Political Gabfest - How Many Divisions Has the Pope?

The April 16, 2026 episode of Slate's Political Gabfest dives into the escalating U.S.-Iran standoff, where President Trump's naval blockade of Iranian ports has triggered global economic anxiety and raised questions about the war's sustainability. Hosts David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson analyze the strategic miscalculations behind the blockade, the rising costs—estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars—and the political fallout within the Republican Party. They also explore the bizarre and escalating feud between Trump and Pope Leo, sparked by the Pope’s moral condemnation of war and Trump’s claim that the Pope is 'weak on crime,' culminating in Trump’s AI-generated image of himself as Jesus—a move seen as both blasphemous and a sign of growing instability. The episode then shifts to a deep dive into Emily Bazelon’s investigative piece on the Trump administration’s transformation of the Department of Homeland Security, highlighting the surge in non-criminal deportations, racial profiling, and the dismantling of civil liberties in the name of immigration enforcement. Finally, the show examines Hungary’s democratic resurgence, with Anne Applebaum analyzing the defeat of Viktor Orban and the challenges facing his successor, Peter Magyar, in dismantling Orban’s authoritarian infrastructure. The episode closes with a lighter tone, featuring listener chatters on NASA’s Deep Space Network and a book recommendation on the Comanche Nation.