THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

Donald Trump’s war on Pope Leo is worsening. JD Vance warned that the Pope, who condemned Trump’s war on religious grounds, should “be careful” in his theology. Mike Johnson dismissed the Pope’s criticisms by bizarrely invoking Just War Doctrine, which Trump and Pete Hegseth are serially violating. All this reveals Trump to be demanding that his leading sycophants (even devoutly religious ones) place him above the Pope—and indeed that they recognize no higher allegiance than to the president. Meanwhile, The New York Times has an epic piece on his mental decline, which reports that many ex-allies are sounding the alarm, from Marjorie Taylor Greene to numerous top first-term advisers. We talked to former national security official Olivia Troye, who just announced a run for Congress. She recounts what she witnessed first-hand about Trump’s unfitness, why his enablers are much worse this time around, and how his madness is now impacting Americans’ everyday lives.

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Donald Trump is now raging at a staunch ally, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. After she sided with the Pope’s criticism of the Iran war, which had infuriated Trump, he unloaded again, ripping her as “unacceptable” and seething that she “doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon.” Trump also called Meloni a coward for refusing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, an analysis by CNN’s Harry Enten finds that Trump’s net approval among noncollege whites—a key part of his base—has nosedived by a shocking 34 points. Trump is also deeply underwater with these voters on something you’d think they would stick with him through: The war and his handling of Iran. It all looks like a new kind of low among this once-loyal constituency. We talked to New Republic senior editor Alex Shephard, who’s been writing well about the politics of this war. We discuss why noncollege whites are abandoning Trump, how Iran is splintering MAGA at home and abroad, and the challenges JD Vance will face as heir to this fracturing movement. 

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Donald Trump is furious at Pope Leo. After the Pope sharply criticized the war on Iran, Trump exploded in a wild Truth Social rant, slamming the Pope as “WEAK on crime” and clueless about the Iranian nuclear threat. Trump then posted an image of himself as Jesus, which he took down after MAGA figures lashed out at him. Trump then angrily insisted he had no idea that image was religious, and seethed some more over the Pope’s criticism. In today’s episode, Robert Jones, the president of the Public Religion Research Institute, makes a fascinating point: The Pope’s criticism of his war appears calibrated in a way that could stir concern about his war in local churches at a grassroots level. That’s a hidden problem for Trump, says Jones, author of several books about religion and the American right. He explains why Trump’s spin will make this worse among religious voters, why all this will resonate more deeply with Catholics than with Trump’s Evangelical base, and why Catholics are a point of real vulnerability for him. 

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Donald Trump’s Truth Social feed can get awfully revealing. He just unleashed numerous posts that open a new window on the man and his presidency: the transactionalism; the amorality; and the utter, buffoonish incompetence. In one, he attacked his MAGA allies in a way that displayed his utter lack of any principles. In several others, he revealed that he simply has no grasp whatsoever of the situation he faces with Iran’s Strait of Hormuz. All of which raises a question: How do we make sense of the fact that this man is president? We talked to political theorist Alan Elrod, who has a good piece arguing that the election of Trump—twice—should prompt deep introspection about what our country has become. We discuss Elrod’s argument that America needs a dose of hard truths about this man and this moment, dissect Trump’s “personalist” presidency, consider whether civic malaise produced our current national crisis, and discuss how to pull out of it.

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Donald Trump has been raging at Marjorie Taylor Greene a lot lately. Why? Because improbably, Greene has emerged as a very effective critic of the president. In a striking CNN interview, Greene unloaded, declaring bluntly that Trump is mentally unfit for the presidency, that the people around Trump should rein him in, and that he’s catastrophically failing. This is a watershed moment: Trump’s disastrous Iran war, and his threat to obliterate Iranian civilization, are pushing some in MAGA to look past him. We talked to Salon’s Amanda Marcotte, author of a good piece arguing that the Iran debacle is a new kind of problem for Trump. We discuss why JD Vance won’t be able to escape its taint, why Trump’s threat of genocide is a breaking point for so many Americans, and why Greene’s criticism of Trump breaks surprising new ground. (After we recorded, Trump exploded in fury yet again at Greene and other critics.) 

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