A Gentle Thunderclap and a Brewing Storm

From the Pope’s quiet rebuke to Trump’s proud militia, why June may be the month America remembers who we are, or forgets entirely

Good morning! “A gentle thunderclap.” The first American pope wasted no time setting a moral tone that puts the Trump administration’s cruelty squarely in his pastoral sights. Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, used his first public address not to celebrate his ascension but to quietly rebuke the “erosion of mercy” in his home country’s political life. Though he never mentioned Trump by name, the message rang like cathedral bells: “The measure of a nation’s soul is how it treats the vulnerable,” he said, denouncing policies that “weaponize fear while discarding truth.” It was subtle, deliberate, and unmistakably aimed at the regime that now deports the innocent by military plane, finances offshore detention centres in El Salvador, and hosts convicted insurrectionists for cocktails at Mar-a-Lago. The bishop of Rome may have put on white robes, but he’s still a Chicago priest and knows the stench of injustice when it’s rising from a government staircase.

Meanwhile, Trump spent Thursday touting a “very big deal” with the United Kingdom, repeating the phrase so often it might as well be a new national anthem. The deal, such as it is, exists only in outline, a concept of a framework of a draft, and leaves the 10% UK tariff exactly where it was. But why let facts get in the way of a performance? In a carefully staged Oval Office spectacle that included a speakerphone and a three-ring binder, Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer grinned through what Stephanie Ruhle aptly called a “PowerPoint pig.” Wall Street cheered, momentarily fooled by the suggestion of a softened stance on China. But beneath the flashbulbs and ticker bumps, the fundamentals are worsening: automakers are furious, prices are climbing, and the so-called “Liberation Day” is costing Americans their savings at the register.

Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest and most influential hedge funds in the world, and a man who correctly predicted the 2008 financial crisis, is not known for melodrama. But this week, he added a somber warning to the mix... this isn’t just a recession brewing, it’s the beginning of what he called a potential monetary breakdown, echoing the conditions of the 1930s. Rising debt, widening inequality, trade aggression, and global instability have converged into what Dalio calls a “big cycle shift”, a historic tipping point between order and collapse. With debt at 125% of GDP and interest payments ballooning, Trump’s tariffs and budget gimmickry aren't just inflationary, they’re destabilizing. And while the president spins “big deals” with countries we don’t even have a trade deficit with, the real economic storm is gathering offshore.

Not that Trump seems to care. He’s busy restaging The Apprentice in real time, this week firing FEMA’s acting head Cameron Hamilton, just one day after he testified against dismantling the agency, mere weeks before hurricane season begins. It’s the same pattern seen across the administration: experts purged, loyalty rewarded, and facts bulldozed beneath showmanship. Treasury’s $5 trillion payment system? Now overseen by a tech CEO with no government experience, reportedly installed after a loyalist refused to grant Musk’s allies backend access. Congress has been stonewalled. Write access has been granted, denied, and then re-denied. But don’t worry, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says the markets look great.

And in case you were wondering what a second-term authoritarian presidency looks like up close, Donald Trump just met with convicted insurrectionist Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader whose group was deemed a terrorist organization by U.S. allies and prosecuted for seditious conspiracy. According to multiple witnesses, Trump greeted him at Mar-a-Lago with the words: “I love you guys.” This isn’t a gaffe. It’s a signal. As one security analyst put it, this is Trump assembling his brownshirts 2.0. The invitations have been sent. The pardons are being prepared. And if things go south, or if someone dares beat him at golf, he’s building the muscle to enforce it.

It’s telling that Trump can welcome a convicted insurrectionist into his inner circle with open arms, but veterans fighting to keep their healthcare and benefits have to organize mass protests just to be heard. On June 6th, thousands of veterans, military families, and their allies will converge on the National Mall for the Unite for Veterans, Unite for America Rally, a public stand to defend the benefits, jobs, and dignity that were earned through sacrifice. With VA services under siege and federal protections gutted, this isn’t just a veterans’ issue, it’s a national one. The rally begins at 2:00 PM between the Washington Monument and the WWII Memorial. Because America made a promise to its veterans. And it’s a promise we intend to keep.

It’s telling that it takes a pope to reintroduce the word “mercy” into our political vocabulary. While Trump praises seditionists and undermines the courts, Pope Leo XIV reminds the world that justice doesn’t require dominance, it requires decency. He may be speaking from Rome, but his voice is aimed directly at the country he once called home. And he’s not whispering.