It's another Emptywheel Friday! Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net graciously joins us each Friday to talk with me about the news that hit since we spoke last week. I'm running on Springsteen fumes today (he played Phoenix last night for THREE amazing hours ) but Marcy Wheeler and I still had a full show: Orban lost in Hungary, the DOJ is reversing convictions of Jan 6 convicted terrorists, Trump is losing Catholics while fighting the Pope, and ICE agents are being charged in Minnesota. Come hang. 

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Heather 'Digby' Parton from Salon and digbysblog.net joined me today after missing Tuesday's show (red-eye flight, we've all been there), and we had one of those cathartic conversations that allows us to clear the crap left by D'ump and co.

We started with the big news: Viktor Orban lost in Hungary. And honestly? It gave us both a little hope — not just because a mini-Trump got shown the door, but because of how it happened. The candidate who beat him ran on corruption. Just flat-out told people they were being robbed. Democrats, it's your turn.

From there we got into Kushner and Witkoff playing diplomat while cashing billion-dollar checks from the same countries they're "negotiating" with, Trump's increasingly unhinged feud with Pope Leo, JD Vance telling the Pope to watch his mouth about theology (I can't), Pete Hegseth reciting Pulp Fiction as Pentagon scripture (I genuinely cannot), RFK lying under oath, Scott Bessent and the immortal "Straits of Vermouth," and the Eric Swalwell implosion and what it means for the California governor's race.

It's a lot. It's always a lot. But Digby helps me make sense of it — or at least survive it.

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A new book about Trump's Secretary of Health & Human Services is out.. RFK Jr: THE FALL AND RISE hit stores yesterday. Today, its author Isabel Vincent was my guest. It was obvious from the start that she and I have different opinions of the man. At the end of the program, a news story broke at just the moment I was explaining how it was affecting many of us.

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Digby was supposed to be here today, but I was supposed to remind her yesterday, so I'll blame both of us! We'll reschedule. We wound up spending most of the hour talking about our "man" problem as evidenced by Eric Swalwell. I'm lucky in that I never had to worry about my husband, who joined me on the air to discuss the problems we face.

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Is the pro-democracy media ecosystem helping — or accidentally making things worse? Nicole Sandler opens with the weekend's wildest news before sitting down with Micah Sifry, who mapped 236 pro-democracy Substacks and found what he believes is a troubling pattern: alarm is winning over action. Then Dr. Art Jipson, professor of sociology at the University of Dayton, joins the conversation to bring a social science lens to movement burnout, political agency, and why grievance alone can't sustain a resistance.

Plus: Viktor Orbán is out after 16 years, Trump declares war on the Pope, the Eric Swalwell situation, and comedian JL Cauvin doing what he does best.

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It's another jam-packed Emptywheel Friday with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net. Trump's threat to annihilate Iran, what the "ceasefire" actually means (and who it benefited), JD Vance's trip to Hungary to shore up a Russian asset, and the death of an American soldier that Russia helped cause — which Trump is ignoring. And, of course, Melania. Ooh boy did her little presser yesterday open a huge can of worms.

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Yes, I want our nation and the world to be rid of the demented orange man currently occupying the Oval Office. Judging by his actions and statements this week alone, it's clear that he's not fit for office. That seems to be the situation that the 25th Amendment to the Constitution was written to address. Or was it? Our first guest today is Maureen Tkacik, investigations editor of The American Prospect. She & David Dayen looked into it and what they found might surprise you. Then our old friend Driftglass steps away from his blog and the Professional Left Podcast to join us for the rest of the hour to discuss the full catastrophe: the war, the chaos, and the constitutional shitshow Trump has dragged this country into.

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Comedy writer, satirist, and Morning Sedition / Daily Show veteran Jim Earl joins us LIVE to talk Trump's wild weekend — from death rumors to threatening a "whole civilization" to calling a 2-week ceasefire a win. We'll dig into the Iran deal Iran is calling their victory, the Strait of Hormuz toll road nobody asked for, Pete Hegseth crediting God for wartime diplomacy, and who's next on Trump's purge list. Plus — Jim's book Mourning Remembrance: Mocking Obituaries Ripped from the Headlines is more relevant than ever.

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Today's episode features journalist and political analyst Frederick Clarkson, Senior Research Analyst at Political Research Associates, who has spent four decades covering the intersection of religion and politics in America. Fred joins us to break down the growing influence of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) — a charismatic Christian movement whose leaders claim direct revelations from God and are pursuing religious and political dominion over American society.

We'll dig into three major stories Fred is currently reporting on: Trump's recent promotion of a decades-old prophecy from a dead charismatic preacher to build support for his Iran policy; a guide to the 24 most influential NAR apostles and prophets operating in the U.S. today — many of whom were connected to January 6th; and the largely unreported story of newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's ties to City Elders, a Tulsa-based NAR-affiliated organization with an explicit goal of placing its people in government at every level.

From "holy war" rhetoric in the military to theocratic creep in the GOP, Fred helps us understand how a movement most Americans have never heard of is quietly reshaping the political landscape — and why that matters for democracy.

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This is a problem in 2026 and in the D'ump regime. There has been creeping Christianity in our government for more than a few years now, but this cabal of creepy "Christians" has taken it to a whole new level. And it reared it's ugly head over the Easter and Passover holidays. Jonathan Larsen (of The Fucking News) today puts on his serious JonathanLarsen.substack.com journalist's hat to bring us some of this offensive weird sect of Christianity stuff that's infected this government.

I also shared a segment from my show from January 3, 2020. Trump had just launched an attack on Iran that killed Iranian General Sulieman. I called a random hotel in Tehran, hoping to reach someone who speaks English so we could have a conversation between two humans who don't want war. It was everything I had hoped for!

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