Veep’s fateful Pope meeting
Plus: Tate McRae is doing a collab with Morgan Wallen and fans have feelings
Vice President J.D. Vance was among Pope Francis’ final visitors on Sunday before his passing, and the Veep got some Easter goodies for the kids. Meanwhile back in Washington, POTUS and FLOTUS hosted a White House Easter event with corporate sponsors.
Welcome to this week’s issue of Whig. Read to the end to find out who hurt Lil Wayne’s feelings. — Hunter
Washington pays its respects to Pope Francis:
Tributes poured in today from current and former elected officials about the passing of Pope Francis, who died Monday at the age of 88. President Donald Trump called Francis “a good man” who “worked hard” and “loved the world” at the White House Easter Egg Roll, and former President Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history, called Francis “unlike any who came before him” and “one of the most consequential leaders of our time” who “commanded us to fight for peace” in a statement. Trump said he and First Lady Melania Trump would be at Francis’ funeral. You can read more responses from elected officials here.
This year’s White House Easter Egg Roll was sponsored by special interests:
The White House was looking for corporate sponsors for this year’s Easter Egg Roll in an unprecedented expansion of money and sponsorship into the annual event, and they found them in the likeliest of places, in Silicon Valley, on K Street, and Wall Street.
Amazon sponsored a reading nook at the event, YouTube sponsored the Bunny Hop Stage, and Meta sponsored an artificial intelligence-powered photo experience. Other experiences were sponsored by lobbying groups, including the Toy Association and the International Fresh Produce Association, while the New York Stock Exchange sponsored a photo experience to ring a replica of the NYSE bell, which seems ill advised considering, you know, the stock market.
There were nearly 30,000 eggs on the White House South Lawn for the event, a grocery bill the likes of which I can’t even begin to fathom. Trump has a different take, though. He said last week, “We have too many eggs. In fact, if anything, the prices are getting too low.”
FLOTUS’ wardrobe goes international for Egg Roll:
It looks like tariffs haven’t hit the first lady’s wardrobe yet. FLOTUS showed up for the White House Easter Egg Roll Monday in an outfit from international designers. Trump wore a cream leather trench coat from the Canadian brand Mackage and shoes from French brand Roger Vivier, according to WWD.
Trump also brought her Be Best initiative to the event with a “Be Best military card writing station” and “Be Best Hopscotch,” and she read the book Bunny with a Big Heart to guests.
Veep’s fateful Pope meeting:
After meeting Easter Sunday with Vatican officials for an “exchange of opinions” over issues of disagreement including migrants and prisoners, Vance had a brief meeting with Pope Francis in Vatican City hours before his death.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, was in Vatican City for barely longer than Katy Perry was in space, with his motorcade on Vatican territory for just 17 minutes, according to the Associated Press.
Vance’s office said the Veep “expressed his gratitude to Pope Francis for inviting him to meet on Easter Sunday and for the hospitality the Vatican has extended to his family,” and the Pope gave him three chocolate Easter eggs for his kids.
Van Hollen visits with wrongly deported man in El Salvador:
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) met last week with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man who lived in Maryland and was wrongly deported to an El Salvador prison that Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said they won’t bring him home from.
Van Hollen said his talk with Garcia was Garcia’s first conversation with “anybody outside of prison since he was abducted” and that he had “experienced trauma” in the prison. Van Vollen responded on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) calling the controversy a distraction.
“I don’t think it’s ever wrong to protect the Constitution and protect due process rights,” Van Hollen said. “I think what Americans are tired of is people who want to put their finger to the wind to see what’s going on. And I would say that anyone that’s not prepared to defend the constitutional rights of one man when they threaten the constitutional rights of all doesn’t deserve to lead.”
Calls grow to fire Hegseth:
Following reports last week that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared sensitive information about U.S. attack plans with his wife, brother, and lawyer in a Signal chat (in addition to his previously leaked Signal group chat a journalist was inadvertently added to), a House Republican has come forward to say Hegseth should be removed from office.
“If a Democrat did this we'd be demanding a scalp. I don't like hypocrisy,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told Axios, saying if reports about Hegseth are true, it’s unacceptable. “I don't like hypocrisy. We should be Americans first when it comes to security.”
Carny announces muscular foreign policy plan to Trump-proof Canada:
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said at a campaign rally last week that his country faces “the biggest crisis of our lifetimes” with Trump in office to the south. If Carney’s Liberal Party wins a majority in Canada’s election next Monday, he said his government will increase defense spending.
“In this crisis we have to prepare for America’s threats to our very sovereignty. They want our land, our resources, they want our water, they want our country,” Carney said at the rally in Whitby, Ontario, outside Toronto. “President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us, and that will never happen. Canada is not America, and it never will be, but we need to do more to just recognize that. We need a plan to deal with this new reality.”
Under Carney’s proposal, Canada would grow its defense spending from 1.37% of gross domestic product in 2024 to 2% by 2030, and new funds would go towards recruitment, modernization, and artificial intelligence. “This is a plan that meets that moment in a way that is very prudent with peoples' hard-earned tax dollars but bold in terms of where this country can go,” Carney said.
Here’s Sarah McBride’s advice for a Democratic Party comeback:
In an interview with the “Pod Save America” podcast posted Sunday, Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first transgender member of Congress in U.S. history said she thinks the Democratic Party needs to meet people where they are to build a majority coalition. “There is an art to politics, there is an art to building a coalition that I think we lost. I don’t think we are in this moment because we didn’t scream and yell enough,” she said.
“I do think that we have to try something different than what we’ve been doing over the last couple of years as a movement and I mean that broadly, and I think that means returning back to basics in some ways,” she told hosts Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett. Democrats “became so consumed with being pure and right. We rightfully responded to the abuse of people’s grace, but we overcorrected and we eliminated grace from our politics. And I think that we have to recognize that in order to stop this, we have to win people back over.”
McBride also talked about how Democrats should connect Trump’s actions to people’s lives, like talking about his administration’s illegal deportations of non-citizens and what that means for the erosion of process in a democratic system. “If they can do this to any number of folks who are here legally or who are undocumented, if there is no process, that means they can do it to you, they can do it to me, and none of us are safe,” McBride said.
These are the thirstiest members of Congress:
Politico is out with a list of the most shameless attention-seekers in Congress, and it includes Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) for “wannabe leader of the #resistance” and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for “most obsessed with his own podcast.” Also on the list are Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Vance also makes an appearance on the list on the technicality that he’s president of the Senate and an insufferable reply guy on X.
This hip-hop group ended their Coachella set with a message about Gaza:
The Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap ended their set during weekend two of Coachella Friday with a message projected on stage that read, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F–k Israel; free Palestine.” The group said the same message was censored during their weekend one performance.
Bowen Yang did the “Apple” dance at Coachella:
SNL star Bowen Yang and his “Las Culturistas” podcast host Matt Rogers were on the screen this weekend during Charli XCX’s Coachella set where Yang did the “Apple” dance. Speaking of the viral dance, its choreographer, TikTok creator Kelley Heyer, is suing Roblox, accusing the video game of unauthorized use of her copyrighted dance in its game.
Tate McRae is doing a collab with Morgan Wallen and fans have feelings:
Controversial country singer Morgan Waller announced a slate of collaborations on his upcoming album I’m The Problem, including Tate McRae, and her fans aren’t on board. Comments on the McRae subreddit and the singer’s own Instagram are overwhelmingly negative. “Love u angel but please get rid of that unnecessary collab 😭” one fan wrote on a gallery on behind-the-scenes tour rehearsal photos.
Michelle Williams met Michelle Williams:
Destiny’s Child member Michelle Williams finally met actress Michelle Williams in person for the first time last Thursday in New York City at a performance of the musical Death Becomes Her. “Finally,” Williams said in a social media post.
Wendy’s won’t apologize over beef with Katy Perry:
Last week’s all-female Blue Origin launch hasn’t helped Perry win over any new fans. After the Wendy’s X account tweeted “Can we send her back” last week in response to the pop star returning to Earth, an anonymous “source close to the situation” tells People the burger chain engaged in “shameful bullying” (is that unnamed “source close to the situation” Perry herself? We may never know). Wendy’s isn’t backing down. “We always bring a little spice to our socials, but Wendy’s has a ton of respect for Katy Perry and her out-of-this-world-talent,” Wendy’s said in a statement to People. Kesha seemed to take Wendy’s side in the beef.
The White House made a parody movie poster for Vince Vaughn’s visit:
Actor Vince Vaughn visited the White House Friday, and the official White House social media accounts celebrated the stop-by with an image of Vaughn and Trump in the Oval Office designed to look like a poster for Vaughn’s movie Wedding Crashers that instead said “White House Crashers.” Neither shared why Vaughn visited or what they spoke about, but I hope everybody had a good time.
The director of Home Alone 2 regrets Trump cameo:
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York director Chris Columbus told the San Francisco Chronicle that Trump’s brief appearance in the movie is “an albatross for me” and he “wishes it was gone.” Trump appears in a scene at the Plaza Hotel where he gives directions to Macaulay Culkin’s character Kevin McCallister, and the cameo was a prerequisite for the filmmaker to be able to shoot at the hotel, which Trump purchased in 1988.
“We were desperate to get The Plaza Hotel,” Columbus said, and at a screening, Trump’s cameo tested positively with audiences. “They cheered and they cheered and they thought it was hilarious… Years later, it’s become this curse. It’s become this thing that I wish it was not there.”
The Super Bowl went and hurt Lil Wayne’s feelings:
Lil Wayne has previously said it “broke” him when this year’s Super Bowl in his hometown of New Orleans announced Kendrick Lamar as its halftime show entertainment, and now he’s going into more detail with Rolling Stone about why being passed over hurt so bad.
Weezy said ahead of halftime show announcement, the NFL “encouraged him to be more public facing in preparation for the show, making him feel like the selection was inevitable. ‘To perform, it’s a bunch of things they’re going to tell you to do and not do, asses to kiss and not kiss,’” he said, per Rolling Stone. “He says that after the Lamar announcement, someone at the NFL apologized and told him, ‘We ain’t in charge’ of the Super Bowl halftime show.”
Weezy said he doesn’t have a problem with Lamar and that he called him to encourage him before the Super Bowl, but he didn’t watch. “Every time I looked, it was nothing that made me want to go inside and see what was going on,” he said, and now he’s not interested in performing at the Super Bowl anymore. “They stole that feeling. I don’t want to do it.”
Thanks for reading! See you next week. ⭐