Somebody Warn the New Pope: JD Vance Is Trying to Buddy Up to Him

Step aside, presidents and prime ministers: Vice President JD Vance says he wants to work with the newest world leader, Pope Leo XIV.

Vance told NBC News Tuesday that he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had discussed U.S. foreign policy during his first meeting with the new pontiff, who hails from Chicago.

“We talked a lot about what’s going on in Israel and Gaza. We talked a lot about the Russia-Ukraine situation,” Vance said. “It’s hard to predict the future, but I do think that not just the pope, but the entire Vatican, has expressed a desire to be really helpful and to work together on facilitating, hopefully, a peace deal coming together in Russia and Ukraine.”

President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Monday that “the Vatican, as represented by the Pope” was “very interested” in hosting negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

But the Vatican gave no indication it intends to wade into talks. In a statement about the meeting Monday, the Vatican said, “There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, during which hope was expressed that humanitarian law and international law be respected in areas of conflict and that there be a negotiated solution between the parties involved.”

Earlier this month, Pope Leo had called for an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where the U.S. has directly funded Israel’s relentless slaughter of Palestinians in violation of international law. Since entering the White House, Trump has approved at least $12 billion in arms sales to Israel.

Pope Leo also called for an end to the “war of words and images,” and to end the targeting of journalists—which seemed, again, to be an indirect criticism of Trump’s administration and the MAGA movement. The pontiff had previously shared criticism of Trump’s immigration policies during his first administration, as well as some of Vance’s statements about Catholicism. The noted White Sox fan has also distanced himself from the MAGA crowd by advocating for gun reform and ending racism.

Now it seems Vance is hoping to make nice so as not to alienate a huge swath of the world’s population.

“We have an American pope of the world’s largest single religion—a guy who doesn’t have an army, but who I think has an incredible amount of capacity to convene and to influence not just Europe but, really, the entire world,” Vance told NBC News.

“I hope it’s the beginning of a very good relationship because I think he does care a lot about peace,” he said. “If there is a single most productive thing [from the trip], my hope is that it will be that the relationship between us and the Vatican leads to a lot fewer people getting killed and a lot less humanitarian disaster.”

The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with the papal state for more than 40 years, when former President Ronald Reagan established a partnership with Pope John Paul II to open an embassy in the Holy See.

The president’s threats against Bruce Springsteen are not a joke.

In a post on Truth Social early Monday, Donald Trump said he would be directing the federal government to conduct a “major investigation” into how much money Kamala Harris paid celebrity musicians to endorse her during her 2024 campaign, including the likes of Springsteen, Beyoncé, and U2’s Bono.

One day later, the late-night post appeared less like a stray arrow and more like an administrative agenda.

“Accountability for a class of people who act as if they’re above the law may be uncomfortable for Rolling Stone, but it’s refreshing to the American people,” Trump White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Rolling Stone Tuesday. Fields said that the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission would “act independently in [their] decision-making” as to whether or not they would get involved, as they have final jurisdiction over such an investigation.

But Trump’s assertion that Harris paid for endorsements isn’t correct. Harris’s campaign was roundly scrutinized for cashing big checks to celebrity production companies, including $165,000 to Beyoncé’s Parkwood Production Media LLC on November 19 and $1 million to Oprah’s Harpo Productions for services that they provided during her campaign. Harpo provided the stage and staff during her livestreamed Detroit town hall, while Beyoncé was paid for “campaign event production,” according to FEC records, weeks after she made a guest appearance at the Democratic presidential nominee’s Houston rally in October. (On Monday, Trump claimed without citation that Beyonce had received $11 million to walk on stage and endorse Harris without performing.)

Springsteen’s production company, meanwhile, received $76,000 from the Harris campaign after he performed as a musical guest at Harris’s Georgia rally in October.

“Campaign finance laws require campaigns to pay fair-market value to vendors. If she failed to pay any of these companies for performing services at an event or rally, it would constitute an illegal in-kind contribution to the campaign in two ways: The contribution would exceed donation limits, and companies are not permitted to donate directly to candidates,” reported Rolling Stone.

The president’s decision to hone in on campaign finance corruption, per those who have spoken to him in recent months, boils down to one word: revenge. Despite skirting consequences by winning the presidency, Trump has seemingly not gotten over the fact that he is the first U.S. president convicted as a felon (and the first convicted felon to become president). Trump was convicted last year on charges related to campaign finance fraud for issuing hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.

“Democrats pretended to care about campaign finance violations when they persecuted President Trump with their lawfare,” Mike Davis, a conservative lawyer close to Trump who is a key player of the MAGA legal elite, told Rolling Stone. “Maybe they shouldn’t have thrown stones in glass houses. Nobody is above the law.”

Trump and Springsteen have traded barbs for years, but Trump’s fury against the “Born in the USA” singer was reignited last week when the rock star told a crowd in Manchester, England, that the Trump administration was “taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers.”

“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ’n’ roll, in dangerous times,” Springsteen said Wednesday. “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.”

That sparked Trump’s multi-day tirade against The Boss, writing on Truth Social that the singer of one of his favorite campaign tracks was actually “highly overrated.”

“Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy—Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country,” Trump posted after clips of Springsteen’s remarks went viral. “If I wasn’t elected, it would have been GONE by now!”

“This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!” Trump added.

In response, Springsteen spoke out again on Saturday, telling another stadium crowd in Manchester that Trump was “unfit” to be president.

“Things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy, and they’re too important to ignore,” he said.

One House Republican is calling out the Trump administration’s lies that the “big, beautiful” budget bill won’t raise the deficit.

Speaking to CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday, Representative Thomas Massie said that “Under the policies of this bill, we’re going to add $20 trillion dollars to the debt over the next 10 years, which is three and a half to $5 trillion more than would have been added otherwise.”

When Raju told Massie about the White House’s claims that the bill is deficit neutral, Massie chuckled. 

“That’s a joke,” the Kentucky congressman, whose votes often align with libertarian principles. 

Earlier in the day, President Trump attacked Massie after a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill.

“I don’t think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he’s a grandstander, frankly,” Trump said. “We don’t even talk to him much, I think he should be voted out of office.”  

Trump’s threats to oust Massie may not go very far, as he was able to survive a primary challenge in the 2024 election despite facing attack ads over his criticism of Israel. He ended up winning with 75 percent of the vote, and even stepped up his criticisms over the next year. 

Massie has long been skeptical of the Trump administration claims about fiscal responsibility, and is not likely to cave and vote for the budget bill if there’s any indication that it would increase the budget deficit. With the GOP’s narrow margin in the House, the bill would likely need near-unanimous approval to pass, and Massie’s opposition could inspire other Republicans to join him.

The likely next head of the Internal Revenue Service refuses to say whether President Trump is allowed to use the agency to strip organizations of their nonprofit status as he sees fit. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren had IRS commissioner nominee Billy Long visibly shaken with a series of questions during his confirmation hearing Tuesday regarding the legality of Trump levying the IRS against nonprofit groups he doesn’t like. 

“I sent you the statute, you’ve had three weeks to talk to the lawyers about it. So let’s jump in. Mr. Long, is it illegal for the president to direct the IRS to revoke a taxpayer’s nonprofit status?”

“In the first place, he wouldn’t do that—”

“That’s not my question, Mr. Long, please don’t start down this—”

“Are we on section 72-12 or 72-17?”

“I’m at 26 U.S.C 72-17. Do I need to read it to you?” 

“Prohibits any member of the executive branch to request the IRS to conduct or terminate an audit on a taxpayer,” Long read aloud from the statue. 

“Alrighty. So is it illegal?”

“I’m gonna follow the law, and if that’s the law, yes.” 

“That is the law, so I just want to be clear, is it illegal for the president of the United States to instruct the IRS to remove a taxpayer’s nonprofit status?” 

Long recited the statute again in response. 

“Is that a yes?” Warren pressed.

“I’d have to go to the lawyers at the IRS to tell me.” 

“Come on, you just read it!”

“I know, but see, the instance that you’re speaking about in there, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t see …” he tailed off. 

“Look, it says ‘it shall be unlawful for any applicable person’—which in this case includes the president—‘to request directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer.’” Warren asked Long once again if what Trump has already threatened to do is illegal. 

“I’m not gonna have the answer that you need, and I apologize, but like I said—”

“Why are you not having the answer? You’ve had three weeks to consult with lawyers, the statute is about as clear as plain English—”

“Well if I say I’m gonna follow the law, why would you need to ask me the question?” 

“Because I wanna make sure that you understand what the law says. If you think ‘follow the law’ means you just get to make it up on the spot, then you don’t get to be the IRS commissioner. The point here is to follow the law as it is written.… Can the president of the United States legally tell the IRS to change someone’s nonprofit status?”

Long again refused to answer. 

Warren and Long continued to spar, with Warren getting more frustrated and Long getting more flustered as neither of them got anywhere with their questioning and Long refused to plainly state that he wouldn’t let his future boss force him to break the law. 

“You know, Mr. Long, you’d have a lot more credibility if you just say ‘yes.’ It’s clear that the statute makes it illegal for the president to direct the IRS vis-à-vis any particular taxpayer. And the fact that you wanna sit there and dance around about this tells me that you shouldn’t be within a thousand miles of the directorship of the IRS.”  

Trump has repeatedly threatened to strip universities like Harvard of their nonprofit status. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are working to give him more power to kill just about any nonprofit he disagrees with .

Did Donald Trump just hurt his own chances of passing his “big, beautiful bill”?

After the president urged Republican lawmakers to get behind his sweeping legislation at the closed-door House Republican Conference Tuesday, several moderate GOP members from blue states messaged House Speaker Mike Johnson to tell him they weren’t on board, according to Punchbowl News.

Trump had specifically pressured Republican members of the SALT caucus, a bipartisan group fighting to restore state and local tax, or SALT, deductions, to agree to legislation that would cap the deductions at only $30,000 for anyone making $400,000 or less.

The group of lawmakers have pushed to significantly increase that limit, arguing that it’s hurting middle-class residents in their high-tax states, such as New York, California, and New Jersey. Trump’s 2017 tax bill had previously capped those deductions at $10,000.

Republican members of the group include New York Representatives Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler, and Nicole Malliotakis, New Jersey Representative Tom Kean, and California Representative Young Kim.

On Tuesday, the president reportedly told lawmakers to “let SALT go,” according to The Hill. One source said that the president had specifically targeted Lawler, who represents New York’s 17th congressional district, just north of New York City. “I know your district better than you do,” Trump said. “If you lose because of SALT, you were going to lose anyway.”

Lawler’s seat goes up for grabs in 2026. He has not yet said whether he will run for reelection.

A White House official told The Hill that Trump’s main message was that Republicans could circle back later on SALT, and should focus on getting the bill passed now. South Carolina Republican Mark Norman told Punchbowl News that he’d gotten a slightly different message from the president: “Forget SALT.”

It seems that Trump’s visit has only caused members of the SALT caucus to dig in even more.