"The Vatican elected an American cardinal who has been very critical of his Administration. He had to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia home. No one showed up for his sad birthday parade. His ugliness has spawned what appears to be the biggest protest movement in American history. His immigration enforcement escalation has backfired. His intel community has called bullshit on his claims of Iran’s nuclear progress."

#Trump #Iran#war
/26

"The idea that we are getting bogged down in yet another war in the Middle East, after having finally and painfully exited two protracted wars in the region earlier this century, is stomach turning. That it came from a president who promised 'no more wars' is a deep betrayal to many of his most ardent followers, though they are unlikely to ultimately abandon him over it.

They are, after all, in a cult."

~ Jay Kuo

#Trump #Iran#war#MAGA
/27

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/trumps-war

“'The real goal of [most] neo-traditionalist voices is not to break away and make their own small church,' he said. 'Their project is to win back the entire Catholic church, in the long term, to what they think is real Catholicism.'”

#Catholics#Republicans#MAGA#Bannon #papacy
/5

J. Oliver Conroy reports on the attempt of MAGA Catholics to buy the papacy now that it's up for bids again.

"Steve Bannon, perhaps the most public and inflammatory voice of rightwing Catholic discontent, has said he intends to organize a 'show of force of traditionalists' with confrontational 'wall-to-wall' media coverage. Most politicking, however, will take the form of quieter wheeling and dealing."

#Catholics#Republicans#MAGA#Bannon #papacy
/3

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/28/maga-catholics-vatican-pope-conclave

"There seems to be a growing gap between a Catholic community in the US that is becoming more conservative and a church leadership in Rome that is open to new ideas.

[Massimo] Faggioli believes that 'in some sense, this church is already in a situation of soft schism'. But he doesn’t think a full-blown schism is in the cards."

#Catholics#Republicans#MAGA#Bannon #papacy
/4

As Randall Balmer has for some time now reminded us, the alliance of the US Catholic bishops with white Southern evangelicals predates the arrival of abortion on the scene as a major issue. That alliance began with opposition to the civil rights breakthroughs Democrats ushered in for people of color in the 1960s.

Abortion is a cover issue for the racism that lies beneath it all. And the authoritarianism….

#Catholics#Republicans
/2

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/

J. Oliver Conroy reports on the attempt of MAGA Catholics to buy the papacy now that it's up for bids again.

"Steve Bannon, perhaps the most public and inflammatory voice of rightwing Catholic discontent, has said he intends to organize a 'show of force of traditionalists' with confrontational 'wall-to-wall' media coverage. Most politicking, however, will take the form of quieter wheeling and dealing."

#Catholics#Republicans#MAGA#Bannon #papacy
/3

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/28/maga-catholics-vatican-pope-conclave

First he switched off Starlink for #Ukraine & cosied up to #Putin. Then he spent $42bn turning #X into a #FarRight cess pit. Then he spent hundreds of millions to deliver #Trump the #US presidency. THEN he negotiated a £100m deal with #ReformUK, & now he's claiming this 👇🏾

#America, isn't #Musk a #CEO?

He's a real life Bond villain, who won't be satisfied until he's exported #Fascism globally & has their leaders in his pocket like Murdoch. When will we wake up?

#MAGA#USPol #Germany#AfD