Marianna Spring

Varainhoidon tarjoaa Osuspankki tai OP Varainhoito Oy.

As we answer your questions, as we usually do on a Monday, we have got a lot to get through and a lot to catch up on. We've got President Trump in a very public row with the Pope, whom he's been insulting, and the Pope has responded saying that he's going to carry on speaking out against the war in Iran.

We've got questions about why on earth Melania Trump chose to make a statement about her and her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein that just propelled that story right to the top of the headlines when frankly nobody had really been talking about it before she spoke out.

We'll ask how far Donald Trump might go with his threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz and why Viktor Orban's defeat in the Hungary elections really does actually matter to Donald Trump and to his MAGA movement. Today you've got Anthony, Mariana and me, Sarah, talking to Matt Charlie on Five Live. Welcome to AmeriCast.

How does it play out domestically, Sarah? How is this being viewed by Americans? Interestingly, there has been a bit of a push recently from some Democrats, like Senator Mark Kelly and Alyssa Slotkin from Michigan, to try to persuade people in the armed forces to refuse illegal orders. They made a video about that, saying that not only is it within the law to refuse to do something that you think is illegal, in fact it's your duty. You can refuse illegal orders.

You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution. And the administration went crazy about this and actually tried to punish Mark Kelly, who is a reserve in the military. And there was a real, real battle over that. So yeah.

The administration does take it very seriously and probably would describe as treason as anybody refusing to carry out one of these orders. But it's with some relief, I think, that while the Navy is being asked to maintain this blockade, that Air Force bombers were not asked to end civilization in Iran, which is what Donald Trump was threatening last week. That was widely seen.

as urging a war crime to take place and people are uncomfortable about that but i think i mean generally public opinion is they don't want this conflict to continue they really don't like the effect on oil prices and what that means for the price of petrol at the pump and i think it's going to be quite difficult in the face of that kind of public opinion for donald trump to go back to attacking iran the same way he was doing

Yeah, so there's this AI, seems to be AI-generated image. And it could be an oil painting. Could be an oil painting. Looks very suspiciously AI. Of Donald Trump being Jesus. Blessing, the tops of people's heads sort of reincarnated, rising again. As you can imagine, anything that depicts religious figures in that way across most religions tends to trigger both outrage and then some people who find it kind of funny. That is exactly what's happened. Donald Trump is...

The master of rage bait, I think that would be fair to say, whether you love it or hate it, it certainly provokes a reaction. The whole of this spat, although I don't know if spat is the right word, because it doesn't feel like the Pope wants to be a part of the spat. But anyway, this kind of...

Joka tapauksessa Trumpin ja Pohjois-Pohjois-Pohjois-Pohjois-Pohjois-Pohjois-Pohjois-Pohjois-Pohjois-Pohjois-

Don't forget, Pope Leo is the first American pope. Yes. And so he is associated more with President Trump. In fact, President Trump had put on social media saying, this guy only got to be pope because of me. I mean, to a certain extent there may be some truth behind that, because it was obvious when he was chosen as the pope that he probably was going to be quite critical. And his criticism is in English. Now, I don't want to make broadcasters sound too simplistic, but...

If you have a soundbite from the pope in English, it's going to get on television and the radio much quicker than one that's in Latin or Italian or Spanish or whatever else. And don't forget, before Pope Leo was chosen, when Pope Francis died, Donald Trump did suggest that if they were looking for a new pope, it should be him. And he posted another AI-generated image of him in the pontiff's robes and wearing the hat at the time.

Tämä oli itseasiassa hauska, mutta en tiedä, onko kaikkea hauskaa, kun hän sanoo, että hän oli luonnollisesti vahvistunut vihreästä väestönhankkeesta vuoden 2024 valmistelun aikana. Tämä oli jotain, mikä tuli hänen evankeliaalisuudestaan todella, todella kiinni hänelle, mutta nämä ovat samat ihmiset, jotka voivat olla syvällä huolta siitä, mitä hän tekee ja sanoo nyt.

What people struggle with is that this content will regardless get a huge amount of traction because it is coming from the president of the United States. So the kind of, oh, just ignore it and it won't go viral thing probably ends up not being hugely effective. I mean, the same could be said when you were talking about Iran before.

A lot of the content about the war, whether it's coming from the US and US accounts or whether it's coming from Iran and Iranian accounts, again, a lot of it is deliberately rage-baity, kind of sanitizing the violence on the ground, triggering a reaction. And there are quite important questions over whether people want to engage or not engage with this stuff because they are ultimately kind of becoming part of that ecosystem where they push out a particular narrative or message.

Olen varma, että se ei ole huolimatta Donald Trumpista, koska hän meni kaikkiin legaalisiin toimisiin ymmärtävänsä, että hän voisi vahvistaa, ei kuitenkaan siitä, mitä se on. Mutta se, mitä hän puhutti Wall Street Journalista, oli se, että he olivat huomannut kirjan, jota he sanoivat, että oli kirjannut Donald Trumpin kanssa ja oli sisällyt seuraavaksi seuraavaksi seuraavaksi seuraavaksi seuraavaksi seuraavaksi seuraavaksi.

Ja sitten myöhemmin, kun Epsteinin päiväkirja itse jäi Epsteinin kirjoihin, se kirja oli siellä, vaikka Donald Trump yritti, että se oli heikko. Tämä tilanne oli hieman suhteellista. Luulen, että hän laittoi sen, jotta hän pystyisi tekemään sen, että hän olisi kirjoittanut tätä kirjaa, paremmin ymmärrettävän.

Mutta syy, miksi jäsenet lupasivat sen, on se, että hän sanoi, että Donald Trumpin ei voinut tarkoittaa, että hänellä ei ollut mitään huolta hänestä Wall Street Journalissa, kun he tehtivät tämän raportin. Ja mielestäni se olisi jotain, mikä on erittäin mielenkiintoista, mitä BBC-laajat katsovat, koska he myös sanovat, että Donald Trumpin huolta ei ollut mitään huolta hänestä, kuten se panorama editoi.

So we've just come off there with Matt Charlie on Five Live. And before we go, Anthony, I've got to ask you about Melania Trump's appearance last week when she shocked us all by coming out and giving a statement at the White House.