Trump Rages at Pope Leo, JD Vance Fumbles Iran Deal & Hungary Ousts Viktor Orban | The Daily Show

 

Lawrence: Trump’s Iran war defined by ‘madman’ posts as Jesus while telling Pope he’s wrong

 

The United States Is Destroying Itself

The United States is destroying itself.           By Rebecca Solnit

The United States is being murdered, and it’s an inside job. Every department, every branch, every bureau and function of the federal government is being fatally corrupted or altogether dismantled or disabled. All this is common knowledge, but because it dribbles out in news stories about this specific incident or department, the reports never adequately describe an administration sabotaging the functioning of the federal government and also trashing the global economy, international alliances and relationships, and the national and global environment in ways that will have downstream consequences for decades and perhaps, especially when it comes to climate, centuries.

Across the branches of government, the services that are supposed to protect us – nuclear stockpile monitoring, cybersecurity, counter-terrorism – are being undermined, understaffed or trashed. A different kind of protection that consists of public health, vaccination programs, food safety, clean air and water, social services, civil rights and the rule of law is also under attack. The federal government that serves us is being starved while the federal government that serves the Trump agenda and the oligarchy is glutting itself on taxpayer money, including the grotesque sums dumped on the Department of Homeland Security and the US military now being warped into Pete Hegseth’s twisted vision of a ruthless mercenary force. Hegseth has reportedly stood in the way of promotions for more than a dozen Black and female officers.

It is striking that the Trump team’s constant refrain is that we cannot afford to protect the vulnerable or provide for the people, which is why the richest person in the world, Elon Musk, atop Doge, destroyed USAID last year, which has already resulted in tens of thousands of deaths from starvation and preventable disease. The Iran war is creating a fertilizer crisis in Europe, Africa and Asia that may also result in widespread famine. Meanwhile, the former head of homeland security Kristi Noem spent more than $200m on an ad campaign starring herself before she was fired.

Although there are far worse things about the utterly gratuitous and literally unjustified war on Iran, the fact that it burns through billions a day is striking, given that huge cuts are being made to environmental protection and national parks, and the forest service is being effectively sabotaged, while public lands are being offered up to fossil fuel companies and mining interests. The forest service headquarters are being moved across the country, which will probably cause many resignations, like the similar move of the Bureau of Land Management in Trump’s first term. More than 50 forest service research stations are being cut, meaning more loss of irreplaceable ongoing research, data, facilities and staff.

Trump said in his droning dullard speech last week: “We can’t take care of daycare. We’re a big country ... We’re fighting wars ... It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.” Your money, our money, our public lands, our kids. Trump even bribed the builders of offshore windfarms almost a billion dollars to stop, just because he has a personal vendetta against the clean energy systems. The US used to lead the world in scientific research, including medical research, which had led to important breakthroughs in disease treatment and health, but all that has been slashed to the bone and beyond. This is murder.

The old aphorism about how long it takes an aircraft carrier to turn around might be why the nation seems relatively stable, and why reactions have been inadequate; the full impact is yet to come. At some point if the ship doesn’t turn around, maybe it will start taking on water or listing badly or hit an iceberg, or perhaps the iceberg has been there all along and is named Donald Trump. He has started a war for no particular reason – the word fun was deployed – that is further undermining the global economy he already badly damaged with his ever-fluctuating tariffs. Enterprises need to be able to plan, and tariffs that triple and melt away and pop up again like his moods undermine the ability to do so. In much the same way, threats that aren’t carried out, talks that never took place, administration actions that the courts reverse become forms of political whiplash, jerking everyone and everything around, a show of force that is also a show of incoherence and inconsistency.

 

But the offensiveness may be a distraction from the destructiveness. A whole sector of mainstream media now functions as spirit mediums attempting to interpret Trump’s actions to try to fit them into the context of competent leadership and coherent and consistent agendas. If there was a coherent agenda, it would be a destructive one, a malevolent one. The newly popular slogan “the purpose of a system is what it does” is useful here, because what this system does is weaken, damage, corrupt and harm. The idea that there’s a coherent agenda driven by Vladimir Putin works in the sense that most of what Trump has done is good for the ageing Russian dictator while also bad for the US.

It’s also evident that Trump wanted to come back into office in part to revenge himself on a country that in 2020 had rejected him, the way an ex-partner sometimes becomes a murderous stalker of the woman who dared to escape him, and specifically revenge himself on the individuals and institutions that had prosecuted him for crimes or otherwise thwarted him. Trump at some level knows he’s failing politically, cognitively and physically and wants to take it all down with him, the way that ancient rulers were buried with their slaughtered horses and servants. He’s also, as mortality breathes down his neck, trying to grab some immortality by sticking his name on buildings and park passes and currency.

But trying to understand motives is something of a hobby when the focus needs to be on consequences. We do not need to understand these criminals in order to try to contain and ultimately remove them. They will not last for ever, and we need to think about what happens when they’re gone – to talk about the kind of reconstruction the US will face for the first time since the civil war, the reconstruction a ravaged and corrupted country has to go through to return to functionality. But not to return to the way things were.

It’s the antidemocratic weaknesses in our system that created the vulnerabilities that let this happen – the electoral college and voter suppression that gave Trump a minority victory in 2016, the gerrymandering that has given a minority party majority power in Congress and statehouses, a grotesquely corrupted and unaccountable supreme court and the corrosive influence of the ultra-wealthy in a system that gives them power on a scale that is a direct assault on democracy. We need to imagine a more democratic, more egalitarian, more generous country, one that operates in recognition of an abundance of wealth that should serve all of us – and nature and future generations too – rather than is driven by the moral poverty of billionaires.

The United States is destroying itself

Rebecca Solnit

After Criticizing Pope, Trump Posts Image of Himself as a Jesus-Like Figure - The New York Times

After Criticizing Pope, Trump Posts Image of Himself as a Jesus-Like Figure

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The image, posted on Truth Social, appeared to be A.I.-generated and depicts the president as a divine leader healing the sick.

(Trump appears to be the Anti-Christ" in this picture he posted on "Truth Social".. Maybe there is some truth in "The Book of Revelations".)

April 13, 2026, 7:56 a.m. ET

President Trump has posted several apparently A.I.-generated images of himself over the last year, sometimes drawing significant backlash.Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

Shortly after criticizing Pope Leo XIV in a lengthy social media post on Sunday, President Trump shared an apparently A.I.-generated image depicting him as a Jesus-like figure.

The image, which was posted on the president’s account on his social media platform, Truth Social, shows Mr. Trump dressed in white and red robes. In the illustration, the president’s hands emit shining lights, and his right hand is touching the forehead of a man lying on a bed, wearing a hospital gown. The image evokes religious art depicting Jesus healing the sick.

The illustration was posted without commentary, less than an hour after Mr. Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV in another post, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.” The pope, the first American-born pontiff to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, has spoken out against the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, condemning the “absurd and inhuman violence” unleashed by the fighting.

Responding to Mr. Trump’s comments, the pope said Monday that he has “no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do.”

In the image posted on Sunday, the man in the bed is surrounded by figures looking up at Mr. Trump, including a person in a medical uniform with a stethoscope around their neck, a praying woman and a man in a camouflage uniform. The background of the image includes the Statue of Liberty, a building resembling the Lincoln Memorial, fighter jets, eagles, fireworks and a billowing American flag.

Mr. Trump has posted a number of apparently A.I.-generated images of himself on social media over the last year, sometimes drawing significant backlash. In May 2025, after the death of Pope Francis, Mr. Trump posted an image of himself as pontiff, drawing criticism, including from Catholics.

In February 2025, Mr. Trump posted an image of himself wearing a crown on a magazine cover resembling Time, but called Trump, as he likened himself to a king.

Claire Moses is a Times reporter in London, focused on coverage of breaking and trending news."

After Criticizing Pope, Trump Posts Image of Himself as a Jesus-Like Figure - The New York Times

Who Is Peter Magyar, the Man Who Toppled Hungary’s Orban - The New York Times

Who Is Peter Magyar, the Man Who Toppled Viktor Orban?

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"Peter Magyar, a former member of Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, defeated Orban in the Hungarian election. Magyar’s success was driven by public anger over corruption and economic concerns, promising to improve relations with the European Union and address living standards. He avoided divisive issues like LGBTQ+ rights and the war in Ukraine.

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Mr. Magyar’s success in the Hungarian election is fueled in large part by widespread public anger at corruption and concern about sluggish economic growth.

April 12, 2026Updated 4:18 p.m. ET

Peter Magyar at a rally last month for his party, Tisza, in Keszthely, Hungary. He has promised to improve relations with the European Union.Akos Stiller for The New York Times

The party of Peter Magyar, 45, a conservative politician and a lawmaker in the European Parliament, delivered a stunning blow in Sunday’s election in Hungary, dethroning the longtime prime minister, Viktor Orban. 

Mr. Magyar, who studied law, was a little-known member of Mr. Orban’s Fidesz party for more than two decades, serving as a diplomat in Brussels and holding senior positions in state agencies. He was married to Judit Varga, a leading Fidesz figure, until 2023.

Mr. Magyar rose to prominence in 2024 after he broke with Mr. Orban over a political scandal set off by revelations that a man convicted of covering up sexual abuse at a children’s home had been pardoned. That year, Mr. Magyar created Tisza, an upstart political movement that went on to win 30 percent of the vote in Hungary during the European Parliament elections.

In the parliamentary election in Hungary on Sunday, with 66 percent of votes counted, the party was on course to win 137 seats, more than a two-thirds majority 

His campaign was fueled in large part by widespread public anger about corruption, particularly the misuse of billions of euros in E.U. funding, and concern about Hungary’s sluggish economic growth. He promised to improve relations with the European Union, which has held up development funds for Hungary amid assertions that Mr. Orban has undermined democratic institutions.

Mr. Magyar also focused on living standards and issues like Hungary’s dilapidated health care system. But he steered clear of issues like L.G.B.T.Q. rights and stayed silent on a ban on the Budapest Pride parade last year. And while he criticized Mr. Orban’s tilt toward Russia by emphasizing Moscow’s long history of bullying Hungary, he avoided talking about the war in Ukraine.

Mr. Magyar was not Mr. Orban’s first right-wing challenger.

In the 2022 general election, Mr. Orban’s fractious opponents rallied behind Peter Marki-Zay, a conservative, churchgoing, small-town mayor with seven children. The effort flopped, ending in a landslide victory for Fidesz after the governing party deployed its media machine to portray Mr. Marki-Zay as a warmonger intent on sending Hungarians to fight against Russia in Ukraine."

Who Is Peter Magyar, the Man Who Toppled Hungary’s Orban - The New York Times

  

Earthquake in Hungary: Orbán defeated after 16 years in power

(One fascist down, the support team of this fascist is hopefully next as half of that team stands next to the loser.)

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Zachary Basu

Photo: Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images

“Hungarian voters have ousted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power, delivering a stunning rebuke to one of the Western world's most entrenched populist leaders.

Why it matters: The political earthquake in Hungary, where Vice President Vance was dispatched to campaign for Orbán in the final days of the election, will ripple far beyond Budapest.

State of play: Péter Magyar, a 45-year-old former Fidesz insider who broke with Orbán two years ago and built the upstart Tisza party into a political juggernaut, claimed victory Sunday night.

• Orbán conceded, Magyar said in a Facebook post.
• Orbán's aides had previously accused opposition leader Magyar of election fraud.

Zoom in: Voters turned out at their highest levels since the end of Communist rule, reflecting both deep fatigue with Orbán and a newly unified opposition capable of mounting a serious challenge.

• Magyar built a cross-ideological coalition that pulled support from disillusioned conservatives as well as traditional opposition voters.
• Years of corruption allegations, economic strain and strained ties with the European Union fueled a broader sense that Hungary had drifted off course under Orbán's illiberal rule.

Zoom out: The stakes of Sunday's election were remarkably high for a Central European country of under 10 million people.

• United States: Orbán has been a close ally of President Trump, whose MAGA movement has openly embraced Hungary's anti-migration, Christian nationalist rule as a governing model. Trump personally intervened in the final days of the campaign, sending Vance to Budapest and vowing to use "the full Economic Might" of the U.S. to strengthen Hungary's economy if Orbán won.
• Russia: Orbán was Vladimir Putin's closest partner inside the EU, maintaining warm ties even after the invasion of Ukraine. His ouster comes despite active Russian attempts to interfere in the election, stripping the Kremlin of a key ally and complicating Moscow's ability to divide Europe from within.

• Ukraine: Orbán repeatedly blocked or delayed EU aid to Kyiv and opposed deeper military support. He turned Ukraine into a central campaign foil, accusing President Volodymyr Zelensky of conspiring with Magyar and the EU to drag Hungary into the war.
• EU: Orbán spent years clashing with Brussels over rule-of-law concerns, migration and democratic norms. His defeat opens the door to a reset in Hungary's relationship with the EU — and could strengthen unity on major issues from sanctions to security.“

Iran War Live Updates: Trump Says U.S. Will ‘Blockade’ Strait of Hormuz After Peace Talks Fail - The New York Times

Iran War Live Updates: Trump Says U.S. Will ‘Blockade’ Strait of Hormuz After No Peace Deal Reached

"Vice President JD Vance said that marathon talks between the United States and Iran had failed to produce a deal to fully reopen the strait and end the war. Iran’s top negotiator suggested further talks were possible.

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10 minutes ago

Katie RogersTyler PagerAaron Boxerman and Isabel Kershner

Tyler Pager reported from Islamabad, Pakistan.

Here’s the latest.

President Trump said Sunday that the United States will enforce a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, stepping up pressure on Iran after marathon peace talks between top Iranian and American leaders in Pakistan ended without a breakthrough.

The announcement by Mr. Trump plunged the already brittle truce into further uncertainty. Vice President JD Vance and the chief Iranian negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, met in Pakistan over the weekend, but did not reach a deal to fully reopen the strait or conclusively end the war.

“Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!” Mr. Trump wrote of his planned U.S. blockade in one of two lengthy social media posts on the talks.

Mr. Trump had conditioned the two-week cease-fire on Iran ending its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil and gas in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s grip on the strait sent global oil prices soaring by more than 50 percent during the monthlong conflict, which began in late February.

In practice, however, only a few ships have transited the Strait of Hormuz since the cease-fire came into effect last Tuesday. U.S. officials blame Iran, which they say has sought to impose tolls on ships passing through the waterway.

Mr. Trump said the U.S. Navy would “seek and interdict” any vessel that paid the fee to Iran. For its part, Iran could see an American naval blockade as an act of war.

Iran’s leaders have given no indication that they intend to relax their control of the waterway, which they view as a crucial bargaining chip, until a permanent peace is reached. In a defiant post on social media earlier on Sunday, Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said “the key” to the strait “is firmly in our hands.”

Analysts said the issues dividing the two countries were so complex — and their differences so entrenched — that cinching a deal in a single round of talks had been highly unlikely.

Neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Ghalibaf, the Iranian negotiator, appeared to rule out additional negotiations. Mr. Trump said in an interview on Sunday with Fox News that his threats had forced Iran “to the bargaining table and they haven’t left,” adding that he believed the United States would eventually get “everything” it wanted from Iran.

Mr. Ghalibaf said on social media earlier Sunday that the United States had been “unable to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation” in this round of talks. “Now it is time for it to decide whether it can earn our trust or not,” he added.

The last talks between the United States and Iran fizzled, and were promptly followed by a U.S.-Israeli attack in late February that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and ignited more than a month of war. Mediated by Pakistan, this weekend’s negotiations were the highest-level face-to-face encounter between U.S. and Iranian leaders since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Mr. Trump, who was watching a U.F.C. fight in Florida during the talks, had declared the cease-fire last week in part to ease the shock from the loss of access to 20 percent of the world’s oil supplies. The other two key issues were the fate of nearly 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium and Iran’s demand that about $27 billion in frozen revenues held abroad be released, the officials said.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

• Mines in Hormuz: The Pentagon said on Saturday that two U.S. warships crossed the Strait of Hormuz to begin an operation to clear mines from the critical waterway. Iran denied the claim. Only a handful of ships have passed through the strait since the cease-fire began. U.S. officials said one reason Iran had been unable to get more ships through was that it could not locate and remove all of the mines it had laid in the waterway.

• Israel and Lebanon: Israel was not involved in the weekend negotiations and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu avoided mentioning them in an address on Saturday evening as he faces criticism at home over the cease-fire with Iran. Israel has kept up deadly attacks on southern Lebanon, including on Sunday morning, according to Lebanon’s state media. Iran had accused Israel of breaking the cease-fire by continuing to attack in Lebanon, leading Mr. Trump to ask Israel to rein in its assault. The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States are expected to meet in Washington next week for rare direct talks.

• Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,701 civilians, including 254 children, had been killed in Iran as of Wednesday. Lebanon’s health ministry on Saturday said that 2,020 people had been killed in the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, including 357 in a wave of Israeli strikes on Wednesday. In attacks attributed to Iran, at least 32 people have been killed in Gulf nations. At least 22 people had been killed in Israel as of Sunday, as well as 12 Israeli soldiers fighting in Lebanon. The American death toll stands at 13 service members.

April 12, 

Michael Crowley

State Department reporter

Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, declined to say what assurances Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made to President Trump about Lebanon, where Iran says Israeli air strikes are violating the current U.S. cease-fire agreement with Tehran. Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Mr. Leiter said that Israel supports and will be “in tandem with the president’s efforts.”

Iran War Live Updates: Trump Says U.S. Will ‘Blockade’ Strait of Hormuz After Peace Talks Fail - The New York Times