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Vice President JD Vance’s continuing lecturing of Pope Leo XIV at a Turning Point USA function in Georgia on Tuesday earned him a tongue-lashing on MS NOW early Wednesday morning.Speaking to a sparse crowd, Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism, continued to harangue the pontiff over his comments that run counter to the Donald Trump administration’s policies on war and immigrants.In a clip shared on “Morning Joe,” the Ohio Republican boldly asserted, “I think it's very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology. I think one of the issues here is that if you're going to opine on matters of theology, you've got to be careful. You've got to make sure it's anchored in the truth. And that's one of the things that I try to do. And it's certainly something I would expect from the clergy, whether they're Catholic or Protestant.”That led MS NOW host Joe Scarborough to launch into an extensive lecture aimed at Trump’s running mate.“What, what, what are you? A king in medieval Europe?” the former GOP lawmaker exclaimed. “Warning the pope not to talk about the Bible? That's what you just said! You know how stupid you sound, right? You know how stupid you sound when you, new to the Catholic church, are lecturing, Mr. Vice President, the pontiff on theology and telling him he should not quote the red letters?”“How utterly bizarre,” he continued. “People will look back one day and laugh when they have the safety of distance and laugh that you actually have a vice president sitting on stage warning the pope, god's representative here on earth for the Catholic church, warning the pope and what he can and cannot say about theology, that he needs to be careful.”He added, “And so to hear a sitting vice president of the United States, first of all, becoming a Catholic last week and then writing a book about being a Catholic and then lecturing the pope, I've got to say, that's like an all-timer, and people are going to look back and they're going to have a big chuckle that anybody was ever that arrogant.” - YouTube youtu.be

With Donald Trump becoming more erratic and lashing out at the traditional allies of the US, plans are afoot by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to create a separate version of the organization beyond the American president's reach.According to the Wall Street Journal's Bojan Pancevski and Daniel Michaels, European officials are advancing informal plans for what some are calling "European NATO," a parallel structure that would give Europeans greater command-and-control authority and supplement U.S. military assets with their own capabilities.The plans represent a massive shift in European strategic thinking now that Germany has ceased resisting French calls for greater European defense sovereignty, preferring American military guarantees. That calculus has fundamentally changed under German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is now actively participating in the initiative over concerns about U.S. dependability as an ally during the Trump presidency and beyond.European officials are explicit about their purpose: preserve deterrence against Russia, operational continuity and nuclear credibility even if the Trump administration withdraws forces from Europe or refuses to come to its defense, as the president has repeatedly threatened.Trump's recent rhetoric has only accelerated the timeline. He branded European allies as "cowards," called NATO "a paper tiger," and added menacingly, in reference to Putin: "Putin knows that too." He has also threatened to leave NATO entirely over Europe's refusal to support his Iran war, describing the move as already "beyond reconsideration," the Journal is reporting.The momentum is undeniable. Finland's President Alexander Stubb, one of the leaders involved in the initiative, signaled the permanent nature of the shift: "A burden shifting from the U.S. toward Europe is ongoing and it will continue…as part of U.S. defense and national security strategy."The report notes Europe is not waiting for Trump to make good on his threats. The plans, first conceived last year, have accelerated dramatically after Trump threatened to seize Greenland from NATO member Denmark and intensified amid the standoff over Europe's refusal to back the highly criticized Iran war.Though congressional approval would be required for a formal NATO withdrawal, Trump retains broad authority as commander-in-chief to move troops or assets out of Europe or withhold support — a threat that has transformed European defense planning from theoretical to urgent.

Sheinbaum has recently been taking a firmer stance with the US, defying pressures where other countries have cavedThe Mexican government has voiced concern about the deaths of its citizens in US custody, with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum also pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to impose an energy blockade on Cuba.The progressive Mexican leader has walked a careful line with Trump for more than a year, addressing provocations with a measured tone and meeting US requests to crack down on cartels more so than her predecessors, in an effort to offset threats of tariffs and US military action against gangs. Continue reading...

A millionaire MAGA lawmaker had a surprising statement on President Donald Trump's Iran war that left people stunned on Tuesday. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) argued during a live interview on Newsmax that Americans should make do with the rising gas prices and compared the military conflict with Iran to how the United States defeated the Nazis during WWII, The Daily Beast reported.“Could you imagine trying to tell the president, ‘Look, you’ve only got so many days to defeat Hitler or defeat Japan?’” Marshall said, reflecting on his own grandparents during World War II. He said it was time for Americans to prepare for the unknown, despite rising prices prompted by the ongoing war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz. "I'm sorry that gas prices are going up, but help is on the way, and your national security is even more important than your pocketbook," Marshall said. "We have to do it 'til we get the outcome that we want," Marshall added.People called out Marshall and his comments online: "Some of these states are inflicting their stupidity on the rest of us, and holding us back. A Senator from Kansas who only got 700k votes should not have the same voice as one from California who got 9 million. This is one of the reasons we are [expletive]," retired Army sergeant and political commentator Danny wrote on X."Hey Sen. Roger Marshall. Don't compare your illegal war to World War II. Get Hitler out of your mouth, @RogerMarshallMD of Kansas," journalist Nancy Levine Stearns wrote on X."Well, yeah, it would go like this: 'You only have so many days to defeat yourself.' Because Trump is wannabe Hitler," sports journalist and podcaster Jimmy Murphy wrote on X. "Shame on the Kansas voters who put his [expletive] in office," writer and filmmaker William Glad wrote on X."More Republican gaslighting. Do they even believe their own [expletive] they sell?" Developer Michael Dupuis wrote on Bluesky.NEWSMAX: How long do you think Americans will be willing to pay the higher energy costs?SEN. ROGER MARSHALL: I think back to my grandparents and their generation that served in World War 2. Could you imagine telling the president, 'You only got so many days to defeat Hitler?' pic.twitter.com/eEYmUlxxUh— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 14, 2026

Democratic efforts to constrain Donald Trump's Iran war are gaining unexpected momentum. More Republican lawmakers are privately signaling they're ready to join Democrats on a war powers resolution — and the defections may accelerate dramatically by month's end.According to MS NOW, Democrats believe "there's a pathway to success" on forcing votes this week that would dampen hostilities in Iran.The political math is shifting in Democrats' favor. While they would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override Trump's almost-certain veto, a privileged war powers measure only requires a simple majority to pass — a threshold that appears increasingly achievable as GOP support erodes, MS NOW reported.The breaking point could happen on April 29. One House GOP lawmaker, granted anonymity, told MS NOW that "a lot of Republicans" would be ready to support a war powers resolution by then."This issue is already coming ripe at the end of this month, and if they don't come to us by then, they're in violation of the law. And that's when you'll see many of us saying no más," they told MS NOW.Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) framed the political stakes sharply: "Every day that Republicans stand in the way of Democratic efforts to end this war is another day that they own the chaos, the bloodshed and the economic volatility that has resulted."Senate Republicans are already showing cracks. So far, only Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has voted with Democrats on three separate Iran war powers resolutions over the past month. But Trump's apocalyptic rhetoric is pushing other Republicans toward the exit, MS NOW reported.Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) directly rebuked Trump's threat to wipe out a "whole civilization." "It cannot be excused away as an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations with Iran. It undermines our long-standing role as a global beacon of freedom and directly endangers Americans both abroad and at home," Murkowski wrote.Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was equally damning about Trump's Easter Truth Social posts threatening to annihilate Iran's infrastructure and demanding Tehran open the Strait of Hormuz in a social media post loaded with obscenities."Completely inappropriate," Collins said of the threats. "And the subsequent post in which he threatened to essentially annihilate the whole country of Iran is also not conducive to the negotiations that will shortly be underway."

The 40-day war with Iran is becoming a political millstone around both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump's necks — and Israeli public opinion shows that the nation believes the operation has spectacularly failed to deliver on its promises.According to the New York Times, new polling reveals widespread Israeli disillusionment with the conflict and its meager results. The war in Iran and the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon have left Israelis despairing over how little was actually accomplished compared to what leaders promised.The scorecard is devastating.Regime change in Iran? Senior government and military leaders have been killed, but it is still the same regime. Destruction of Iran's nuclear program? Damaged or delayed, perhaps, but not ended. Elimination of Iran's ballistic missile threat? Reduced, perhaps, but still a threat. The strategic damage extends beyond military failure, the Times reported. Israel has been reduced to a subordinate position, forced to accept whatever Washington decides. When Israel conducted a furious wave of airstrikes on Beirut on Wednesday that violated the day-old ceasefire, Trump scolded the country — demonstrating Israel's lack of independent agency, the Times wrote.According to an opinion poll released Sunday by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, barely a third of Israelis believe that when Israel and the United States disagree, Israel can act on its own judgment.A separate poll from Agam Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem found even more damning results: "Three times as many Israelis see the war as a failure than a victory," the Times reported. Even more striking, 70 percent believe the ceasefire reflects an American concession to Iran, and two-thirds oppose it.The psychological toll is equally severe. "Many Israelis have become pessimistic, fatigued, disillusioned and distrustful of the information that they are receiving," according to the Agam-Hebrew University survey.Israeli analyst Yaakov Katz, co-founder of the Middle East-America Dialogue, said, "What's the Israeli story today? It's a narrative of a country that's constantly fighting, and presents no alternatives except for more war."

President Donald Trump's latest effort to settle the war with Iran proves that he is "the most powerful idiot in the history of the world," according to one columnist. David Rothkopf, a columnist at The Daily Beast, argued in a new column on Sunday that Trump's decision to impose a retaliatory blockade on the Strait of Hormuz showed the president is operating with the "strategic acumen of a four-year-old in a fight on a pre-school playground." The Iranian regime has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to the U.S. and Israel launching a coordinated bombing campaign across Iran in late February. The closure has sent global energy prices skyrocketing. "He is undoubtedly the most powerful idiot in the history of the world," Rothkopf wrote. "Both his idiocy and his power are unparalleled. On the latter point, his position as president and commander-in-chief of the most dominant, potent nation confirms that no idiot since the beginning of time has ever been in a position to do so much damage to so many people as a consequence of his idiocy," he added. "On the prior point, just look at the record," Rothkopf continued. "The misbegotten, ill-considered, going-from-bad-freaking-worse every damn day War with Iran illustrates Trump’s manifold mental deficiencies with shocking clarity—and, unfortunately for all of us, the damage he is doing seems certain to touch more lives in more egregious ways going forward than it already has."

Fans of President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again movement were dismayed on Sunday after one of their European allies suffered a stinging election defeat. Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán conceded defeat to the opposition leader Péter Magyar on Sunday, ending his 16 years in power as Hungary's Prime Minister. Magyar's Tisza party is expected to take a supermajority in the country's legislature, and his victory was hailed as a relief to many across the U.S. and Europe. However, fans of Trump's MAGA movement spun Orbán's defeat as a sign of Europe's continued decline. They shared their reactions on social media. "Dreadful news for Hungary and the West," MAGA commentator Michael Knowles posted on X. "Orban is out. A sad day for Western civilization," Paul Weston, a far-right British lawmaker, posted on X. "In 5 years' time, Budapest will look like every other ruined ex-European city. This makes our Ursula very happy of course." "This is tragic," MAGA fan Wendy Patterson posted on X. "The people fell for Magyer’s lies in a month or two people are going to be in an uproar," MAGA fan Tracie James posted on X."Hungary was nice while it lasted. Where do I go on vacations in Europe now without my date and my dog being at risk of being raped by a Moslem?" conservative strategist Joey Mannarino posted on X.