Good morning, I’m Thom Hartmann.
Today is Tax Day. And this morning we can tell you exactly where your money went. We can also tell you about a president who spent his overnight hours ranting at the Pope, attacking NATO, and sharing AI images of himself as Jesus Christ. About a billionaire media mogul who is hosting a dinner party for Donald Trump days before the White House Correspondents’ dinner — at a venue being renamed in Trump’s honor. About Democrats filing impeachment articles against Pete Hegseth for alleged war crimes. And about a press corps being bought and threatened into silence while all of this unfolds. Corporate media is running cover. The FCC chair is reminding everyone what happens if they don’t. And the billionaires are doing the buying. This is what they don’t want you reading this morning.
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Trump’s 3 A.M. Meltdown: The Pope, NATO, and a Deleted Image of Himself as Jesus
The president of the United States was up past midnight Tuesday, firing off Truth Social posts in what has become a recognizable pattern: grievances about the Iran war, attacks on anyone who questions it, and increasingly erratic behavior that even his own allies are struggling to explain.
The first post, sent just before midnight, targeted Pope Leo XIV, who has repeatedly called for peace in the Middle East. Trump claimed Iran had killed 42,000 protesters in recent months — a figure that does not match any verified reporting — and demanded that Leo stop speaking out. This follows a Sunday meltdown in which Trump branded the Chicago-born pontiff “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy” and falsely accused him of supporting Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
Five minutes after the first post, Trump turned to NATO. “NATO wasn’t there for us, and they won’t be there for us in the future!” he wrote, continuing a pattern of threatening allies who have declined to join his war in Iran. He has threatened to cut off all trade with Spain after its prime minister refused to cooperate. He has floated punishing NATO members who won’t support the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Then came the Jesus post.
Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself depicted as Jesus Christ — healing a man in a hospital bed, surrounded by American flags and bald eagles — less than an hour after attacking the Pope. The backlash from his own base was swift. Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called it “more than blasphemy” and said it carried “an Antichrist spirit.” A 19-year-old MAGA influencer wrote, “Faith is not a prop.” MAGA podcasters and commentators across the right called on him to delete it and ask for forgiveness. Trump eventually did delete the image, and later claimed he thought it was supposed to show him as a doctor, not Christ.
JD Vance once described Trump’s overnight posting habits to Fox News this way: “Sometimes the president will call you at 12:30 or 2:00 in the morning, and then he’ll call you at 6:00 in the morning about a totally different topic. It’s like, ‘Mr. President, did you go to sleep last night?’”
What we’re watching isn’t just erratic behavior from one man — it’s the deliberate dismantling of every institution, alliance, and moral authority that’s stood between American democracy and authoritarianism for eighty years. When a president attacks the Pope, threatens NATO partners, and wraps himself in the imagery of Christ, he’s not having a bad night. He’s telling you exactly who he thinks he is.
Democrats File Impeachment Articles Against Hegseth for Alleged War Crimes
House Democrats are introducing five articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today, accusing him of abuse of power, war crimes, and conduct damaging to the U.S. military. The measure, led by Arizona Democrat Yassamin Ansari and eight co-sponsors, has no realistic path to passage in the Republican-controlled Congress, but it puts on the record what Democrats believe the evidence shows.
The first article accuses Hegseth of ordering unauthorized strikes against Iran without congressional approval and signing off on plans involving extreme and unnecessary risk to U.S. personnel, including consideration of ground operations. The second alleges violations of the Law of Armed Conflict and the targeting of civilians, specifically citing the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, and reports of double-tap strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats. Democrats contend that Hegseth’s public statements about showing “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies” raise serious questions about violations of the Geneva Conventions.
The third article addresses Signalgate. The fourth accuses Hegseth of obstructing congressional oversight by withholding information about military operations and civilian casualties. The fifth charges him with conduct damaging to the military’s reputation.
The Pentagon’s response was to dismiss it as Democrats trying to make headlines. Hegseth, sources say, will keep doing what he’s doing.
The Geneva Conventions weren’t written by idealists — they were written by people who had just lived through the worst wars in human history and understood that without rules, wars become bottomless. When a Defense Secretary brags about showing “no mercy” and Congress does nothing, we’re not just losing a debate about tactics. We’re losing the principle that America is bound by the same laws it helped write.
David Ellison Is Throwing a Dinner Party for Trump. At a Venue Being Renamed After Trump.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison — son of top Trump donor Larry Ellison, and the man who installed MAGA-aligned commentator Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News — is hosting an intimate event honoring Donald Trump and his White House correspondents just two days before the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The venue: the United States Institute of Peace, which the State Department announced would be rebranded to include Trump’s name.
Ellison previously spent $150 million acquiring The Free Press and installing Weiss at CBS News, despite her having no television industry experience. Since then, sources say CBS News has grown notably warmer toward the Trump administration while shedding audiences and laying off journalists. CBS News has also reportedly invited both Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller to the Correspondents’ dinner, a move that prompted internal concern among CBS staff. One network employee called it an “access play.”
Ellison is also pursuing a $110 billion deal for Paramount to purchase Warner Bros., the parent company of what remains of CNN. That deal is awaiting regulatory approval. Trump’s Defense Secretary has already said publicly that the sooner Ellison takes over CNN, the better — because, the implication is clear, the coverage will change.
This is the state of American media. The man who controls CBS News is throwing a dinner party for the president, at a building named after the president, two days before the press corps annual dinner. And he is trying to buy CNN.
Independent outlets are being swallowed by billionaire investors — not just the Washington Post and the LA Times. It is happening at every level, in every market, one newsroom at a time. The ones that aren’t being bought are being threatened. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has made clear that broadcasters who don’t run cover for the Iran war risk losing their licenses. Trump has called critical outlets “corrupt and highly unpatriotic.” The chilling effect is working. That is the point.
Every democracy that’s ever collapsed has had this moment — the moment when the press stopped being the watchdog and started being the lap dog. When the people who own the microphones decide it’s more profitable to flatter power than to challenge it, citizens don’t just lose news. They lose the ability to make informed decisions about their own lives and their own country.
Independent media has never been more important. And it has never been under more pressure.
Your Tax Dollars at War
Today is Tax Day. So here is what your money paid for.
According to a new analysis from the Institute for Policy Studies, the average American taxpaying household sent about $4,049 to military-related spending in 2025 — up from $3,707 the year before. That breaks down to roughly $1,870 going to Pentagon contractors, $770 to military personnel, and $130 for nuclear weapons. That number does not yet account for the Iran war, which sources say cost over $11.3 billion in its first six days alone. Trump has since proposed increasing defense spending by roughly 40 percent while cutting other programs by 10 percent.
For comparison, the average household paid about $2,492 toward Medicaid, $2,207 toward Medicare, $396 toward food stamps, and $607 toward education. The war came after those figures were calculated.
A Fox News poll from March found 70 percent of registered voters believe their taxes are too high, up 11 points from last year. Gallup found 60 percent say their taxes are too high — near the most negative levels recorded in two decades. And oil prices driven up by the Iran war pushed inflation to its highest single-month spike since 1967 this past March. Consumer confidence has dropped to its lowest level on record.
You are paying for this war. You are paying more for gas because of this war. And the media that is supposed to hold the people who launched it accountable is being bought, threatened, and brought to heel.
There’s a word for a government that takes your money to fight a war you didn’t vote for, cuts the programs your family depends on to pay for it, and then buys up the press so nobody covers what happened. We don’t have to use that word today, but we should all be honest about what we’re looking at.
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If you’ve been meaning to subscribe, today is the day. The stories we are chasing won’t wait. Neither can we.
This is Thom Hartmann for Raw America. The fight is here. Thank you for being in it.
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Protesters Disrupt Russ Vought’s Congressional Testimony. Russ Vought — who is the White House’s Office of Management and Budget director — is currently testifying before the House Budget Committee. Protesters in support of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) interrupted the hearing to chant “PEPFAR saves lives, spend the money.” Trump’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposal would eliminate PEPFAR.
Democrats Announce Task Force to Address Trump Family Corruption. Democrats in Congress are now launching an effort to investigate President Donald Trump’s corruption and his use of the federal government to enrich his family. Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) is leading the effort, and is calling for a ban on stock trading for all members of the executive branch, Congress and the judiciary. He also suggested term limits and a binding code of ethics for Supreme Court justices.
Europe Makes Plans to Continue NATO Alliance Without U.S. America’s closest allies overseas are now drawing up a contingency plan to keep the NATO alliance going if Trump pulls the U.S. out. According to the Wall Street Journal, Europe is now creating the framework for a “European NATO,” and Germany has reportedly signed on. This is despite Germany previously pushing back on France’s past efforts to create a European-led NATO, marking a stunning shift in policy from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
JD Vance Heckled at Right-Wing Event Over Middle Eastern Policy. Vice President JD Vance was confronted by a heckler during a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia. The unknown heckler shouted over Vance that “Jesus Christ does not support genocide,” with Vance agreeing. The heckler then asked why the Trump administration was supporting genocide in Gaza, and said Vance was responsible for “killing children.”
Connecticut State Senate Passes Bill to Rein in ICE. The Democratic-controlled Connecticut legislature is poised to pass a landmark bill that would place significant guardrails on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations inside state lines. The Connecticut Senate on Tuesday night passed Senate Bill 397 on party lines, which would require ICE agents obtain a judicial warrant signed by a judge to conduct raids at hospitals, schools, churches and homeless shelters, prohibit them from wearing masks, require them to wear a badge with their name and gives the Connecticut attorney general the power to sue ICE agents who violate constitutional rights.
