Opinion

“A whole civilization will die tonight.” Is this something Jesus would have said?

At a White House Easter event last week, Donald Trump’s spiritual advisor, Paula White-Cain, compared him to Jesus Christ, invoking betrayal, false accusations and even a kind of political “resurrection.” The remarks were blasphemous. So was Trump’s own doomsday threat to bomb Iran back to the “Stone Age.”

On Easter Sunday, Donald Trump posted to his failing, Nazi-infested social media site a rant that has shocked the world, threatening multiple war crimes with a level of obscenity that no Republican would have tolerated from President Barack Obama or any other Democrat:

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F---in’ Strait, you crazy b------s, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH. Praise be to Allah.”

Well, I guess it’s reassuring to learn that gasoline prices have nothing to do with Trump’s war. And that we’re winning against Iran. In fact it’s won! Better than anybody could ever have imagined!!! Although we’ll be there another few weeks... And maybe we’ll bomb them back to the Stone Age… And he needs another $200 billion… And let’s activate the draft (except for Barron, who has congenital bone-spurs.…)

One day, we’ll look back on last Wednesday’s speech as the moment it became impossible to ignore. Not just the policy or the war, but the man and his growing mental and emotional disabilities.

As we go about our spring, awaiting the latest drop of "The Pitt," putting money on the Final Four, or indefatiguiably scrolling dog videos on "X," it's all too easy to pretend that, as bad as things may be, they remain "managably bad," not so bad as to touch you personally, not "that bad," anyway.

At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, please set that comforting thought aside, because things are aligned to get "bad" in a way that most certainly does impact you, badly. Summer is coming, and not just any summer.

One of my closest friends emigrated from Iran to the U.S. in the 1980s. She is a respected physician in her field, and she texted me when she saw Donald Trump’s expletive-filled Truth Social post at Iran on, of all days, Easter Sunday.

“Do you know how unacceptable it is to swear in Iran? And what happens if you do? And he attacked Allah. That language might be worse than bombs,” she said.

I still remember the day, back in 2009 when we were on speaking terms, when Alex Jones showed up naked for a live simulcast of our two shows. It’s one of those pictures that my staff and I have worked for years to get out of our heads.

It was for a stunt, of course; if nothing else, Alex has always known how to be a showman. It was April 15, Tax Day, and he wanted to emphasize how the IRS had “taken the shirt off my back.” Point made. And a largely harmless one (other than that $38 trillion national debt that’s 100% derived from tax cuts for billionaires and corporations we were lied into by Reagan, Bush, and Trump).

Donald Trump asked Republicans to pass the SAVE Act “for Jesus.” He’d have been better calling out George Wallace and Strom Thurmond.

The debate has focused on the bill’s many dangerous aspects. But the SAVE Act builds on voter suppression that Republicans have been carrying out for the past 25 years. The Democrats need to talk about this history, because whether or not this bill passes, there will be others like it to come.

There was a time when I genuinely loved Tiger Woods.

Almost 30 years ago, in one of my first PR jobs, I worked on the team that helped announce his partnership with American Express. In May 1997, shortly after his historic Masters victory, then 21-year-old Woods signed a groundbreaking five-year deal worth over $25 million. At the time, it was huge.