WAR OF WORDS: President Trump set another deadline, eight o’clock tonight, for Iran to open the Strait of  Hormuz and agree to a peace deal or he will order the bombing of power plants and bridges. “They’re gonna have no bridges, no power plants,” Trump said.

  He boasted, “We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again.”

  The President at a press conference yesterday dodged a question from the NY Times about whether bombing such civilian infrastructure would be a war crime. He answered by calling the paper “failing”, the reporter “fake,” and said he would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Trump said, “You no longer have credibility, The New York Times, because the New York Times said, oh, Trump won’t win the election and I won in a landslide. I won every swing state.”

  An Iranian military spokesman, said “If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the subsequent phases of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be carried out much more crushingly and extensively.” 

  Trump and his top national security staffers gave long and rambling speeches about the excellent military operations, intelligence, and equipment involved in rescuing a downed F-15 weapons officer while also Trump praising himself. The defense secretary, the head of the CIA, and chairman of the joint chiefs all lauded Trump’s leadership along with him.

  The President opened saying, “We had a great Easter. This is one of our better Easters, I think, in a lot of different ways. I can say, militarily, it’s been one of the best.”

  He complained about NATO and other allies who have refused to help fight Iran. “You know who else didn’t help us? South Korea didn’t help us. You know who else didn’t help us? Australia didn’t help us. You know who else didn’t help us? Japan.”  

  Trump also said he would hunt down whoever leaked the news that an F-15 pilot shot down had been rescued and that a second was still on the ground in Iran, endangering rescue operations. “We have to find that leaker ‘cuz that’s a sick person,” he said.

  Trump said he would demand for CBS News to give up their source. “National security, give it up or go to jail,” Trump said.

  At one point Trump drifted off to the subject of Venezuela. “So after I’m finished with this, I can go to Venezuela,” he said. “I will quickly learn Spanish it won’t take too long I’m good at language and I will go to Venezuela, I’m going to run for president but we’re very happy with the president-elect that we have right now the — the — the people that are running it.” 

GOD AT WAR: Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put a religious spin on the war effort and the rescue of that downed F-15 weapons officer. “God was watching us,” Trump said. “Well, it was the Easter — we were in Easter territory, I guess, but God was watching us.”

  Hegseth said about the downed officer, “When he was finally able to activate his emergency transponder, his first message was simple and it was powerful. He sent a message, God is good. In that moment of isolation and danger, his faith and fighting spirit shone through.”

  Asked whether he believes God supports the US in this war Trump answered; “I do. Because God is good. Because God is good, and God wants to see people taken care of god doesn’t like what’s happening.”

THE MOON AND BACK: The Orion space capsule is on its way back after taking a spin around the dark side of the moon and carrying its four astronauts further from Earth than any humans have previously travelled.

  After 40 minutes of radio silence astronaut Christina Koch delivered what was obviously a canned speech about space exploration and the future, finishing with the sentiment that, “Ultimately we will always choose earth, we will always choose each other.”

  NASA leaves nothing to chance, including what the astronauts say at historic moments. 

INFINITE SCROLL:

— At the annual Easter Egg Roll at The White House yesterday, President Trump with someone dressed as a bunny standing next to him spoke to the little children and their parents about the Iran War and rescuing the downed pilot. He said; “Where a pilot’s shot down, in most instances, you’re really not able to go in, because you’ll go in with 200 people and lots of jet fighters and helicopters, and you really don’t have a chance. They get shot down. You lose 200 in order to pick up one, it’s a horrible thing.”

  Then he talked about eggs.

— Vice President JD Vance travelled to Hungary to support the re-election of Hungarian strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Tellingly, Russia also supports Orban, who is in danger of losing Sunday’s election.

  Orban has been critical of support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion while also being a thorn in the side of NATO, which pleases Trump.

HOOP DREAMS: No. 1 Michigan beat No. 2 UConn 69-63 last night to win the NCAA basketball title, stopping UConn from wining a third championship in four seasons. 

  Michigan dominated college ball all season, finishing 37-3.

THE SPIN RACK: Texas education officials are considering an overhaul of their English and social studies curriculum that would include required readings from the Bible. — CBS announced that it is giving Stephen Colbert’s 11:35 pm timeslot to Byron Allen, a media executive and comedian, who now hosts “Comics Unleashed” at 12:30 after Colbert. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Rapper Offset was hospitalized after being shot Monday night near a casino in Florida. Offset is the ex-husband of Cardi B, with whom he has three children.

  You’re a nobody in rap until you’ve been shot.

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