One Weekend, Three Truth Social Posts
Pope Donald I?
Good morning! It’s Monday, May 5, 2025. Happy Cinco de Mayo. Election Day 2025 is 183 days away. Election Day 2026 is 547 days away. No top story today; instead, let’s round up some of the key headlines you’ll need to start your week…
ABOUT LAST WEEKEND: President Trump sent three Truth Social posts that dominated the news cycle this weekend. First, on Friday night, he shared an AI-generated image of himself as the next pope, sparking backlash from Catholic leaders.
“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” the New York State Catholic Conference, which is made up of the state’s bishops, said on X. “We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”
Then, last night, he announced plans to “REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ,” the notorious San Francisco prison that has been closed since 1963. The facility is now managed by the National Park Service as a tourist attraction, but Trump said that he was “directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
Finally, 20 minutes later, Trump said his administration would “immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” Trump described foreign films as “propaganda” and a “National Security threat,” adding: “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” It is unclear how a tariff on foreign films would work.
MEANWHILE: Trump also sat for an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” during which he declined to say whether all people in the U.S. — citizens or non-citizens — deserve due process, as the Fifth Amendment guarantees. “I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know,” he said.
Asked if he needs to “uphold the Constitution of the United States as president,” Trump again replied, “I don’t know” — before adding an important commitment: “I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”
Trump also backed away from suggestions of a third term (“I’ll be an eight-year president”) and appeared to acknowledge that his tariffs would raise prices and force Americans to consume fewer products. Children “don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three,” Trump said. “They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”
DEALMAKING PHASE: As I wrote last week, the next chapter of Trump’s presidency will be dominated by a series of deals he now has to strike. Per Trump, there “could very well be” trade deals announced this week. Although CNN notes: “He also said that last week. And the week before.”
On Capitol Hill, his allies are scrambling to put together a reconciliation deal to advance Trump’s agenda legislatively, with key issues like cuts to food stamps and Medicaid, raising the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, whether to end tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, and whether to raise taxes on the wealthy still yet to be decided.
SIGNALS CROSSED: A hacker has managed to steal the contents of some direct messages and group chats sent using TeleMessage, an app similar to Signal used by U.S. government officials (including, according to an image nabbed at a Cabinet meeting last week, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and outgoing national security adviser Michael Waltz).
None of the stolen messages were sent by Cabinet members, according to 404Media, but the successful hack shows the danger of using the app to host sensitive governmental conversations.
REVERSE TRUMP BUMP: A second center-left party triumphed in an international election Saturday, as Australia’s Labor Party prime minister Anthony Albanese won a landslide re-election less than a week after Mark Carney’s Liberal Party victory in Canada. Trump’s rise helped fuel opposition to conservative parties in both countries.
ISRAEL’S PLAN: Israeli Cabinet ministers approved a plan this morning to “capture the entire Gaza Strip and remain in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time,” according to the Associated Press. The plan also calls for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to be displaced to southern Gaza, and for tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers to be called up to “intensify and expand” the country’s onslaught against Hamas.
TROUBLE AT TURTLE BAY: The United Nations will brief members on a plan to slash its budget by 17% today, according to The Economist, as member states — including the organization’s two biggest contributors, the U.S. and China — pay their dues late or not at all, creating a cash shortfall.
The day ahead
All times Eastern.
President Trump will deliver a “sports announcement” at 1 p.m., which is expected to name Washington, D.C. as the host of the 2027 NFL Draft. The president will then sign executive orders at 3 p.m., welcome home a “returned citizen” at 3:30 p.m., and attend a fundraising dinner for his super PAC at his Virginia golf club at 7:30 p.m.
The Senate will hold a procedural vote to advance a House-passed resolution overturning a Biden-era rule on emissions standards for the rubber tire manufacturing industry.
The House will vote on bills including the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act and the No Dollars to Uyghur Forced Labor Act.
The Supreme Court has no oral arguments scheduled.
First world countries are now more likely to elect center left or more liberal candidates. All they have to say is, “ We don’t want to end up like the U.S. with Donald Trump,” and that should likely guarantee a win for the left.
Trump needs to swear to his oath of office again.