Summary
Overview
In this episode, hosts Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer cover the escalating conflict between Trump and the Catholic Church, including attacks from JD Vance and Pete Hegseth. They discuss the ongoing Iran war situation, Trump's affordability tour amid rising gas prices, and Republican concerns about midterm prospects. The show concludes with an interview featuring Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan discussing her Senate campaign, the ICE occupation of Minnesota, and fighting back against Trumpism.
MAGA's War on the Catholic Church
Trump's attack on Pope Leo escalated dramatically this week, with the President calling the Holy Father 'weak on crime' and warning him to 'get his act together.' Rather than defending their faith, Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance chose loyalty to Trump over their Catholic faith. Vance, a Catholic for only seven years, had the audacity to lecture the Pope on theology, while Pete Hegseth compared the media to Pharisees and claimed to be fighting the Iran war in the name of Jesus Christ.
- JD Vance lectured the Pope on theology and 'just war doctrine,' despite only converting to Catholicism seven years ago
- Mike Johnson and JD Vance sided with Trump over the Pope when faced with the choice
- U.S. Catholic bishops released a statement defending the Pope's authority as 'vicar of Christ' and correcting Vance on just war theory
- Pete Hegseth used a fake Bible quote from Pulp Fiction during a Pentagon worship service
- Trump called up an Italian newspaper to attack Georgia Meloni for defending the Pope
" I think that it's important in the same way that it's important for the Vice President of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy. I think it's very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology. "
" Jesus doesn't support genocide. "
" If the pope was mad at me and this pope specifically i would die and like if my own priest right was mad at me i would feel like just or disappointed in me yeah like that would be the worst but if the pope was mad at me i would just be like and pack it in "
Pete Hegseth's Pulp Fiction Prayer
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a prayer to soldiers at a Pentagon worship service using what he apparently believed was scripture, but was actually a modified version of Samuel L. Jackson's monologue from Pulp Fiction written by Quentin Tarantino. The fake Bible verse, which Hegseth used to compare the media to Pharisees persecuting Jesus, demonstrated both his biblical illiteracy and his tendency to use Christian imagery in ways that could be weaponized by adversaries in the Iran conflict.
- Hegseth quoted 'Blessed is he who in the name of charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness' - a Tarantino creation, not scripture
- The actual biblical verse is quite different from the Pulp Fiction version Hegseth recited
- Hegseth compared the media to Pharisees who persecuted Jesus, despite no media criticism targeting the troops
- Hegseth said the U.S. is fighting 'in the name of Jesus Christ,' which feeds narratives about religious war that enemies can weaponize
" Our press are just like these Pharisees. Your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors. "
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