Top Items:
Katie Rogers / New York Times:
Trump Attacks Pope Leo as Too Liberal and ‘Weak on Crime’ — President Trump's lengthy post on social media showed there were really no boundaries when it comes to people he might target, including the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. — Pope Leo XIV is one of the world's most powerful critics of the U.S. war with Iran.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, ABC News, Mediaite, New York Post, The Daily Signal, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, HuffPost, UPI, Breitbart, Forbes, Washington Examiner, OSV News, The US Sun, Metro.co.uk, Real Patriotism …, Raw Story, Axios, CNBC and IJR
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Will Weissert / Associated Press:
Trump lambasts Pope Leo XIV, extending feud over Iran war with first American pontiff — President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV on social media on Sunday, saying the first American pope should “stop catering to the Radical Left.” It was an extraordinary broadside against the global leader …
Washington Post:
Lambasting Pope Leo, Trump risks rare feud with the Catholic Church
Discussion:
Townhall, TheJournal.ie, The London Economic and Newsweek
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
MAGA International Goes Down in Flames
MAGA International Goes Down in Flames
Discussion:
Rolling Stone and Iowa politics with Laura Belin
Norah O'Donnell / CBS News:
Pope Leo statements on Iran war and mass deportations inspire American cardinals to speak out
Pope Leo statements on Iran war and mass deportations inspire American cardinals to speak out
Discussion:
Law Dork, Straight Arrow News, OSV News, Crux Now and Letters from Leo
David Gilmour / Mediaite:
‘Gross Blasphemy!’ MAGA Die-Hards Deliver Rare Rebuke of Trump for Posting ‘Unacceptable’ Meme Depicting Himself as Jesus
‘Gross Blasphemy!’ MAGA Die-Hards Deliver Rare Rebuke of Trump for Posting ‘Unacceptable’ Meme Depicting Himself as Jesus
Discussion:
The Guardian, IJR and Raw Story
Ali Walker / Politico:
Pope Leo says Trump won't silence him as US-Vatican feud erupts over Iran
Pope Leo says Trump won't silence him as US-Vatican feud erupts over Iran
Discussion:
America Magazine, Bloomberg, KDFX-TV, Associated Press, TheJournal.ie, France 24, The Daily Sceptic, Deadline and NewsMax.com
Motoko Rich / New York Times:
Pope Leo, Hours After Trump Criticism, Says He Has ‘No Fear’
Pope Leo, Hours After Trump Criticism, Says He Has ‘No Fear’
Discussion:
CBS News, Washington Times, Mediaite, MS NOW, Al Jazeera, France 24, IJR and HuffPost
Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:
Illiberalism Is Not Inevitable — If Viktor Orbán can lose, then his Russian and American admirers can lose too. — In the end, the defeat of Viktor Orbán, Hungary's autocratic prime minister, required not just an ordinary election campaign or new messaging but rather …
Discussion:
Politico, The Guardian, New Republic, Digby's Hullabaloo, Jacobin, Christian Science Monitor, Associated Press, New York Times and El País
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Paul Krugman:
The Axis of Autocracy Loses a Wheel — Hungarians stand up for democracy — After Victor Orbán's Fidesz party took power in 2010, Hungary became a role model for those who admired corruption, fascism, and loyalty to Vladimir Putin. Orbán's regime brought widespread crony capitalism …
Discussion:
Euronews
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
What Orban's Defeat Means for the Rest of the World — On Saturday, the day before the Hungarian election, I went to Puspokladany, a run-down town of about 16,000 in northeastern Hungary, for the penultimate rally of opposition leader Peter Magyar. Though the region has traditionally …
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, France 24, Balkan Insight, NewsMax.com, RedState and Bloomberg
Associated Press:
Election loss for Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán has ripple effects for Trump, US conservatives — The big election over the weekend was in a small European country nearly half a world away from Washington, but the defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has significant reverberations in the United States.
Discussion:
twitchy.com, Wonkette, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, PoliticusUSA, Deseret News and Digby's Hullabaloo
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
April 12, 2026 — By the end of 2024, inflation in the U.S., which had soared in the aftermath …
The Guardian:
Viktor Orbán is gone. What does his fall mean for Europe? Our panel responds
Discussion:
CNBC, Atlantic Council, Euronews, Blaze Media, TheJournal.ie, KDFX-TV, Associated Press, Straight Arrow News, Vox, Politico, Northeastern Global News, The Atlantic, Financial Times, Deadline, The Daily Wire, Axios and KRDO
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Iran Blockade Sets Up a Test of Which Side Can Endure More Pain — President Trump is trying to choke off the country's lifeline with a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. But the Iranians are betting that his tolerance for political pain is limited. — President Trump's decision to blockade …
Discussion:
Wonkette, NewsMax.com, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Free Press, Axios, HuffPost, Washington Times, Politico and Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Mediagazer »
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Ben Hubbard / New York Times:
Trump Said Other Countries Would Help Blockade Iran. So Far, There Are No Takers. — President Trump's announcement of a complete U.S. blockade was his latest effort to pressure Iran to negotiate after direct talks over the weekend did not yield an agreement.
Discussion:
The Free Press, Fox News, The Hill and Bloomberg
Associated Press:
Live updates: Pope pushes back against Trump's criticism as US-Vatican feud erupts over Iran — EDITED BY BRIDGET BROWN, LORIAN BELANGER, HRVOJE HRANJSKI AND MIKE HARRISON — Germany's foreign minister says the world needs U.S., Israel and Iran to negotiate
Gideon Rachman / Financial Times:
Why time is on Iran's side — A global energy crisis is only just beginning. Political turmoil will follow
Discussion:
CNBC, Al Jazeera and Raw Story
David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:
Israelis Don't Feel Much Like Victors in War With Iran
Israelis Don't Feel Much Like Victors in War With Iran
Discussion:
Raw Story
Aaron Parnas / MeidasTouch News:
Federal Judge Dismisses Donald Trump's Lawsuit Concerning the Epstein Birthday Letter — The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, but is a win for the Wall Street Journal — A federal judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by Donald Trump against The Wall Street Journal …
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Corinne Ramey / Wall Street Journal:
Judge Dismisses Trump's Defamation Lawsuit Against WSJ Publisher — The president alleged an article about a bawdy Epstein birthday letter was defamatory — A federal judge on Monday dismissed President Trump's defamation lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Associated Press:
Judge dismisses Trump's $10B lawsuit against WSJ, Murdoch over reporting on ties to Epstein — A federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Monday over a story on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Discussion:
New York Times, New York Post, CNBC, RedState, Deadline, Variety, Bangor Daily News, KDFX-TV and The Independent
Natalie Allison / Washington Post:
Trump post appearing to depict himself as Jesus sparks backlash from religious right — Evangelical and Catholic allies call the post “blasphemous” and urge its removal in a rare public break from a base that has largely stood by Trump. — President Donald Trump's posting of a rendering …
Discussion:
New York Times, CBS News, The Hill, MeidasTouch News, Salt Lake Tribune, Mediaite and Raw Story
Paul Waldman / Public Notice:
The world's worst dealmaker screws up the Iran negotiations — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🤝 Subscribe to PN 🤝 — “The Iranians don't seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World …
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Natalie Allison / Washington Post:
Inside Vance's Iran negotiations: No deal, but ‘friendly’ talks
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Eschaton, New York Times, Axios, IJR and UPI
Jonathan Guyer / New York Times:
Trump's ‘Deal Makers in Peace’ Are Anything But
Michael Tomasky / New Republic:
How Did California Democrats Let Eric Swalwell Get This Far, Anyway? — I started hearing the swirling Eric Swalwell rumors a couple of weeks ago. There were stories coming, and they were going to be bad. Well they came, all right—and they were very bad indeed.
Discussion:
Washington Times, Sacramento Bee, CalMatters, Newsweek and New York Times
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Associated Press:
Fellow Democrats urge Swalwell to quit California governor's race and resign from Congress
Fellow Democrats urge Swalwell to quit California governor's race and resign from Congress
Discussion:
New York Post, The Federalist, Associated Press, Fox News, Newsweek, CNN, MS NOW, CNBC, The Gateway Pundit, KRDO, Boston.com, NewsMax.com, Reuters, Washington Times, Washington Post and Semafor
Jeremy B. White / Politico:
Swalwell suspends governor campaign amid sexual misconduct allegations
Swalwell suspends governor campaign amid sexual misconduct allegations
Discussion:
Blaze Media, NPR, The American Conservative, CalMatters, UPI, RedState, Newsweek, Townhall, CBS News, New York Post, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Washington Examiner, Associated Press and The Hill
ProPublica:
Inside Trump's Effort to “Take Over” the Midterm Elections — Reporting Highlights — Safeguards Destroyed: In advance of this year's midterm elections, President Donald Trump has systematically demolished federal guardrails that prevented him from overturning the 2020 election.
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
'It's all we have to run on': GOP looks to tout tax cuts as war overtakes Hill agenda … “My constituents are saving thousands of dollars and they know it,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) said in an interview. “Republicans can and should take credit because the alternative would've …
Discussion:
The Hill and Washington Examiner
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Don Moynihan / Can We Still Govern?:
What the death of Direct File tells us about state capacity — This tax season, American taxpayers will spend billions of hours and hundreds of billions of dollars — not to pay their taxes, but to report them to the government. In addition to tariff- and war-induced inflation …
Adam Wren / Politico:
Iowa looks competitive, according to new Dem poll — Iowa looks to be seriously in play for Democrats in November up and down the ballot, according to a new survey from a Democratic group that backs moderate candidates. Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand holds an eight-point lead in the governor's race …

