading wildfire, authorities said.

The blaze, called the Juniper fire, began just before 11:30 a.m. Monday and swiftly burned more than 600 acres, according to Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency. The cause of the fire, which was burning about 70 miles southeast of central Los Angeles, was still being investigated, the agency said.

The evacuation orders, which were issued in the afternoon, affect just over 5,000 residents of Riverside County, based on a New York Times analysis of the evacuation zones and LandScan population data. The fire is in an unincorporated county area west of the city of Perris, according to the Riverside County Fire Department. A spokesperson for the city of Perris referred inquiries to the Fire Department.

The Juniper fire is one of three blazes in Riverside County that local officials are trying to contain. The Wolf fire, which began Sunday, has burned more than 1,400 acres. Authorities reported that it was 10% contained as of Monday afternoon. The Mindy fire, which also began Sunday, was mostly contained after burning about 100 acres, and all evacuation orders associated with it have been lifted.

Summer is typically the worst season for wildfires in California, as the atmosphere dries up and temperatures rise. Though it can be difficult to predict wildfire activity, forecasters have already seen signs that this could be an especially intense year, with plenty of dry grass to fuel potential fires.

In Southern California, conditions were especially dry this winter, setting the stage for more and larger fires this summer. By September, officials predict fire activity across most of the state will be above normal this year.