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“I am not a politician; I speak of the Gospel.” Pope Leo XIV’s recent remarks, made during his apostolic journey to Africa, immediately suggest that his clash with Donald Trump operates on a different level to the US president’s usual political spats.This is not the classic kind of confrontation that Trump has often had with foreign heads of state and government in the past, such as in recent months with the

It takes a lot to break a cult, but President Donald Trump’s unpopular policies and erratic behavior are so problematic that a pair of conservative commentators suspect he may have managed it.“My friend's mom said he might be the Antichrist,” The Bulwark’s Tim Miller said to West Virginia conservative podcaster Amanda Carpenter in a Thursday show. “I feel like that's on the outer edge of where three-time Trump voters are. But I do think it's real. If you look at MAGA social media — if you looked at his replies on Truth Social — people were very mad about the post.”Miller’s

Conservative court watcher Sarah Isgur tells the New York Times that Trump has made a lot of noise but accomplished very little long term in his second term.There’s very little that Donald Trump has done — in fact, I’m hard pressed to think of anything that is wholly unique,” Isgur said on the Times’ “Interesting Times” podcast. “What Donald Trump has done is turn the amp up to 11 on places that his predecessors have had built on in the past.”Isgur cited former President Barack Obama referring to his “pen and phone moment.”“I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone, and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball for

President Donald Trump only has so much time before the November midterms to course correct on his unpopular economy --but voters are getting resigned to that not happening."For some voters ... the window for making that case may already be closing," reports MS NOW.“Whatever he promises, it’s not happening,” said Victoria Partridge, a 59-year-old Uber driver in Las Vegas. She told MS NOW that she voted for Trump in 2024, but now she regrets her vote. That voter frustration is connecting with Republicans as well, who are seeing Trump neglecting the economy to focus on his various wars and personal

“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters!”“Blessed are the peacemakers, but woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”-Pope Leo XIV, Thursday speaking to thousands in CameroonBefore I begin my very short sermon today, I ask you to read the above thunderbolt again, and share it widely.We are watching history unfold as the Catholic Church publicly makes it clear as day that it stands against anybody who will

President Donald Trump tried to bicker and figuratively gaslight a reporter about the literal price of gas in America — and then changed the subject.“How much longer will Americans continue to see high gas prices?” the reporter asked Trump on Thursday. To this the president replied with a lie.“They’re not very high,” Trump said. “They’ve come down very much over the last few days.”The reporter shot back that gas is “$4 a gallon still,” to which Trump replied that “that’s what ABC says. But if you look at the stock market it's up…”"THIS EXCHANGE IS BIZARRE,

Trump advisers are privately telling Zeto editor Asawin Suebseng that they’re worried President Donald Trump’s liberal use of pardons for allies and financial contributors may not be enough to save then when Democrats nab either one or both houses in November.They “tell me they’ve recommended to the president and other top Republicans that they should try to get creative in concocting ways to preempt lawsuits, or state and local prosecutions of Trump’s staff,” wrote Suebseng. “But even in the fevered fantasies of MAGAworld’s legal brain trusts, they know that is a tall order, at best.”

President Donald Trump’s unpopular war with Iran has aroused opposition among plenty of his conservative supporters, including commentator Tucker Carlson. Yet just because Carlson agrees with liberals about Trump and Iran, one expert warned, that does not mean he is their ally.“What’s happening here is obvious: Carlson and his ilk are savvy operators, well-practiced in the art of sneaking their rhetorical f—— into the day’s prevailing political winds,” wrote The Nation's Rafi Schwartz on Thursday. “Public opposition to American-Israeli military action is an opportunity for them to launder an ideology of racial and religious hierarchy through a sanitiz

During his testimony before the Senate Budget Committee on Thursday, White House budget director Russ Vought — deemed “Darth Vader” by President Donald Trump — found himself under fire due to accusations that the administration has “frozen” hundreds of millions of dollars approved by Congress to fund anti-poverty, educational, and other programs. The refusal to spend the congressionally appropria

Republicans are getting worn down by the expectation of serious losses in November, says former Republican strategist Rick Wilson.“The mood from Republicans that I've talked to in the last few weeks is funereal,” said Wilson, a Lincoln Project co-founder who worked for the George H.W. Bush's campaign. “Behind [House Speaker] Mike Johnson's bluster they're running the on a message strategy. But behind that bluster, their rank-and-file members are desperate for Trump to shut up. They are desperate for him to stop doing insane things. They are desperate for him to stop picking fights with the Pope and invading countries and d