Politics

Mbappé-Paraguay racism row rumbles on

Published

3 months ago

July 9, 2026

Remarks by Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla shocked France — and much of the world — earlier this week after she branded Kylian Mbappé a “brute,” mocked his intelligence and questioned his French identity.

Days later, the fallout has spiraled from international condemnation to criminal investigations and extraordinary South American threats to extradite the France captain.

Amarilla’s comments landed against an already charged backdrop after France’s World Cup tense knockout victory over Paraguay. Hours after the match, revelers at Paraguay’s annual San Juan Ara festival burned an effigy labeled “Kylian Mbappé.” But once the senator’s remarks sparked international outrage, Paraguay’s government moved to distance itself Monday, calling them “contrary to the values and principles” of the country and insisting they reflected neither the government’s views nor those of the Paraguayan people.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in an Instagram story on the same day that he “unequivocally condemned” the abuse, adding: “All of football and society stand in solidarity with the France captain — we need to fight racism and defeat it all together.”

France hit back just as forcefully. Mbappé accused Amarilla of being a “despicable woman” unworthy of office, while the French Football Federation announced it would take the case up with prosecutors. By Tuesday, French prosecutors had opened an investigation into alleged racist abuse following the complaint from the FFF, citing an offense punishable by up to one year in prison and a €45,000 fine.

French President Emmanuel Macron weighed in on X the same day: “Another goal for Kylian Mbappé. Against racism this time.”

Amarilla, meanwhile, responded with a lengthy open letter on Tuesday in French and Spanish after deleting some of her original posts. While saying she regretted insulting Mbappé “with the same insults” she had herself endured as a mixed-race woman, she spent much of the letter demanding that the France captain apologize to her, accusing him of insulting her and threatening legal action if he refused.

Hours later, speaking to reporters, she struck a different tone acknowledging that her posts “were racist” and “unfortunate.” But she again stopped short of apologizing. “I’m trying to build a different Celeste Amarilla,” she said, blaming the attitudes she grew up with. “Have patience. I’m trying.”

The condemnation only widened. Paraguay’s Senate on Wednesday formally rejected Amarilla’s remarks, saying they did not represent the chamber. The U.N. human rights office warned that “language that dehumanizes people because of their race or ethnic origin has no place in sport or public discourse,” while World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the episode “a disgrace,” adding that “racism is not a joke, a personality trait, or an excuse rooted in ‘where I come from.’”

The saga may not be over just yet. Speaking to ABC Cardinal on Tuesday, Amarilla said she was considering suing Mbappé, arguing that his response constituted “gender violence” and “political violence.”

The following day, her lawyer, Guillermo Duarte Cacavelos, told the broadcaster they would meet to discuss the case and that no decision had yet been made. But he also laid out an expansive legal argument, claiming Mbappé’s description of Amarilla as a “despicable woman” could amount to criminal defamation in Paraguay because the comments had legal effects there — and suggesting the France captain could ultimately even face extradition to stand trial.

Politics

Crypto weighs revenge against Democrats — and the risks that come with it

Published

4 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The cryptocurrency industry is at a political crossroads.

Reeling from the demise of its longtime top legislative priority, crypto companies must now decide how scorched-earth to go against Senate Democrats, who last week voted unanimously against the so-called Clarity Act, a sweeping bill that would create a bespoke new regulatory framework for digital assets.

A crypto-backed PAC network’s move this week provides a hint of what may be to come. The group, known as Fairshake, announced it would spend at least $30 million to help block Democrat Sherrod Brown from recapturing a pivotal Ohio Senate seat, representing the first major signal of how the industry plans to deploy its massive campaign war chest in the final weeks before the 2026 midterms.

Some crypto executives have publicly signaled an appetite in recent days for punishing Democrats. But a partisan strategy carries major political risk for the industry: A broad offensive against Democrats ahead of an election where they have a chance to reclaim power on Capitol Hill could further alienate lawmakers the industry may soon need to revive its agenda.

“As much as some people may want to, they can’t wave a wand and make Democrats go away,” said Sheila Warren, the former CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, an industry trade group. “Every industry — not just crypto — has to figure out what to do with that reality.”

The crypto industry’s spending could have immediate consequences after the election. Democrats are signaling that a Senate GOP-aligned spending spree would suppress any appetite for lame duck dealmaking involving the Clarity bill — although it remains a long shot that it would come back to life regardless. A Senate Democratic aide involved in the crypto effort said a full-scale assault on the party’s Senate candidates “would absolutely eviscerate any hope” of a post-election deal.

The Fairshake PAC group, funded primarily by crypto firms Coinbase and Ripple and venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, had more than $120 million at its disposal as of the end of August. It has previously deployed its war chest to help members of both parties who support industry-friendly policies.

Fairshake is preparing to announce additional spending decisions supporting both Democrats and Republicans in the coming days, according to a spokesperson for the group, Geoff Vetter. But it’s unclear what races — or which chamber — it will target next.

Kara Calvert, Coinbase’s vice president of U.S. policy, said in an interview that bipartisanship has been crypto’s “superpower.”

“Nobody is eager to erode that,” she said.

Though Fairshake says it will maintain a bipartisan approach, it hasn’t specified what shape that will take. One potential avenue for the PAC is to continue to back crypto-friendly Democrats running for the House — where the Clarity bill advanced with 78 Democratic votes last year — but primarily help Republicans in the Senate.

Fairshake spent in favor of several Senate Democrats in the 2024 elections, including in battleground general election races in Michigan and Arizona, where it backed Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Ruben Gallego, respectively. It also plowed more than $40 million into the effort to help defeat Brown in his 2024 reelection campaign — by far its biggest spend of the cycle.

This time, Republicans are pressing the industry to recalibrate its approach and ditch the Democrats.

“To reward people who voted against the motion to proceed on Clarity after the Democrats got 126 amendments in the bill would be a huge mistake,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, the crypto bill’s leading champion in the Senate. The Wyoming Republican is retiring when her term ends in January.

Democrats, who feel increasingly confident about their chances in November despite the GOP’s spending advantages, say Republicans are trying to play the crypto industry.

It’s “been the goal of Republican colleagues all along to try to get folks to invest in races, versus them trying to get a piece of legislation done, and someone needs to call the Republicans out on their bullshit,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who added: “Sherrod’s gonna win.”

Politics

Can Mitch Landrieu break through in 2028?

Published

4 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Can Mitch Landrieu break through in 2028?

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Politics

Sen. Jon Husted: Iran war ‘needs to come to an end as quickly as possible’

Published

19 hours ago

September 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Jon Husted became the latest battleground Republican this week to call for a quick end to the Iran war, as panic grows over how high gas prices and President Donald Trump’s agenda could imperil the party’s chances in November.

“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” the Ohio senator told Blue Light News, in his furthest comments yet on the matter.

Coming after Iowa Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, who broke from Trump over the war on Monday, and Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who followed suit hours later, Husted’s comments are another example of the pressure he and other Republicans are under to address prices at the pump. Several candidates are creating some distance from Trump, as voters continue to blame the president for the current economy and the Iran conflict for high costs of living.

Husted said in the interview that he still thinks Iran needs to reach a deal with Trump to end the conflict, but added: “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t want the war to come to an end.”

He has a finer line to walk with Trump in his state, and Republicans close to him say he can’t and won’t completely break with the president. Husted does not plan to support the Democratic-led war powers resolution when it comes up for a vote in the Senate this week, a spokesperson said. And Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to visit the state in the coming weeks to shore up his campaign and drive GOP turnout.

Husted is staring down a tight race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, where millions in spending and recent polling have put Brown slightly ahead. Top Hill Republicans and Senate GOP operatives have said the Ohio Senate race is among their primary concerns in the battle to keep control of the chamber.

But Ohio is just one in a series of battlegrounds where rising gas prices have become a defining issue. Beyond Hinson and Rogers, a growing number of Republicans are starting to call for emergency actions like a diesel export ban to lower gas prices, including Iowa GOP Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

“Hinson broke the dam,” said one GOP operative, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who is locked in an incredibly competitive race, called Tuesday for a diesel export ban to provide voters relief. He didn’t mention the Iran war.

The panic is being felt most acutely in the Midwest, as high gas and diesel prices and Trump’s tariffs hammer families, truckers and farmers just a few weeks ahead of the peak harvest season with no relief in sight.

By Sunday night, Rogers had filmed an ad at a grocery store decrying high prices and, straight to camera, breaking with Trump to call for an end to the Iran war, according to two Republicans involved in the matter, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

Rogers’ team was putting the finishing touches on the ad Monday morning when Hinson posted her break with Trump over the war directly on social media.

“The war’s just gone on too long. Mike still thinks Iran shouldn’t have a nuclear weapon, but we originally thought this would take six weeks,” said one person with direct knowledge of the conversations in Rogers’ camp about the move. “Voters have been paying for it at their kitchen tables for too long.”

Michigan’s GOP nominee for governor, Rep. John James, also said Tuesday the Iran war needs to end “quickly.” And Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin’s GOP governor nominee, said Tuesday he believes “we should be exiting Iran, that it’s time to move on, we’ve degraded their nuclear facilities, we’ve degraded their military … time to come home, take care of business here in America.”

Trump, for his part, told reporters Tuesday that he asked his team to consider a diesel export ban, and that his administration is mulling it.

But the move is rife with internal GOP fighting behind the scenes: Trump’s team is getting an earful from GOP lawmakers in oil states who oppose the move, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. That makes any decision before the midterms highly problematic with at least one corner of the party.

Both the top House GOP leaders — Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise — have opposed similar measures from the past to protect their oil state of Louisiana. The Texas GOP delegation is also “strongly opposed,” according to another Republican.

Husted told Blue Light News on Tuesday that he supports his state legislature suspending Ohio’s gas tax for a period. Democrat Amy Acton, who is running for governor, called for a gas tax suspension Monday. Her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy and a broader swath of Republicans called for the state legislature to convene and pass legislation to suspend the state’s gas tax hours later.

“I think in the long run we are going to have lower gas prices,” Husted said, citing the war in Ukraine as a factor for spiking diesel costs as well as the war with Iran. “It’s taking longer than any of us wish it would. So in the interim, while those things are concluding, the idea of providing relief from the gas tax for Ohioans for a short period of time is a reasonable thing for Governor [Mike] DeWine to consider.”