memeorandum: Trump Skips Easter Church to Take Self-Worship Tour of D.C. (Laura Esposito/The Daily Beast)

2:40 PM ET, April 5, 2026

Top Items:

Barak Ravid / Axios:

Trump to Axios: Iran deal possible by Tues., otherwise “I am blowing up everything” — President Trump claimed in an interview with Axios that the U.S. is “in deep negotiations” with Iran and that a deal can be reached before his deadline expires on Tuesday.

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Laura Esposito / The Daily Beast:

Trump Skips Easter Church to Take Self-Worship Tour of D.C. — SACRED SKIP — Rather than attend Easter services, the president spent the day roaming D.C. and visiting his golf course. — Donald Trump, a Christian, opted to skip Easter service and instead went on a bizarre tour of Washington, D.C.

Discussion: Raw Story, Salon, Washington Times and The Gateway Pundit

Laura Esposito / The Daily Beast:

Trump, 79, Drops F-Bomb in Unhinged Easter Morning Threat — HE HAS RISEN — The president started off the holiest Sunday with profanity. — Donald Trump began the holiest day on the Christian calendar with a profanity-filled Truth Social tirade in which he praised Allah.

Discussion: Showbiz411, Palm Beach Post, TMZ.com, RedState, New York Post, The Hill, Raw Story, The Independent, Zeteo, MS NOW and LGBTQ Nation

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

In New Threats, Trump Seems Emboldened by a Successful Rescue — In an expletive-filled social media post, Mr. Trump said Iran should open the Strait of Hormuz or he will bomb bridges and power plants. — After celebrating the recovery of a lost airman from the mountains in Iran on Saturday night …

Discussion: Agence France-Presse

Associated Press:

US aviator missing after Iran shot down fighter jet has been rescued — The United States said Sunday it rescued a service member missing behind enemy lines since Iran downed a fighter jet, as President Donald Trump escalated pressure on Tehran with a new looming deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Discussion: New York Times, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, The American Conservative, Los Angeles Times, Salon, France 24, Washington Times, NPR, New York Sun, MPR News, WUSA, The US Sun, The Independent and Politico

NBC News:

Second airman in F-15E that was shot down over Iran rescued safely, U.S. officials say — The search was on for the backseater since Friday's incident, when the pilot was rescued shortly after the strike. — ADD NBC NEWS TO GOOGLE — U.S. forces safely rescued the second F-15E crew member …

Discussion: Axios, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Air & Space Forces Magazine, Reuters, Fox News and Aviation A2Z

Meridith McGraw / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Warns Iran He Could Strike ‘Every Power Plant,’ in WSJ Interview — 'If they don't do something by Tuesday evening, they won't have any power plants and they won't have any bridges standing' — WASHINGTON—President Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran's power plants …

Discussion: NOTUS, NewsMax.com, Washington Times, HuffPost and Reuters

Daniel W. Drezner / Drezner's World: The Strategic Defeat of the United States

Washington Post:
U.S. rescues missing crew member in Iran after fighter jet shot down

Discussion: Stars & Stripes, Axios, The Guardian, CBS News, Mother Jones, Al Jazeera, The Hill, The Times of Israel, Associated Press, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit and MS NOW

Jacob Wendler / Politico:
Trump again threatens to hit Iranian civil infrastructure

Discussion: The Hill, Advocate, Politico, The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, Just Jared, Associated Press, Washington Examiner and Bloomberg

Wall Street Journal:
Top Aides Advise Trump Blasting Iran's Infrastructure Is Fair Game

Discussion: CBS News and Raw Story

Nick Arama / RedState:
Libs Go Wild About Rumor on Trump's Health - Then He Nukes the Story With Important Post

Discussion: The US Sun, The Gateway Pundit, MS NOW, Washington Examiner and Mediaite

Associated Press:
Satellite image company restricts Mideast content, citing a U.S. government request.

Paul Krugman:

Living in Hell — War crimes coming: A horrifying update — America as we knew it may end Tuesday. — Hi, I'm Paul Krugman. Sunday morning update. Yesterday, I talked about how awful Trump's message about glory to God and all of that was, but it's looking much, much worse today.

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo

Anthony Faiola / Washington Post:

On Easter, Pope Leo delivers commanding message of peace to a world at war — “Let those who have weapons lay them down!” the first American pope declared. The White House's war in Iran and nativist agenda at home are testing the Vatican. — ROME — Pope Leo XIV used his first Easter speech Sunday …

Discussion: New York Times, RNS, CNN, MS NOW, Reuters, France 24, Letters from Leo and Middle East Monitor

Washington Post:
Trump threatens Iran with ‘Hell’ over Strait of Hormuz in profane post

Discussion: Scripps News, The Hill, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Townhall, The Daily Wire, Associated Press, France 24, Fox News, Mediaite, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, CBS News, RedState, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, One America News Network and The US Sun

G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:

Why Democrats are suddenly winning back the left — and the “double-haters” — This is my weekly Sunday roundup of new political data published over the last seven days. It is free to read, but if you want to support independent data-driven political journalism, become a paying subscriber.

Discussion: Breitbart

Irie Sentner / Politico:

‘Proactively fall in line:’ Holocaust Memorial Museum quietly changed content after Trump returned to office … “It seems like they were trying to proactively fall in line as to not then be forced to change,” one of the people said. — The museum pulled from its website a page called …

Brentin Mock / Democracy Docket:

Reports: DOJ Civil Rights chief Harmeet Dhillon to be promoted amid department shakeup — U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon may be promoted to Associate Attorney General, according to a report from the conservative Daily Wire news outlet.

Discussion: The Daily Wire, The Gateway Pundit, The Post Millennial, Raw Story and CBS News

Jonathan Cohn / The Bulwark:

This Was the Moment Donald Trump Lost His Mojo — DONALD TRUMP LAST WEEK gave an unexpectedly candid riff on his governing priorities—and, in the process, revealed that he's losing one of his most important political skills. — It happened on Wednesday, during a private Easter luncheon at the White House.

Discussion: Raw Story

Rebecca Feng / Wall Street Journal:

Life and Death Aboard Ships Stranded Near the Strait of Hormuz — Hundreds of seafarers are calling for help to get home as food and fresh water start to run low after more than a month in limbo — On the 19th day that the oil tanker ASP Avana was stuck in the Persian Gulf, its 47-year-old captain, Rakesh Ranjan Singh, died.

Discussion: emptywheel