MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2026
Nothing to look at, Smerconish says: "And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen..."
With apologies, we're quoting from the early Bob Dylan. That said:
What we awoke to this morning was this report from Mediaite. We apologize for that site's devotion to eye-catching language in the apparent search for clicks:
Trump Goes On a Jaw-Dropping Tirade Against Pope Leo: ‘I Don’t Want a Pope Who Criticizes the President of the United States!’
President Donald Trump went absolutely scorched earth on Pope Leo XIV in a Sunday night social media post, slamming the pontiff for his recent criticism of the Iran war and on a number of topics spanning from crime to COVID-19.
Trump—in a lengthy post on Truth Social—told the pope he’s had enough of his denunciations.
The president said Pope Leo had “terrible” thoughts on foreign policy and was “WEAK” on both crime and nuclear weapons. He also took credit for the Chicago-born pope becoming the first American pontiff last year.
The report continues from there. As could have been foreseen, the president now made his apparent state of disorder extremely hard to miss:
Trump Posts Jesus-Like Picture of Himself Performing Miracle on Sick Man, Minutes After Ramping Up Feud With Pope Leo
President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself seemingly in the role of Jesus Christ on Sunday night, complete with the robe-donning president reinvigorating a sick man with his healing hand while a nurse looked on and an American Eagle soared above.
The bizarre—and some would probably argue sacrilegious—post was made about 40 minutes after the president went off on Pope Leo XIV in a blistering social media rant. More on that below.
Trump’s picture had a lot going on in it. Beyond the aforementioned details, a praying woman and a man wearing what looks to be some sort of ICE uniform look on pensively as Trump works his miracle.
The president’s hand is lit up in a holy manner, and behind him is the American flag and the Statue of Liberty; fighter jets and what appears to be soldiers who have become angels are also seen above Trump; an American soldier is also seen watching Trump as he cures the man in a hospital bed.
And so on, bizarrely, from there.
We Americans have been exposed to this type of apparent madness again and again and again. That said, we've also been exposed to the madness displayed, in the most recent instance, by CNN's Michael Smerconish.
CNN’s Smerconish Hits at Remove Trump Crowd in Lengthy Defense: ‘Madness IS the Method’
CNN host Michael Smerconish defended President Donald Trump against those calling for his removal from office via the 25th Amendment, arguing Trump’s critics don’t understand he plays the “madman card in public” to keep foreign enemies on their toes, when in reality he is making rational decisions behind closed doors.
Smerconish made his case on the latest episode of his namesake show on Saturday.
You'll have to read the full report yourself. That said:
The president isn't really "a madman," Smerconish insisted. According to Smerconish, the president has merely been playing "a madman" on Truth Social, and on TV.
For the record, Smerconish is perfectly intelligent. He has tended to cast himself in the role of "sensible centrist" throughout a lengthy career.
Routinely, his work has been perfectly sensible. But in this latest attempt to deny the possibility of what seems to be sitting right there before him, Smerconish has taken the mainstream press by the scruff of the neck and has dragged it with him over the edge of the world.
Last week, as we struggled with our own recent malady out of the blue (These pharmaceuticals today!), we highlighted some obvious questions concerning President Trump's recent very strange Truth Social posts.
As you will recall, The New Yorker's David Remnick asked this question about the president's spate of posts concerning Iran:
Who talks like that?
It was an obvious question, with a blindingly obvious possible answer. At the same time, Megyn Kelly had asked such questions as these:
Can’t he just behave like a normal human? What does that say about him?
Once again, those were excellent questions. One possible answer is obvious—but people like Remnick, Kelly and Smerconish have sworn a blood oath, within the guild, that they will never consider it.
In this way, the madness of the sitting president meets the madness of the upper-end press corps (and the broader commentariat). But, cast in the role of a modern Cassandra, the president's niece, a doctorate-holding clinical therapist, had recently offered a pair of possible answers to those obvious questions:
ERIN BURNETT (2/26/26): You've known him your whole life. Do you actually see a [cognitive] decline?
MARY L. TRUMP: I do, but I think it's important to remember that Donald has never been fit in any capacity. Obviously, what we're dealing with now are age-related cognitive declines. We're dealing with physical issues that the White House tries to cover over.
But this is somebody who for decades now has had serious, undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric disorders, which are only going to worsen, especially given the pressure he's under and given the cognitive and physical declines.
Who talks like that, Remnick had asked. Mary Trump offered two possible answers:
1) A person afflicted by an obvious cognitive decline.
2) A person afflicted by an obvious cognitive decline layered atop decades of "serious, undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric disorders."
Her uncle is "mentally ill," the president's niece had plainly said. If we believe in modern medical science that's an obvious possible answer to the questions which were later asked.
That said, madmen like Remnick, Kelly and Smerconish have sworn an oath to the gods. They've sworn that question of "mental illness"—even of something as common as "age-related cognitive decline"—must never be raised with respect to someone like President Trump, who is now attacking the pope and portraying himself as a version of Jesus Christ.
This is madness encountering madness. We'll explore this moral and intellectual disaster all this week.
At this site, we're struggling to return to full functioning in the wake of last week's walk on the wild side.
That said, Mary Trump has offered a clearcut medical diagnosis with respect to her famous uncle. In part, she has diagnosed some form of "mental illness"—but what kind of diagnosis is that?
"Last week, as we struggled with our own recent malady out of the blue (These pharmaceuticals today!)..."
ReplyDeleteAll drugs have side effects. We take them because not taking them is worse, health-wise. It would be better if no one ever got sick, if our bodies went on forever, functioning like new, but that is not the reality we live in. But longevity has increased because of the development of life saving medications emerging from medical research. So has comfort and relief from routine pains and annoyances. But people are all different and react to medications in individual ways.
It is not the doctors' fault that Somerby is old as dirt and his body is failing, slowly it appears, which most of us would consider better than the alternative. It is a short step over the line to blame doctors (those pharmaceuticals!) for Somerby's health issues, as RFK Jr. and other health nuts are doing, claiming it is a big conspiracy by doctors to get rich by peddling pills that make us sicker instead of better. The idea that the pills are causing the disease, not curing it, is a paranoid, right wing nutcase view. Somerby may be trying to sound wry, but blaming those who are trying to help just makes him sound like a crank.
Schizophrenics who are prescribed pills to control their symptoms often believe that it is the pills causing their symptoms (since they didn't take any pills back when they were well). It is a cognitive confusion of cause and effect that causes people with muddled thinking to stop the medication required to enabled them to live semi-normal lives. When they go off their meds, their symptoms worsen and they wind up homeless and unable to cope with life. This happens with dementia too. It isn't only cost that keeps old people from taking their medication but thinking like Somerby's.
Perhaps Somerby was joking, but it isn't really funny.
From Digby’s blog yesterday:
DeleteAs Kennedy has purged career scientists and civil servants from HHS, he has promoted anti-vaccine ideologues and lackeys to positions of power in the agency. He has already inflicted severe harm on America’s public health, and he’s only been in charge for a year. It’s chilling to imagine what damage three more years will reveal.
Read it all. It is chilling.
If Somerby had not avoided the draft, he could receive his treatment from the VA. I hear that it has much better treatment of problems of aging, at a lower cost.
DeleteOur public health system is one of the many things Trump has destroyed by appointing incompetent nutcases and allowing DOGE to fire all the hard-working competent people in our govt. Tiedrich calls RFK Jr. Bobby Brainworms. He is clearly paranoid and delusional (mental illness symptoms) surrounded by people like Dr. Oz, who tells lies with impunity, like all Trump cronies. Why does Somerby never mention RFK Jr.'s mental illness, or that of Hegseth and the other psychopaths and nuts in his administration?
DeleteI worry because Trump is promoting the abuse of GLP-1 medications for weight loss, lowering the costs and issuing demands that everyone become thin. There are drawbacks to using them, including side effects such as nausea and diarrhea, too low blood sugar among diabetics. Once you start taking them you must continue for life (like statins) even if the cost goes up, and they don't produce weight loss without diet and exercise. If people cannot use diet and exercise to lose weight without GLP-1s, how are they going to diet and exercise while taking the shots? These medications are supposed to be for the morbidly obese with weight-related health complications, but like viagra, can now be bought by anyone over the internet. This is not responsible health care.
DeleteFeminists worry about the demand on women to be model-thin, as part of the Mar a Lago look. We had begun to accept a variety of body types as normal, before Trump came along with his "no fatties" demands and hiring of women for their looks. This has nothing to do with health. Kate Manne describes how health claims have little to do with body shape in her book "Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia."
Slabba Dabba Doo!
DeleteAsshole.
DeleteQuaker in a Basement is the user name of a retired American living in Cork Ireland, using Mastodon. Or he could be a troll using the name of a former commenter on this blog and at Kevin Drum's website, who used to make sense and provide info instead of attacking other commenters the way DG and Leroy also do here.
DeleteThe comments posted here under the name Quaker in a Basement do not in any way resemble those of the guy on Mastodon, nor do they resemble the old Quaker. The mean-spiritedness and ugly tone are new but entirely consistent with trolls, especially right wing ones.
You stalking me, Slabby?
DeleteI'm not Slabby. I googled you and found what I said in the above comment. You can deny it or admit being a troll using someone else's screen name. Whoever you are, you are an asshole for calling names instead of dealing with the substance of other people's comments.
DeleteThis is very similar to what Somerby does. He calls Trump names (such as insane or crazy) instead of dealing with Trump's crimes and abuses and suggesting viable remedies.
Namecalling is not about change. It is about hurting other people with personal attacks. The actual Quaker used to be above that. You are closely similar to DG and Leroy, who do nothing here but make stupid troll attacks on others.
Somerby used to write about critical thinking. Do you think he would approve what you are doing at his blog?
Trump said he was going to bomb Iran back to the Stone Ages. Obviously he thinks there was more than one Stone Age. Perhaps he, like Quaker, is thinking about the actual one (before the Bronze Age) and the one on TV in which Fred Flintstone lived. In that case, there would legitimately be plural Stone Ages.
DeleteOr maybe Quaker holds permissive attitudes about gender. Fred Flintstone was portrayed as male while "Slabby" is self-described as female. Does Quaker know something we don't, or is he calling out Slabby for being like Cecelia, female online but male everywhere else?
Or is Quaker a child and thought the rhyme was worth a laugh because Yabba and Slabby sound similar, despite its cartoonish reference? No one has ever used the nym "Slabby" here. It is a playground taunt.
Some of us here care about politics and current events. Some obviously don't.
Delete"That said, Mary Trump has offered a clearcut medical diagnosis with respect to her famous uncle. In part, she has diagnosed some form of "mental illness"—but what kind of diagnosis is that?"
ReplyDeleteNo, Mary Trump has not diagnosed her uncle. The sentence "what kind of diagnosis is that" contradicts the preceding claim that she made a "clearcut medical diagnosis." She herself has said she didn't examine him.
Somerby fails to mention that Raskin last week sent Trump's White House doctor a request for a cognitive evaluation of Trump, to be provided to Congress. That is what needs to happen for others to consider Trump mentally ill or cognitively impaired.
Somerby throws out these words: "They've sworn that question of "mental illness"—even of something as common as "age-related cognitive decline"—must never be raised with respect to someone like President Trump..." when it was obvious that the press had no reservations about calling Biden too old, even without an evaluation showing deteriorating. Age-related cognitive decline is NORMAL for someone who is old, as Biden and Trump and even Somerby all are. It is NORMAL in anyone over age 40 (when many people first notice memory decline). It starts after peak functioning is attained at around age 26 and declines from there. Do we call all presidential candidates thus impaired through age-related cognitive decline, because they are all declining in some functions before they are even old enough to run for president?
One function that does not decline with age is crystallized knowledge. We call that wisdom and experience. Old people do better than young ones on tests of crystallized knowledge. It is required for better judgment. What declines in older people is speed and fluency of processing and episodic memory, especially for recent events (long past events are retained better than new ones). Old people learn just like young ones do. The specialized impairment is overlooked by people who do not understand that only some functions decline, not all of them, and not ones related to functioning well in a position of leadership, where good judgment and wisdom benefit decision-making.
Somerby was brutal to Biden. He has been less so to Trump, despite repeatedly calling for name-calling of a man who has yet to reveal any diagnosis. Whatever is wrong with Trump existed before he was elected in 2016 -- back when Somerby was saying he could win, while knocking Hillary at every opportunity. Hillary is now old too, but she is still talking sense and showing her wisdom. But then, she was never one to stutter -- a symptom Somerby confuses with age-related decline even though Biden has always stuttered.
Somerby has no idea what he is talking about when he refuses to call for political solutions to our Trump problem. He has still never mentioned impeachment or removal from office, just pity and labeling using derogatory terms. Trump is a criminal and a rapist, a pedophile-enabling friend of Epstein who talked about dating his own preteen daughter, back in the day. There is so much wrong with Trump that Somerby never discusses, that it is hard to imagine why this bit about insanity has become his new mantra. Is he trying to help Trump escape accountability by portraying his crimes as symptoms? If so, shame on Somerby.
Somerby says every Republican voter is a bigot.
DeleteWould a Right-winger say something like that on his own blog?
Please quote where Somerby has ever said that.
DeleteI do think he might say something like that, if he were trying conceal his right wing affiliation while pretending to be liberal.
Somerby used to defend bigots by complaining that the left spends too much time calling out racism and sexism and being woke, which irritates all those right wing voters on the verge of changing their minds and voting for Hillary or Harris. He stopped doing that when he decided to talk about nothing but how crazy Trump is, the poor poor bigot in chief.
Somerby used to tell us on the Left to listen to Republican voters ("the Others"), but stopped doing that when everyone reported back to him that Republican voters are racist AF.
DeleteI would rather Kelly, Smerconish, etc. spent their time complaining that Trump attacked the Pope, than that they talked in Somerby's empty way about Trump being "mentally ill" without advocating any remedy for our national situation.
ReplyDeleteApparently, it is fine and dandy to mock Roman Catholic religion. But kiss Billy Graham's son's ass.
DeleteActually, Trump's religious MAGA followers are upset with him for portraying himself as Jesus in a meme. That is a bridge too far for them.
DeleteActually name them 11:57. Should be easy as there are two or three of them. But don't worry, they will come back to Daddy (and away from Christ).
Deletehttps://www.mediaite.com/media/breaking-trump-deletes-post-depicting-himself-as-jesus-amid-heavy-maga-backlash/
Deletehttps://www.mediaite.com/media/news/fox-news-host-slams-narcissistic-trump-over-looney-tunes-jesus-image/
Yes, the maniac deleted the obscene blasphemous post, and knows he hasn’t lost a single vote
DeleteTrump is saying he thought it was a picture of himself as a doctor, helping someone.
Delete"That said, Mary Trump has offered a clearcut medical diagnosis with respect to her famous uncle."
ReplyDeleteSomeone who would confuse Mary Trump's anecdotal and biased (by her own admission) pseudo-diagnosis as "a clearcut medical diagnosis" is someone who would be taken in by other forms of medical hucksterism., like that of RFK Jr and his fellow travellers. Believing something because it is what you want to hear, is dangerous when it comes to health.
Parents who wanted to be told that autism can be "cured" with vitamins and was caused by vaccines lose the opportunity to teach their neurodiverse kids life skills that will help them succeed as adults in our society. It wasn't that long ago that parents tried to "cure" their kids of left-handedness by teaching them to conceal it and use their right hands, because it was the sign of the devil, not an innate divergent brain organization. Rejecting neuroscience opens the door to superstition.
Somerby doesn't realize that calling Trump crazy, mentally ill or insane explains nothing whatsoever about his behavior and does nothing to curb his impulses, protect our nation or the world from his excesses. Trump needs to be removed from office ASAP. Waiting for him to die is too costly for all of us.
Tiedrich agrees with Somerby about Trump's rants:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/holy-shit-preznit-fuckwit-depicts
and he spares a few nice words for Biden's temperament:
"that’s one of the things I miss about Joe Biden — how completely fucking chill he was, at all times.
if the Pope had ever said anything he disagreed with, Joe would have just leaned back, put his hands behind his head, and gone ‘yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.’
[gif of Jeff Bridges as the Dude abiding in Big Lebowski]
Joe Biden abides.
Donny Convict never abides. he demands complete compliance from everyone, everywhere, at all times. that means you, too, Mister Pope — if that even is your real name.
Donny doesn’t want some namby-pamby liberal pontiff wagging his stupid finger in his face and going ‘war is bad.’ he wants a Warrior Pope who’s totally on board, and is all ‘here, have a Holy Hand Grenade. lob it at Iran.’ "
The unanswered question is why Somerby worked so hard to get Biden removed from his ticket so that an obviously insane person like Trump could be elected. And now Somerby blames it on Trump going crazy, as if he were ever sane in 2024 when that voting took place.
Somerby owns Trump because he helped undermine Biden, and look where that has gotten us.
I don't believe Somerby voted for Trump, because Somerby says "we" all are to blame for the Trump Presidency, except those who voted for him.
Delete"ISLAMABAD (The Borowitz Report)—Negotiations between Iran and the US collapsed over the weekend after Vice President JD Vance scolded the Iranians, “President Trump has made you rich off the Strait of Hormuz and you haven’t said ‘thank you’ once.”
ReplyDelete“The president has spent billions of US taxpayers’ money over the past six weeks,” Vance said. “He’s left your regime intact, hasn’t removed a single pound of enriched uranium, and has enabled you to charge millions for ships to pass through the Strait, which you never could before he attacked you. The least you could do is show a little gratitude.”
The chief Iranian negotiator seemed unmoved by Vance’s lecture, informing him, “You have no cards.”
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBravo! Stick with it.
DeleteIMO Trump was right to dispute the Pope's words, even if Trump's words and manner were badly chosen. I think the Pope's foreign policy recommendations are unrealistic. It's not unreasonable for the President to say so.
ReplyDeleteBTW Trump's opponents accuse him of dishonesty. Justifiably so. Yet, Trump is sometimes unusually honest. An ordinary President faced with this kind of Papal criticism might feel angry, but would not express that anger. Trump OTOH makes his honest feelings clear.
Fuck you, dickhead.
DeleteTo my knowledge, The Pope said nothing at all about any foreign policy recommendations, other than God doesn't condone war. That hardly seems controversial.
Delete"Trump is sometimes unusually honest" should say "Trump is sometimes accidentally honest" FTFY.
Getting angry at the Pope is treating the Pope with disrespect. So is creating a meme depicting himself as Jesus. There are 1.4 billion Catholics in the world who Trump has offended, 47% of them are in the USA. There is nothing honest or smart about what Trump said. If you are Catholic, his attack on the Pope was outrageous because the Pope speaks for God. That means Trump has twice placed himself in a position usurping God's authority on Earth.
"Catholics believe the Pope acts as the Vicar of Christ and supreme pastor, representing Christ on earth. While not considered a prophet or direct channel for new messages from God, he is believed to be protected from error by the Holy Spirit (papal infallibility) specifically when formally defining doctrines on faith or morals." [AI]
Trump cannot claim to be any kind of Christian and treat the Pope this way. That is why even non-Catholics are aghast at his attack on the Pope today.
The Pope saying Christ like stuff about how war is wrong is wrong? You are a miserable weirdo.
DeleteZionist Jews are very sensitive to any hint of antisemitism, however
DeleteClassic DiC post. "Trump's words and manner were badly chosen." However, that is only because the immaculate Trump is so honest. And besides, let me take this occasion to attack you all for having TDS.
DeleteFuck you, David.
Trump can shoot the Pope in the face in broad daylight on 5th Avenue and would not lose a single white evangelical supporter
DeleteSteve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog explains why he thinks Trump's blasphemy won't hurt him with his supporters:
Deletehttps://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2026/04/no-that-trump-as-jesus-post-isnt.html
They will just shrug it off, he says, as they do with anything else he does that they disagree with.
" ... this kind of Papal criticism ...."
DeleteWith the possible exception of Pius XII, all popes in modern times have decried waging war. Only a thin-skinned piece of shit like Trump would come unglued over it and only a total cypher like Our Host's resident troll would characterize Trump's pearl clutching as honesty.
Yesterday, Quaker questioned how the IRGC was using the Iranian people as human shields. Here's what I meant.
ReplyDeleteFDR got an unconditional surrender from Imperial Japan and from Nazi Germany by bombing huge numbers of civilians and infrastructure indiscriminately. The IRGC is refusing to unconditionally surrender knowing that the US will not wantonly kill civilians and destroy necessary infrastructure.
BTW if the US and Trump were as evil as the America-haters and TDSers claim, Trump would do just that.
Delete
God damn David, you are a sick fucking monster. Get help.
DeleteTrump indiscriminately bombed a girls school killing 175 people, including 170 young girls. If that were an error, he would have apologized but has not done so.
DeleteHe also bombed a top university.
Delete"Yesterday, Quaker questioned how the IRGC was using the Iranian people as human shields. Here's what I meant."
DeleteTook you a day to do that? Not surprising.
"There the president goes again" sounds like acceptance, not protest of Trump's behavior. It is normalizing Trump's behavior, especially for Trump as a force unto himself. I wish Somerby would stop doing that.
ReplyDeletethank red states for the Trump nightmare
ReplyDeleteOne symptom of dementia is loss of impulse control. Trump's inappropriate statements about women he responds to physically is not only unbefitting a president but creepy and a sign of dementia -- the basis for the phrase "dirty old man."
ReplyDelete"President Donald Trump was apparently fixated on a woman he saw while golfing with his teenage grandson this weekend and made repeated comments about her body, The Daily Beast reported on Monday.
Trump was riding in his golf cart with Donald Trump III, Donald Trump Jr.’s 17-year-old son, when he saw the woman, golf content creator Nina Coates, who was apparently excited and jumping up and down as the president passed by her.
"She’s in great shape!" Trump said while he drove the cart and pointed at her.
ALSO READ: MAGA exodus support group soars as Trump devotees walk away: 'One lie too many'
"She’s in great shape, look at her," he repeated to people watching.
"You want a picture?" Trump asked, stopping his cart.
"Come on over here," he said. "Is she in good shape or what?"
He put his arm around her as a group of people formed around them.
"Come on, let’s go," Trump said.
"Is that your husband?" he asked, while pointing at the camera.
"Yes I’m married," Coates wrote on her TikTok post with a laughing emoji.
Trump has spent an estimated $101.2 million on taxpayer-funded golf trips since returning to office in 2025, according to HuffPost."
Trump's attack on the Pope (for being against war) and his portrayal of himself as Jesus in a sacrilegious meme is akin to this use of the Nazi death head in a challenge coin issued to ICE participants in operations in Minnesota. Openly using SS regalia to reward Trump's own stormtroopers, after they killed two people in cold blood is as obscene as these other acts that show Trump has no understanding of right and wrong and cannot represent the American people. It is hard to imagine anything more insulting than Trump's actions in the last few weeks.
ReplyDeletehttps://digbysblog.net/2026/04/12/hans-are-we-the-baddies/
After describing the Nazi uses of the Totenkopf by the SS, Tom Sullivan concludes:
"And if you’re handing out souvenirs of an American government operation that terrorized the civilian population of a major U.S. city, and in which your secret police gunned down two of its citizens? And your souvenir features a Totenkopf? You might be a baddie."
I find this horrifying, not mentally ill (Somerby's word). This is a blatant embrace of Nazism, an affront to families of concentration camp survivors, and an in-your-face to all good and decent people living in Minnesota. It makes Trump an abomination and reveals the true nature of these actions Trump is taking against his own people.
Dickhead says you never speak about the positive things the Nazis do
Delete