Smartt Takes News: RIP Pope Francis. Hegseth Under Fire, Birth Policy Proposals, and More Admin Moves
Your timely news updates going into the week. Rest in Peace, Pope Francis.
Greetings from beautiful, sunny California! A nice welcome after a surprisingly snowy weekend in Santa Fe. As promised in Friday’s issue, I wanted to provide you some updates on the news that happened this weekend and going into the week.
I first wrote this yesterday, but then a few major things broke, so, here’s a timely, full-fledged news update…until the next big story breaks.
Rest in Peace, Pope Francis. On Monday morning, Pope Francis passed away from stroke and heart failure. The Pope had been experiencing months-long health struggles, including a case of double pneumonia. In one of his last acts, the Pope met with Vice President JD Vance for a few minutes to exchange Easter greetings yesterday. He then delivered his final Easter address, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
On Saturday, Vance also met with Vatican staff, where there was “an exchange of opinions” between the two parties regarding the Trump administration’s deportation policy.
During his tenure, Pope Francis was vehemently against Trump’s mass deportations, taking a strong stance back in February criticizing the administration’s policy agenda, disagreeing with Vance’s stance that the Catholic ideology ordo amoris serves as justification for the administration’s immigration policy.
There are a series of contenders to be the next Pope; however, there’s no clear front-runner. An election will take place among the College of Cardinals (via secret ballot)— the candidate who receives two-thirds of the vote will be elected Pope.
Notably, one of the contenders for the position — who is the top Vatican official for Middle East affairs and thus has risen in prominence — is 60 and, reportedly, may be “too young” for the role.
Friendly Smartt Takes reminder, that youth/age is relative, and it’s never too late to start something new :).
Signal Gate: The story that just won’t quit. Reportedly, Sec Def. Pete Hegseth was sharing war plans in a second group chat on Signal — this time with his family members & close circle. Like the “Houthi PC Small Group,” The “Defense | Team Huddle” crew was also made privy to high-level classified information regarding the Yemen strikes.
On Monday, Hegseth responded, blaming the media and “former, disgruntled employees.” His remarks followed a scathing Politico op-ed from one of Hegseth’s former DOD allies citing the “full-blown meltdown” happening at the Pentagon.
Some Republican members of Congress are losing confidence in Hegseth, with Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) calling for the White House to fire him. Trump on Monday, however, publicly (and privately) expressed confidence in Hegseth.
Can’t wait to hear the leaked exclusive about how he’s actually feeling about this behind closed doors.
Update: Per NPR, the White House is searching for a new Sec. Def., though WH Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt decried the report as “total FAKE NEWS.”
White House is reportedly considering several ways to increase the birth rate/encourage women to have more children. Possible proposals include implementing “baby bonuses” ($5,000 given to women after each delivery), expanding menstrual cycle education for women, increasing access and affordability for IVF, addressing root causes of infertility, or bestowing a “National Medal of Motherhood” to women with six or more children.
Next Steps: The White House is expected to release a report mid-May on how to make IVF more affordable, and perhaps include ways to encourage/increase birth rates.
Trump won’t invoke Insurrection Act…for now. As Smartt Takes reported Friday, Trump’s deadline to invoke the Insurrection Act was Sunday, April 20. Reportedly, ICE & DOD will not recommend he invoke the Act as doing so may overwhelm detention centers, among other reasons. The memo is expected to be released this week, and we’ll keep you posted.
Two U.S. citizens detained in Arizona and Florida respectively. Two U.S. citizens were arrested and detained by ICE after having unrelated run-ins with law enforcement. Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, 20, was pulled over commuting to work, when he was arrested for illegally entering Florida/the U.S., despite having been born in Georgia. Jose Hermosillo, 19, was arrested in Arizona, after he got lost and was picked up by ICE.
He didn’t have his birth certificate or social security card on him (shocker), so they arrested him for illegally entering the country and detained him. Hermosillo, however, is from Albuquerque, NM — ironically, where I first wrote this news update.
He was released after his family submitted his birth certificate & social security card to ICE.
Beyond “disappearing” U.S. citizens, critics are concerned that the government is engaging in racial profiling, and making assumptions on whether or not someone is a U.S. citizen based on their appearance.
Supreme Court blocks Trump from deporting Venezuelans/people under the Alien Enemies Act. In an emergency, overnight ruling this weekend, the Supreme Court paused a second round of reported planned deportations of Venezuelans to El Salvador.
Per the NYT, the Court "seemed skeptical" that the administration would adhere to a recent order stating that deportees were entitled to be notified in advance of their deportation within a reasonable time frame, allowing them to challenge the ruling.
Justices Samuel Alito & Clarence Thomas dissented, with Alito calling it inappropriate and unnecessary for the Court to issue a midnight ruling.
What’s next? The case will move through the lower courts and then likely back up to the Supreme Court.
The Atlantic is out with a piece on the shifting company culture around the federal government. Referencing a fall speech from current OMB Director Russell Vought, the goal is to villainize federal government employees, making it so that they hate going to work.
DOGE is evidently expanding their mandate beyond federal government, with a plan to implement a DOGE team at any nonprofit that receives federal funding.
Generally, nonprofits typically operate independently—meaning their funding doesn’t necessarily influence their mission or their work, but this time the stated goal is to ensure that the work of these non-profits is aligned with Trump’s policy priorities.
Trump v. Harvard Escalates. Smartt Takes reported Friday that the admin is looking into cancelling Harvard’s tax-exempt status, but, apparently that’s not all.
On Saturday, HHS sent a letter to Harvard requesting all of their reports —published and draft — on antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias since October 2023. Harvard created an antisemitism task force in 2024 but has yet to report any findings publicly. HHS has also asked for the names of any individuals involved in the drafting, preparing, or editing of the reports.
This comes as the admin is considering cancelling another $1 billion in federal research grants to Harvard, after freezing $2.26 billion following Harvard’s ‘defiance’.
The admin is reportedly furious with Harvard for their public rebuke of the administration, and is prepared to retaliate.
The White House on Monday held an Easter Egg Roll with 30,000 real eggs, not candy-filled plastic eggs. No clue why they used real eggs, but that decision is apparently above my pay-grade.
In a break from tradition, the Easter Egg Roll was also sponsored by corporations. Typically, the American Egg Board sponsors the event, “partly to keep advertising off White House grounds.” All the big tech guys — YouTube, Meta, Amazon, etc.— were official sponsors this year.
Trump wished everyone a happy Easter yesterday, even the “radical left lunatics” and the “WEAK and INEFFECTIVE” judges and law enforcement.
We’ll be back on Friday, and in the meantime, check out the evergreen section in the latest Smartt Takes for your daily news updates!