Lydic, Colbert, Meyers, and Kimmel take closer looks at the first American Pope for Flashback Friday

Happy Flashback Friday! I set up today's post in the middle of 'Conclave' — fiction vs. reality, when I wrote "I expect I'll return to the topic once the real conclave elects a new Pope." That happened yesterday with the election of Leo XIV. Without any further ado, I begin the videos with The Daily Show's First American Pope Makes History and MAGA Catholics Already Have Issues.

Desi Lydic has the latest from the Vatican after the announcement of the first American pope, Leo XIV, including the world's reaction to a Chicago-style pope and Fox News immediately yelling at him to speak English. Plus, Michael Kosta celebrates America's conclave win.

The Pope told off JD Vance? I like him already.

Unlike Michael Kosta, Stephen Colbert is Catholic, and he weighed in with White Smoke! | The Chicago Pope | Melania Absent While Donald Handles First Lady Duties.

The new Pope is an American from Chicago, and Melania Trump is M.I.A. so her husband has taken on tasks traditionally managed by the First Lady.

"Pope-S-A! Pope-S-A! Pope-S-A!" and "Daa prayers" — classic. On the other hand, Stephen repeating Desi Lydic's line about "English being good enough for Jesus" is enough to bring out my inner pedant to say "Well, actually, Jesus probably spoke Aramaic," complete with pushing up my glasses.

As for the First Lady being at the White House for a total of two weeks out of the first 100 days, I'm not surprised. I wrote Melania Trump prefers Trump Tower to the White House more than eight years ago. Some things haven't changed.

Before I move on, the nomination of Casey Means to be Surgeon General after Dr. Janette Nesheiwat withdrew shows two things; first, the influence of RFK Jr. remains strong, and, second, things can get worse. I can say the same about the replacement of Ed Martin with Jeanine Pirro as Interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. Break out the w(h)ine!

It wouldn't be a closer look post without Seth Meyers, so here's New Pope Criticized JD Vance; Conclave Upstages Trump's Underwhelming U.K. Trade Deal: A Closer Look.

Seth takes a closer look at Donald Trump announcing a meaningless trade deal with the United Kingdom, which is the first deal he's reached after claiming he already had 200, and him getting upstaged by the new pope.

Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump deserved to be upstaged. I'm not so sure about UK Prime Minster Keir Starmer, who I mentioned here for the first time since his election, although he was boring. I hope he feels like his country got something out of the deal. Hoover Cleveland probably does; he might buy a Rolls-Royce because of it.

I close the video portion of today's post with Jimmy Kimmel's Trump Reveals First Trade Agreement, MAGA Nuts Lose Minds Over New Pope & MTG’s Dumb-assery.

A new Pope was selected and he’s American, thousands of worshippers gathered in St. Peter’s Square to welcome the new holy father, right wing social media is losing its collective mind because the new Pope cares for the poor and the sick and the plight of immigrants, Trump announced his first trade deal today with the UK, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was not able to be at the White House but he did call in to kiss some ass, Trump blamed Pete Buttigieg for all of the issues at Newark Airport, several of Pete Hegseth’s personal passwords have been compromised by cyberattacks, Klan Mom Marjorie Taylor Greene put on a magnificent display of dumb-assery, Trump has an important Mother’s Day message, and Jimmy’s wife Molly gives a helpful hint for how to make this the best Mother’s Day ever.

Not only did the new Pope criticize Vance, he criticized Hoover Cleveland. I like him even more. Speaking of criticism, fake Starmer was a lot more entertaining than the real one. So was Representative Melanie Stansbury, who showed that Hoover Cleveland isn't the only politician who can be fooled by a doctored photo and then insist they weren't fooled. "Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" was a lot funnier when Chico Marx said it.

Because of the criticism of VP Vance combined with the election of the Pope, today's retrospective covers last year's most read shares of blog posts on social media about the 2024 election I haven't already covered. Follow over the jump.

Melania Trump prefers Trump Tower to the White House

The New York Times reports Melania and Barron Trump Won’t Immediately Move to White House.

President-elect Donald J. Trump’s wife, Melania, and their 10-year-old son, Barron, will not immediately move to the White House after Mr. Trump takes office in January, out of concern for uprooting Barron in the middle of the school year, transition officials said on Sunday.

Ms. Trump and Barron will remain in New York for at least another six months, the officials said. Speaking to reporters on Sunday at his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., Mr. Trump said they would join him “very soon — after he’s finished with school.”

Mr. Trump said he would move to the White House. Still, with his family remaining at Trump Tower, the likelihood may increase that Mr. Trump will spend part of the week in New York.
...
For all of the enthusiasm that the president-elect displayed on the campaign trail, Ms. Trump, a former model, never shared in it. She did not join her husband other than for major events like the Republican National Convention, and she granted few interviews.
...
Keeping Trump Tower as a residence for the incoming president’s family will create security and logistical hurdles for the Secret Service and the Police Department. The tower is on Fifth Avenue, a major thoroughfare.

I'll let Iago from "Aladdin" express my reaction to this news.


Thank you, Iago.  I couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm also reminded of a skit from the Emmy Awards ten years ago: Donald Trump and Megan Mullally singing "Green Acres."


"The chores!" "The stores!" "Fresh Air!" "Trump Tower!"  Yeah, "Darling, I love you but give me Fifth Avenue!"  That bit now looks very prescient, except it looks like The Donald did not get Melania to sing "Good bye, city life" "The White House we are there!"  No, it will be just The Donald with his family visiting him, at least until July.

Megan told the back-story of that bit on the Conan O'Brian Show this summer: Megan Mullally's Emmys Duet With Donald Trump.

Donald was VERY into the concept of winning Emmy Idol back in 2005, so just imagine what he must be like now.

Considering that the show was nominated for eight Emmy Awards in its history, but never won, the "Emmy Idol" was the only award The Donald has ever won at the Emmys.  No wonder he wanted it so bad.  I hope he's as happy becoming President, even if the rest of us aren't.