Franklin Graham Didn’t See No Halo

“When I looked at the illustration, I didn’t jump to the same conclusion as some. There were no spiritual references — no halo, there were no crosses, no angels. It was a flag, soldiers, a nurse, fighter planes, eagles, the Statue of Liberty, and I think this is a lot to do about nothing.”

— “Franklin Graham, one of the nation’s most prominent Christian evangelists and a booster of President Donald Trump, said he does not believe the president knowingly depicted himself as Jesus in a now-deleted post on social media, dismissing the backlash as overblown,” Politico reports.

Pope Leo Is Not Intimidated by Trump

“I will not shy away from announcing the message of the gospel and inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges of peace and reconciliation. The message of the gospel is very clear: Blessed are the peacemakers. … I have no fear of the Trump administration.”

— “Pope Leo vowed to carry on speaking out against war after President Trump launched an extraordinary tirade against the pontiff on social media,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Raskin Calls for Cognitive Test for Trump

“His apparently deteriorating condition has caused tremendous alarm across the nation (and political spectrum) about the President’s cognitive function and continuing mental fitness for the office of President, and prompted concerns about the President’s well-being.”

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is requesting the White House physician conduct a “comprehensive cognitive assessment” of President Trump and brief Congress on the results.

We Lost the War

“So the world’s greatest military power went to war with a poor, medievalist theocracy. It was an incredibly uneven match … Yet Iran won. The Iranian regime has emerged far stronger than it was before, controlling the Strait of Hormuz and having demonstrated its ability to inflict damage on both its neighbors and the world economy. The U.S. has emerged far weaker, having demonstrated the limitations of its military technology, its strategic ineptitude and, when push comes to shove, its cowardice. … We’ve also destroyed our moral credibility: Trump may have TACOed at the last minute, but he threatened to commit gigantic war crimes — and for all practical purposes our political and civil institutions gave him permission to do so.”

— Paul Krugman