Trump administration’s report on ‘anti-Christian bias’ is ridiculous propaganda
Trump administration’s report on ‘anti-Christian bias’ is ridiculous propaganda
The report references the Biden administration’s investigation of a Catholic extremist and its acknowledgment of Transgender Day of Visibility.
The Trump administration is facing rebuke over its release of a report that purports to show the Biden administration’s anti-Christian bias.
On Thursday, the White House’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, led by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, one of President Donald Trump’s former defense attorneys, released a controversial report that attempts to portray the previous Democratic administration as having launched a partisan attack on Christianity. To give you a sense as to how unfounded these claims are, they include the Biden administration’s law enforcement inquiries into a self-described “radical traditional Catholic Clerical Fascist” and its acknowledgment of Transgender Day of Visibility, which coincidentally fell on Easter last year.
That the White House thinks it has any credibility here is a remarkable window into the administration’s rank derangement, given the recent claims of blasphemy Trump faced after he portrayed himself as Jesus.
The head of the Interfaith Alliance, a faith-based activist group that opposes Christian nationalism, rebuked the report, calling it “abominably hypocritical.” The Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush’s statement cited Trump’s recent attacks on Pope Leo and his previous condemnation of Bishop Mariann Budde for delivering a sermon that called for mercy toward immigrants:Trump’s radical DOJ’s new report is abominably hypocritical. To find anti-Christian bias, the Trump administration should look in the mirror at its own targeting of Christian communities and leaders who dare to oppose its extreme agenda. From attacking Pope Leo to Bishop Budde to so many others, this president has repeatedly threatened and clashed with many of the most prominent Christian denominations in our country.
A hefty portion of the report is dedicated to condemning the Justice Department’s investigation of an extremist in Virginia named Xavier Lopez, who was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after he was found with a bevy of explosives in 2022. Republicans have sought to frame the FBI’s investigation of Lopez and the church he attended as evidence of anti-Catholic bias, but the DOJ’s inspector general debunked that claim, determining there was no “malicious intent” or evidence of bias in the FBI’s probe despite errors in some of the agency’s investigatory practices. At the time, the FBI said its own review had affirmed “there was no intent or actions taken to investigate Catholics or anyone based on religion.”
The Trump administration’s report buries some important context about Lopez that fueled the investigation, according to the Daily Beast:
On his wall hung a giant Nazi flag, with a crucifix and rosary fixed neatly above the swastika.
Federal agents had been tracking Lopez since 2019 over neo-Nazi posts urging followers to shoot police and attack Black Americans and Jews. He also boasted he could do better than Anders Breivik — the far-right killer who murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011, Commonweal Magazine reported.
After Lopez began attending Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) Chapel, agents placed an informant inside the parish to find out whether he was trying to recruit fellow worshippers for a violent attack.
The Trump administration’s report also takes aim at the Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-extremism organization the DOJ recently hit with a bogus indictment. Federal prosecutors say the organization has funded extremism with its investigatory work into extremist groups; the SPLC has vigorously denied the allegations, saying its work has been done largely to help law enforcement target extremists.
MAGA world figures have tried to peddle absurd claims that racist extremism is a liberal contrivance, and this new report seems intent on fueling these claims by citing two officials’ emails raising questions about the SPLC’s methodology in deeming certain religious groups as extreme. But the DOJ’s report also lends credence to the SPLC’s defense of its actions, with its quoting of an official who said the organization “has been a source for statistics and data not otherwise available to law enforcement.”
Opinion | Trump’s time-bending claim about the Iran war is truly absurd
The Trump administration told Congress Thursday that the legislative branch doesn’t need to worry about authorizing the war with Iran that President Donald Trump launched two months ago. The War Powers Resolution says that a president only has 60 days after deploying U.S. military forces to either fully withdraw those forces or get formal approval from legislators for the campaign to continue. Despite hitting that deadline Friday, the White House is now saying that as far as it’s concerned, the hostilities that began two months ago are “terminated,” leaving no reason for Congress to act.
It’s a confounding sentiment given the U.S. warships still blockading Iranian ports and the possibility that Trump could launch a new round of strikes at any time. But time has clearly become flexible to the Trump administration and its allies. Depending on who you ask, and when, America’s war against Iran is simultaneously ongoing and doesn’t exist; it began 60 days ago but also 40 years ago. The war ended in early April, but our “warfighters” still need unconditional support to achieve victory.
The result is a quantum-flux state of play regarding the Iran war that’s as absurd as it is illegal. The conflicting arguments stretch the limits of credulity in hopes of avoiding laws meant to prevent America being dragged into a conflict with no end — and, in this case, seemingly no real beginning.
When Trump announced the joint U.S.-Israeli bombing against Iran, there was immediate concern that at no point had he tried to get authorization from Congress ahead of the strikes beginning. Hegseth claimed during one of his first press conferences after the campaign began that the U.S. “didn’t start this war,” implying it was an act of self-defense despite the U.S. being the one with fighter jets flying sorties.
More confounding was the claim from the State Department’s legal advisor that the hostilities with Iran merely continue a conflict ongoing since 1979. Despite there being a ceasefire for talks after last June’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, the State Department’s analysis claims that “if a conflict has not ended, then it must be ongoing.” (Keep that in mind for two paragraphs from now.)
The White House formally notified Congress about the military deployment on March 2, starting the 60-day clock for approval. While never fully clarifying the war’s goals, the White House halted airstrikes on April 7 when both sides agreed to a ceasefire. Since then, there have been muddled negotiations between Iran and the U.S. and a last-minute extension from Trump as the original two-week pause reached its end. But throughout the off-and-on peace talks, the U.S. has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports and Iran has continued to choke off trade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump says he doesn’t need congressional approval for Iran war because ‘hostilities’ have ended May 1, 2026 / 11:06
Incredibly, when asked about the War Powers Resolution deadline during a Senate hearing Thursday, Hegseth claimed that it was a moot point. While deferring to the White House counsel’s judgement, the defense secretary claimed, “we are in a cease fire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a cease fire.” Hegseth’s statement echoed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s words to NBC News earlier that day: “We are not at war.”
Johnson’s refusal to acknowledge Congress’ role in declaring war is troubling on its own. But it pales next to the administration’s efforts to avoid the War Powers Resolution’s clear requirement when congressional approval is lacking: “terminate any use of United States Armed Forces” regarding the conflict after 60 days. As Just Security noted, “this withdrawal of U.S. forces occurs by operation of law – that is, according to pre-existing terms of the statute, without any further action by Congress.” It’s supposed to be up to Trump to convince Congress to let the troops stay engaged in hostilities at this point, not Congress’ job to force him to remove them.
Moreover, simply claiming that there’s no fighting isn’t the same as the war ending. Previous administrations have claimed under something called “intermittence theory” that the clock starts and stops with each discrete set of military strikes. But a ceasefire is not a lasting peace, and the War Powers Resolution only speaks of “hostilities” ongoing, not armed conflict. In other words, under the law, if U.S. forces are deployed. nobody needs to be firing shots for the clock to keep ticking.
Meanwhile, the continued blockade of Iranian ports is unquestionably an act of war under international law, not to mention an action that is putting U.S. service members at risk of being drawn into renewed combat. Trump is also reportedly considering a renewed round of attacks to force the re-opening of the strait or convince Iran to hand over its stockpile of enriched uranium. Under his administration’s interpretation of the law, the U.S. breaking the ceasefire would merely resume the clock with weeks left before needing authorization — or potentially restart it entirely.
As Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley law school, recently wrote in The New York Times, it is imperative that the courts “simply hold that the War Powers Resolution requires the president to end our involvement in the war with Iran unless and until Congress authorizes it.” Until that happens, Congress’s power to declare war, already weakened, has been made effectively irrelevant. Instead, we live in a world the White House will keep trying to argue that a war that lasts for 10 months is the same as one that lasts 60 days is the same as one that’s lasted forty 40 years is the same as one that only lasted 40 days.
Trump Signs Order Expediting Drugs for Mental Health Treatment
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Saturday that he said “directs the FDA to expedite their review of certain psychedelics already designated as breakthrough therapy drugs.” A primary objective of the order is to speed treatment for veterans.
“The executive order I’m signing, we’re actually signing the executive order today, is really a moment,” Trump said. “These treatments are currently in the advanced stages of clinical trials to ensure that they’re both safe and effective for the American patients.”
The president said the executive order would implement “historic reforms to dramatically accelerate access to new medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs.” Citing the elevated veteran suicide rate, the president added: “In many cases, these experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential for those suffering from severe mental illness and depression, including our cherished veterans.”
“And the nice part is we’re actually doing this early, but it has been going on. Research has been going on for quite some time. But, you know, usually with things like this, nothing ever happens, no matter how the research ends up, but we’re changing that. This order will clear away unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, improve data sharing among the FDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and facilitate fast rescheduling of any psychedelic drugs that become FDA approved,” Trump continued.
The president said “in 2024, a study from Stanford University, 30 special operation veterans with traumatic brain injuries underwent — it’s called ibogaine treatment — ibogaine, remember the name,” noting that they “experienced an 80 to 90% reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety within one month.”
“In Texas, Republican leaders have already committed $50 million to the ibogaine research. And today, the federal government is making a $50 million research investment in its own. And so that was just approved just last night,” Trump announced.
“We’re also opening a pathway for ibogaine to be administered to desperately ill patients under the right to try law,” Trump said.
“Today’s order will ensure that people suffering from debilitating symptoms might finally have a chance to reclaim their lives and lead a happier life, just lead a happier life,” he added.
Two weeks ago, Trump signed a sweeping executive order aimed at tightening federal oversight of election integrity, directing multiple agencies to expand voter eligibility verification and impose new controls on mail-in ballots.
The order, titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” outlines a series of measures that would increase coordination between federal agencies and state election officials, while also establishing new procedures for how ballots are distributed and tracked through the mail system.
At the core of the directive is a requirement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), working with the Social Security Administration (SSA), compile and transmit lists of individuals confirmed to be U.S. citizens to state election authorities. These “State Citizenship Lists” would be generated using federal databases, including immigration and Social Security records, and updated regularly ahead of federal elections.
According to the order, the lists are intended to help states verify voter eligibility, though inclusion on the list would not automatically register an individual to vote. State laws and procedures would still govern registration requirements.
The order also calls for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prioritize investigations and potential prosecutions related to election law violations. This includes cases involving the distribution of ballots to individuals deemed ineligible to vote, as well as any actors—public or private—who may be involved in producing or sending such ballots.
In a significant expansion of federal involvement in mail voting procedures, the directive instructs the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to develop new rules governing the handling of mail-in and absentee ballots. Within 60 days, the Postmaster General is required to initiate a rulemaking process that would standardize ballot tracking and verification measures nationwide.
Under the proposed framework, all mail-in ballots would be required to use specially marked envelopes designated as official election mail. These envelopes must include unique tracking barcodes and meet specific design standards set by USPS to ensure compatibility with automated processing systems.
Trump Says He’s in No Hurry to Make Deal With Iran
The president gave an update on negotiations between Washington and Tehran in a weekend interview.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 26, 2026 in Washington. This is Trump's second Cabinet meeting of 2026 and the first since the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Feb. 28, 2026. Chip Somodevilla/Getty U.S. President Donald Trump, in an interview published on May 30, said that he is in no hurry to make a deal with Iran to end the war, saying that neither Washington nor Tehran has signed an agreement yet.
“I’d like to say I’m in a hurry because gasoline prices are going to come tumbling down, but if you’re going to be in a hurry, you’re not going to make a good deal,” Trump told Fox News. “And slowly but surely we’re getting, I think, what we want, and if we don’t get what we want, we’re going to end it a different way.”
For weeks, the United States and Iran have been working to come to an agreement that would end the war, which started in February, as the conflict remains in a ceasefire. On May 29, Trump released the terms of a deal with Tehran and said he would be making a final decision soon.
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Along with demanding that Iran not obtain a nuclear weapon, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the Strait of Hormuz must be opened “in both directions” and that Tehran must “complete the immediate removal and/or detonation of any mines that are left.”
Since the start of the conflict, the strait has effectively remained shut down, sending oil and gas prices surging, as the strait allows for the transit of about a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas. As of May 31, gas prices in the United States averaged $4.34 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association.
A White House official told The Epoch Times on May 29 that a White House meeting in the Situation Room on Iran lasted approximately two hours. No details were provided.
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Iran on May 31 claimed that the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) shot down a U.S. military drone that entered its airspace, in comments carried by state-run Tasnim News. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has not publicly commented on the incident.
A top Iranian official, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, also said on May 31 that Tehran’s military force is “pushing back the enemy in a great and history-making war,” referring to the United States, according to state-run media. He also claimed that the United States has retreated from the conflict while pushing a narrative of unity in the Iranian regime.
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In his May 29 post on Truth Social, Trump also wrote that mines would be removed from the strait and that ships trapped there may start to go home.
“Say HELLO to your wives, husbands, parents, and families from me, your favorite President!” he said.
On May 30, War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States would restart attacks against Iran if no deal can be reached and that the military’s ammunition stockpiles are being replenished.
“Our ability to recommence if necessary ... we are more than capable,” Hegseth told reporters in Singapore. “Our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe, so we’re in a very good place.”
The Pentagon head said that Trump was “patient” and that the president wants to make a “great deal” that ensures that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.
Reuters contributed to this report.
