Top Items:
Natalie Allison / Washington Post:
Trump post appearing to depict him as Jesus removed amid backlash — Before the post was deleted, Evangelical and Catholic allies called the image blasphemous in a rare public break from a base that has largely stood by Trump. — President Donald Trump's posting of an image that appeared …
Discussion:
CNBC, The Daily Caller, CBS News, New Republic, The Independent, Fox News and Raw Story
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Joseph Gedeon / The Guardian:
Trump deletes post with AI image of himself as Christ-like figure after outcry — The US president's conservative, Christian supporters decried the Truth Social post, calling it ‘disgusting’ — Less than a year after signing legislation that will pull nearly 12 million Americans off health insurance …
Discussion:
Wired, New Republic, The Hill, Meidas+, Newsweek, Adam Kinzinger, The Daily Wire and Raw Story
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.
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Bloomberg, Politico, CBS News, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Mediaite, ABC News, Metro.co.uk, No More Mister Nice Blog, Salt Lake Tribune, New York Post, HuffPost, The Daily Signal, NewsMax.com, UPI, Forbes, The Gateway Pundit, The US Sun, Real Patriotism …, New Republic, Washington Examiner, Palm Beach Post, OSV News, Breitbart, Raw Story, Axios, CNBC and IJR
Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:
Image depitching Trump as Christ-like savior removed from president's social media page following backlash — The post prompted condemnation from both sides of the aisle. — A social media post on President Donald Trump's page depicting him as a Christ-like savior appeared to have been removed …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, America Magazine, Variety, HuffPost, The Independent, Deadline and Mediaite
Sean James / Mediaite:
BREAKING: Trump Deletes Post Depicting Himself as Jesus Amid Heavy MAGA Backlash
BREAKING: Trump Deletes Post Depicting Himself as Jesus Amid Heavy MAGA Backlash
Discussion:
Newsweek, Human Events, IJR and Washington Examiner
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Christians condemn Trump post depicting him as Jesus-like figure
Christians condemn Trump post depicting him as Jesus-like figure
Discussion:
Politico, New York Times, Washington Examiner, Bangor Daily News, Newsweek, The Hill, The Daily Caller and Mediaite
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:
IJR
Will Weissert / Associated Press:
Trump lambasts Pope Leo XIV, extending feud over Iran war with first American pontiff
Trump lambasts Pope Leo XIV, extending feud over Iran war with first American pontiff
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Post, NBC News, CBS News, Politico, New York Times, Newsweek, Mediaite, New York Magazine, LGBTQ Nation, France 24, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, Breitbart, Variety, Straight Arrow News, TheJournal.ie, The Daily Sceptic, Letters from Leo, The Independent, Forbes, The Hill, WNYW-TV, Althouse, KDFX-TV, NewsMax.com, The London Economic, Raw Story, The Japan Times, Bloomberg and IJR
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:
Persuasion, 19FortyFive, Politico, New Republic, Digby's Hullabaloo, Jacobin, Christian Science Monitor, Associated Press and El País
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The Guardian:
Viktor Orbán is gone. What does his fall mean for Europe? Our panel responds — Hungary's return to democracy will be hard. But the impact of Péter Magyar's decisive victory could be profound, inside the country and beyond — We've shown that even entrenched illiberal regimes are not invincible
Discussion:
BBC, Euronews, Breitbart, TheJournal.ie, CNBC, Blaze Media, Associated Press, Politico, CBC News, Northeastern Global News, Straight Arrow News, The Daily Wire, The Atlantic, Axios, Financial Times and KRDO
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:
Reuters, Al Jazeera, Agence France-Presse, France 24, Balkan Insight, NewsMax.com, RedState and Bloomberg
Laszlo Gendler / The UnPopulist:
Orbán Lost Spectacularly Because the Hungarian People Simply Stopped Fearing His Authoritarianism — Seventy years ago, Hungarians rose against Soviet occupation, tore down a statue of Stalin, and freed themselves—however briefly—until the Soviet tanks returned to crush the uprising.
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
Gabriela Greilinger / Talking Points Memo:
Three Lessons From Hungary on How to Beat Competitive Authoritarianism
Discussion:
New Yorker, Zeteo, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Sceptic, spiked, Telex, Atlantic Council, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Deadline, Vox and New York Times
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
U.S. begins blockade in Strait of Hormuz; Trump warns Iran ‘attack ships’ to stay away … The U.S. on Monday said it began blocking ships from entering or exiting Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, attempting to ratchet up pressure on Iran to reopen the key oil route after peace negotiations collapsed.that a
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NBC News, Townhall, Ace of Spades HQ, NewsMax.com, Reuters, Straight Arrow News, NPR, KRDO, Associated Press, Blaze Media, The Hill and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »
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David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Iran Blockade Sets Up a Test of Which Side Can Endure More Pain
Iran Blockade Sets Up a Test of Which Side Can Endure More Pain
Discussion:
GZERO, The Guardian, NewsMax.com, Al Jazeera, Wonkette, The Free Press, Axios, Washington Times, Politico and Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Mediagazer »
Gideon Rachman / Financial Times:
Why time is on Iran's side — A global energy crisis is only just beginning. Political turmoil will follow
Why time is on Iran's side — A global energy crisis is only just beginning. Political turmoil will follow
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, CNBC and Raw Story
Associated Press:
Live updates: Pope pushes back against Trump's criticism as US-Vatican feud erupts over Iran
Live updates: Pope pushes back against Trump's criticism as US-Vatican feud erupts over Iran
Ben Hubbard / New York Times:
To Open the Strait of Hormuz, Trump Wants to Blockade Iran. Experts Are Skeptical.
To Open the Strait of Hormuz, Trump Wants to Blockade Iran. Experts Are Skeptical.
Discussion:
Townhall
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Trump's Erratic Behavior and Extreme Comments Revive Mental Health Debate — As the president threatens to wipe out Iran and attacks the pope, even some former allies and advisers are questioning whether he has grown increasingly unbalanced, describing him as “lunatic” and “clearly insane.”
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.
Discussion:
Democracy Docket
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Gregory Svirnovskiy / Politico:
Local election officials fear retribution ahead of fall midterms
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.
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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
Inside Vance's Iran negotiations: No deal, but ‘friendly’ talks
Discussion:
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Eschaton and Axios
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 …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com
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:
Sacramento Bee, Newsweek, Washington Times, CalMatters, New York Times and The American Conservative
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Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:
Swalwell's Fall Punctuates Woes of Democrats in California, of All Places
Swalwell's Fall Punctuates Woes of Democrats in California, of All Places
Discussion:
HotAir, Mock Paper Scissors, Newsweek, WAGA-TV, Associated Press, Mercury News and New York Magazine
Quinta Jurecic / The Atlantic:
Harmeet Dhillon Is Not Wasting Any Time … Last may, one month into her time as the assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon stood behind the lectern at a meeting of the conservative Federalist Society and set out her vision for the Justice Department's civil-rights work.
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo
Financial Times:
Meta builds AI version of Mark Zuckerberg to interact with staff — CEO is training and testing his own character as part of wider push to develop ‘personal superintelligence’
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Ars Technica and CBS News, more at Techmeme »
Riley Beggin / Washington Post:
Voters grill Republican lawmaker in crucial swing district on Iran war — The conflict has animated voters in the suburban district of Republican Rep. Mike Lawler ahead of the midterm elections. — Summary — MAHOPAC, N.Y. — Rep. Mike Lawler faced another tough crowd at a town hall late Sunday night …
Discussion:
New Republic and Washington Examiner
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 of the Covid-19 lockdowns, was almost back to the Federal Reserve's goal of 2%. Even so, during the 2024 presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump promised he would bring prices down on Day One …



