An American Pope and the Turn of the Tide

Fifty years ago, a Polish pope helped defeat communism. What will Bobby from Chicago do today?

So, look: Your Morning Shots correspondents aren’t highly acclaimed Vatican watchers. But what’s this we’re hearing about the new American pope, Leo XIV? He voted in Republican primaries in Illinois in 2012, 2014, and 2016—but seems to have departed the Republican fold since. Recently he’s been a resolute antagonist of Vice President JD Vance.

Hey, on the off chance he’s a subscriber: Your Holiness, we wish you all the best. And please say a prayer for Andrew to more regularly meet his filing deadline. Happy Friday.

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The newly elected Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV is seen for the first time from the Vatican balcony on May 8, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

An American in Rome

by William Kristol

I’m certainly not qualified to offer anything in the way of deep analysis about the selection of Cardinal Robert Prevost as the 267th occupant of the throne of St. Peter.

But I will say that it never occurred to me that I’d one day see a fellow citizen of the United States as pope.

And not just any old American—but a baseball fan! The photos of him attending a 2005 Chicago White Sox World Series game suggest he was enjoying himself.

Permit me a brief digression: Karl Barth, the formidable twentieth-century Protestant theologian, was a great lover of the music of Mozart. He’s famously reported to have remarked that when the angels play music for God, they play Bach—but when they play for themselves, en famille, they play Mozart. In that spirit, I’d like to think that when the angels have a leisurely afternoon in heaven to themselves, they watch baseball. Perhaps Pope Leo XIV would agree?

In any case, yesterday’s election brought back memories for me of the election in October 1978 of Poland’s Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła—the first time a non-Italian had been selected as pope in over four centuries.

I didn’t know a great deal then about Wojtyła, and didn’t have the time to learn much, as I was in my first semester teaching at the University of Pennsylvania and was desperately scrambling to stay one class ahead of the students (to say nothing of finishing my dissertation).

But I do remember this: I and my fellow Cold-War-liberals-en-route-to-becoming-Reagan-Republicans found the selection of this anti-Communist and pro-freedom pope from behind the Iron Curtain exciting. It gave us hope in dark times. The 1970s had been a tough decade for the United States at home and for the forces of freedom in the world. There was a sense of the West in decline. Could this trend be reversed?

It was reversed, partly thanks to the new pope. In June 1979, John Paul II made his extraordinary trip to Poland. The Solidarity movement emerged soon after. Meanwhile, Margaret Thatcher became prime minister of Great Britain in May 1979, and Ronald Reagan was elected in November 1980. The decade of the 1980s turned out to be very different from that of the 1970s. In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.

History doesn’t repeat itself. But perhaps it rhymes. Could Pope Leo XIV foretell a similar revival of the forces of freedom today, as Pope John Paul II did almost half a century ago? (JVL writes on the pope and American politics in his latest Triad, with some clues about the direction Leo XIV might want to take his papacy.)

Cardinal Wojtyła had been a great opponent of the Communist dictatorship that ruled over his native land. As pope, he saw Poland liberated from it. Cardinal Prevost has been a critic of the nativist bigotry and cruelty now ascendant in the United States. Could his selection help spark an increased revulsion against that bigotry and cruelty, and even herald a liberation from it?

Why not?

After all, as William Cowper’s great hymn reminds us:

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.

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Where Does Christine O’Donnell Go To Get Her Apology?

by Andrew Egger

One of these days, Donald Trump’s newfound tendency for supervision-free delegation is going to come back to bite him. Maybe it already is.

Here was the president yesterday, explaining his decision this week to nominate “wellness” influencer Casey Means as the next surgeon general: “Bobby [RFK Jr.] thought she was fantastic. . . . I don’t know her. I listened to the recommendation of Bobby.” The single biographical fact Trump had to offer on Means—that she had graduated top of her class from Stanford—was incorrect.¹

In other words, there’s good reason to believe that Trump didn’t quite know the can of worms he was opening by picking Means. And what a can it is!

As an influencer, her expressed views run a wide gamut: from cheerfully wholesome (people should get more sunlight, sleep, and unprocessed food) to kookily crunchy (the importance of “composting” human bodies) to darkly conspiratorial (she has cast doubts on the safety of vaccines and flirted with chemtrail conspiracies). And that’s not to mention her unique dash of—how even to describe it—neopaganism?

Peruse her newsletter writeup of the things she did to “tap into the ‘mystical’ side of evolving my consciousness” while trying to “find love at age 35” and affix your own label:

I set up a small meditation shrine in my house and prayed to photos of my ancestors asking for support on my personal journey, and wrote mantras and manifestations on small pieces of paper and tucked them around the shrine. . . .

I worked with a spiritual medium who helped me try to connect with my spirit guides for support and guidance. I did full moon ceremonies with grounded, powerful women . . .

I hiked alone and talked (literally out loud) to the trees, letting them know I was ready for partnership, and asking them if they could help. . .

I did plant medicine experiences with trusted guides and wrote extensively about my experience and insights. 🍄

What sort of surgeon-general guidance might be forthcoming about the spiritual properties of magic mushrooms? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

RFK Jr. is doubtless pleased by this nomination, as are, one imagines, Means’s online fans. Other parts of the Trump coalition are unlikely to be so happy.

For conservative evangelicals, anything that smacks of witchcraft tends to be one of the bigger unambiguous “hard nos.” For some hardcore MAGAheads, Means’s froufrou granola routine is just a cover for self-dealing charlatanism. Laura Loomer spent much of the past two days nuking Means from orbit—dinging her for not having an active medical license, calling into question her anti-trans credentials, and sneering at her “praying to inanimate objects” and “searching for stardust.” And while it’s one thing to go after artificial colors and additives, bad outcomes tend to await political figures who declare war on sugar.

Meanwhile, not even the witches are particularly enthused. I reached out yesterday to Judith Barnett, a member of the neopagan Church of All Worlds and publisher of their affiliated magazine Green Egg.

“If her intent is to bring some of these alternative therapies in, and that would be helpful, then maybe it’s a good thing,” Barnett said. But she added that “I have no trust for anyone that Big Orange puts into a position of power.”

“Even though we have knowledge of, and a lot of us practice alternative healing, reiki or some of the other methods—meditation is big in the community—we don’t reject science out of the box either. Especially not vaccines,” Barnett went on. “Most of the people that I personally know would look at the data before they would look at whatever the worm-eaten brain of Robert Kennedy produced.”

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AROUND THE BULWARK

• Seven Things to Know About the American Pope… JVL’s emergency Triad explains that Pope Leo XIV is here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And he’s all out of bubblegum. Is Pope Leo XIV the #ResistancePope of JVL’s dreams?

• The Late, Great American Newspaper Columnist… The life and career of Murray Kempton attest to the disappearing ideals of a dying industry. But his example suggests those ideals are not beyond resurrection, writes ROZ MILNER.

• Beta Trump… On The Next Level, JVL, SARAH, and TIM talk about the latest on President Trump’s obsession with owning Canada and Greenland, new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s based first meeting in the White House, the administration‘s cruel immigration agenda, and DOGE’s complete failure.

• Judge After Judge Slaps Down Trump… Live from the Between Two Ferns Studio, GEORGE CONWAY joins SARAH LONGWELL on George Conway Explains It All to discuss Ed Martin’s nomination for U.S. attorney for D.C. being dropped, the 102-page opinion striking down the executive order targeting law firm Perkins Coie, more district courts blocking Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, and Donald Trump’s refusal to uphold the Constitution.

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Quick Hits

WHO NEEDS DISASTER RESPONSE?: There was an avalanche of news yesterday. Unfortunately, there’s no FEMA director around to help dig this story out of it.

Cameron Hamilton, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was dismissed by the Trump administration on Thursday. The New York Times, suggests that the reason was because he testified that the agency should not be eliminated and, in fact, did some good:

On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency includes FEMA, testified before lawmakers that FEMA should be eliminated. Mr. Hamilton, appearing before Congress on Wednesday, said instead that FEMA “must return to its roots,” helping state and local governments respond to disasters.

A person familiar with the matter told The Bulwark that Hamilton was walked out of the building by security escort, though it wasn’t much of a surprise. “As soon as he said that he didn’t think FEMA should be eliminated we knew that was going against the administration,” the person said. “Noem already didn’t like him so we figured that was the last straw.”

Hurricane season starts on June 1.

—Sam Stein

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THE EAGLE HAS LANDED: More than one lawyer reached out to us with relief Thursday after Trump announced that he was pulling the nomination of Ed Martin to head the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. After all, Martin didn’t appear to have the requisite support in the U.S. Senate precisely because he was insane overly enthusiastic about the January 6th riot, had taken dubious and unethical actions in the post, and exhibited a propensity for appearing on Russia propaganda networks (among other things). Surely, whoever replaced him would be better.

Hours later, Trump announced that Fox News host and former prosecutor Jeanine Pirro would be that replacement. And, frankly, those same lawyers are torn. Like Martin, Pirro doesn’t fancy herself a prosecutor (though she was one decades ago) so much as a Trump ally. She’s an election denialist who has pledged to “cleanse” the Justice Department by walking those she deems corrupted out in handcuffs. Her penchant for conspiracies is so pronounced that it frightened producers at Fox News. She’s had her share of viral moments. And maybe that’s the solace for those in the U.S. attorney’s office who actually want to do the serious business that falls before it: Maybe Pirro will be so preoccupied with making good TV, even in her next role, that she will leave the work to others. What small, bizarre hopes to have.

—Sam Stein

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IF YOU LIKE YOUR PLAN, YOU CAN’T KEEP YOUR PLAN: We’ve been talking about Medicaid and the threats it faces from Republicans. But the Affordable Care Act is vulnerable too. And now, a top Democratic senator is making moves to ensure everybody knows about it.

Ron Wyden of Oregon is formally submitting a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services—shared in advance with The Bulwark—objecting to a series of Obamacare regulatory changes the Trump administration proposed in early March. Under the Trump proposal, the insurance policies available through HealthCare.gov and state-based marketplaces would not have to provide as much coverage as they do under today’s rules; the open enrollment period would be shorter; and people trying to get insurance at other times of year—say, because of divorce—would have to file more paperwork.

There are other changes, too, many of them seemingly technical. But taken together, Wyden and his 16 co-signers warn, the modifications would “kick eligible people off of their health coverage, and make it easier for for-profit insurance companies to raise premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and cover fewer services.”

It’s not clear when the Trump administration intends to finalize the rule. But the issue could become a focus of debate before then. That’s because Republicans in Congress could include some version of the proposed rule changes in the “big, beautiful bill” they are now writing. Doing so could yield significant budget savings. But it would also come with a tradeoff: Insurance that is some combination of more expensive and less generous, and fewer people getting coverage as a result.

—Jonathan Cohn

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TAX THE RICH: We’ll believe it when we see it in actual legislative language, but yesterday came reports that President Trump is once again pushing House Republicans to raise taxes on the wealthy as part of the package they’re putting together to extend the tax cuts he passed in his first term. According to Semafor, Trump called House Speaker Mike Johnson to propose taxing individuals’ income above $2.5 million at 39.6 percent. Republicans have scoffed at such proposals in the past and we’re hard pressed to imagine they’ll embrace it now. Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo said he wasn’t excited about it. But at least one senator (or, more specifically, his team) is.

“[Trump] knows how to talk and campaign on taxes, and it sounds like some of what Bernie would say—because that’s what’s popular,” Faiz Shakir, Bernie Sanders’s top adviser, told The Bulwark. “Proof is in the pudding though. In 2016–2017, he also talked about ending the carried-interest loophole and then reversed course after Stephen Schwarzman asked him not to. So we will see what happens this time.”

Early this morning, Trump muddied the waters further with a circuitous post on Truth Social:

The problem with even a “TINY” tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, “Read my lips,” the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!

A terrible president—but what a beautiful mind.

—Sam Stein

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Cheap Shots

1. CNN’s Daniel Dale reports that the very claim is incoherent: “I asked the spokesperson for the Stanford School of Medicine about this ‘very top of her medical class at Stanford’ claim. The spokesperson said there are no rankings because they use a pass-fail system rather than grades.”