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Good morning,

Shoutout to Jack from sunny Orange County, CA for correctly answering Friday's trivia question [The Sopranos].

This is shaping up to be a pivotal, critical, groundbreaking, historic week of news. Are we ready? Let's start with Artemis, even though this isn't really a column about space I think we can make an exception. Today is the day the Orion capsule carrying our four astronauts will slingshot around the far side of the Moon, after entering the "lunar sphere of influence" yesterday. If you're planning to follow along, here are the milestones to pay attention to:

The flyby is being streamed live on NASA's YouTube page as well as Netflix. And the crew is uploading all of its photography to this website, free to use, copy and reproduce. Someone asked me this weekend what the big deal was with this "space stuff" given that we already did it decades ago. One reason is because of all the visual media the mission is producing. You can watch a live, HD stream of these astronauts approaching the Moon. Is that enough to peel you away from doomscrolling on your phone? High-definition photos of our planet in full — like this one — the first time Earth has been photographed in full in 54 years. Every person you've ever met, known or loved, along with about 8 billion strangers, all together in one photograph. In the five decades since the last full Earth selfie, think of all that has transpired on that Blue Dot. We've cured diseases, solved unsolvable problems, built computers smarter than us. We've screwed up our climate and natural environment, and yet the planet is still here, floating and glowing in the darkness and emptiness of space. How could you not be inspired by that?

I was thinking more about that question last night. Why does it matter? What's the big deal? These astronauts aren't even stepping foot on the Moon, after all. I consider myself a Grade A hater and cynic — 20 years in the news biz will do that — so when I find myself accidentally inspired, or awed, I like to sit with it. I think the big reason why this Moon mission is so needed right now is because it is proving to be an antidote to something. Our era of incompetence, or greed, maybe. How can the same country with a Congress incapable of keeping the TSA lines moving also be sending four humans on a meet-up with the Moon, where every single technical aspect of the mission has to work perfectly hand-in-glove? You read the stories of these astronauts, the absolute best of the best, brightest of the brightest — people who could spend their lives doing anything they wanted, make millions of dollars from the comfort of an office — and instead they're doing this.

It's not just the Artemis astronauts giving us a much-needed reminder about the great things this country and its people can do. If you haven't read the full accounting of the rescue mission to find and exfil the downed airman in Iran over the weekend, start with this tick-tock in WSJ (gift link). When Iran shot down that F-15 on Friday, I had a sinking feeling we were about to have our first POWs of this war, and how bad that would be for the prospects of a ceasefire. Instead, we got both airmen out. One of them had to hike up a mountain, injured, and hide in a crevice as Iranian forces closed in on him. But we got him out. It took nearly 48 hours and 100 commandos to do it, but we got him out. We had to blow up hundreds of millions in military hardware and technology to keep it from falling into the Iranians' hands... but we got him out. The CIA even got involved with a deception campaign to fool the Iranians. All this for one guy. No man left behind.

It's possible to be anti-war and still in awe of our military and what it can do. In a way, that's why we get ourselves into these wars to begin with. It's easy to see how a commander-in-chief could become so enamored of, and confident in, our military capabilities that they start to mistake their tactical victories for strategic wins. Probably speaks to the need for a POTUS who served in combat, otherwise you get these dilettantes like Bush or Trump who think they can paper over their own bad political decisions with the operational successes of our boys in uniform. But kudos to the president and the defense secretary for pulling off a successful rescue mission and a much-needed national morale boost as the war grinds on.

Now the attention turns to tomorrow's deadline. Trump issued an Easter morning ultimatum to the Iranians, vowing to blow up the country's power grid and bridges on Tuesday unless they "Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah."

Just thinking what the reaction would have been from Republicans if Barack Obama said "Praise be to Allah" on Easter Sunday. But in any event, this is Trump Negotiation 101: act like a mad king who has lost his mind and scare your counterparty into submission. I don't think it's gonna work, because it seems the Iranians have Trump's number at this point and know his message of obliteration will likely be followed by a market-calming TACO before the opening bell rings tomorrow. But one thing's for sure, this week is about to get interesting.

PS: As promised, my conversation with The Mooch is up now. We talked about why Trump doesn't have any friends, how many Scaramuccis he expects the war to last (we're on 4 now), and much more. It's a fun one.

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Carlo Versano is Newsweek's Director of Politics and Culture. He has in-depth knowledge and experience covering a range of topics and stories over a 20-year career in the news business. Carlo joined Newsweek in 2024 after a stint at The Messenger. Before that, he was an Emmy-winning producer at NBC News. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond and the New School. You can get in touch with Carlo by emailing [email protected].

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The Mooch reveals all. The financier-turned White House Communications Director-turned MAGA foe tells Carlo what Trump's actually thinking, and why he's possibly the worst person to be President of the United States.

Watch the newest episode here. ⬅

By Jesus Mesa

President Donald Trump's nightmare scenario is taking shape. Democrats have quietly assembled the most exhaustive pre-built investigation infrastructure in modern congressional history. Document retention letters are issued. Target lists are compiled. Subpoena strategies are drafted. The machinery is built and waiting.

Trump himself has acknowledged what could be coming. "If we don't win the midterms, they'll find a reason to impeach me," he told Republican lawmakers in January.

As Carlo said, it’s going to be a busy week here in Washington. Here’s what to watch:

First Lady Melania Trump will host the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House this morning.

Then this afternoon, President Trump will be holding a news conference in the briefing room at 1 p.m. I will be there and will try to ask him a question or two (I would love to hear from you on what you think I should ask the president). 

All eyes are on Trump’s Tuesday 8 p.m. Eastern deadline he gave Iran to reach a deal, or Iran will face what he called “living hell,” warning that power plants and bridges would be blown off. 

On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance travels to Budapest, Hungary, in a show of support for Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The visit comes just days before Hungary holds parliamentary elections, where there is a real chance Orban could lose power. Vance is trying to shore up support for Orban as he is probably the one true MAGA ally in Europe, with the possible exception of Italy’s Giorgia Meloni — although she has not been the most loyal Trump ally during the Iran war. 

Also on Wednesday, Trump is expected to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House, as he considers withdrawing the United States from the alliance, citing what he says is a refusal by members to help the U.S. in its war against Iran.

Ever wonder why you can't have a political conversation with your parents or relatives anymore without it turning into a fight? Nate Silver, the polling guru behind FiveThirtyEight, just offered a compelling explanation: social media has become a "freak show," and it has fractured how we consume information. While this hypothesis is not new, Silver now has the data to prove it.

After Elon Musk bought Twitter, the platform abandoned legacy journalism and expertise in favor of algorithmic engagement. Top accounts pushing racist content and misinformation now get far more reach than the New York Times or Fox News. The algorithm doesn't reward nuance—it rewards outrage.

Many critics of this hypothesis always tell the same thing—that Twitter doesn't matter because most Americans aren't on it. But here's the problem: lawmakers, policymakers, and media figures do live in that ecosystem and shape the national conversation based on what's trending there. When the algorithm rewards low-quality partisan content over substantive analysis, those incentives ripple into actual policy and sometimes violence. Remember January 6?

Earlier this year, we reported on Anthony Kazmierczak, a Minneapolis man who attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar at a town hall with a syringe. His radicalization unfolded in real time on X and Facebook—years of increasingly extreme posts about immigrants, race, and Omar specifically, amplified by algorithms designed to keep him scrolling and angry. 

This is exactly what Silver is describing. Twitter has become increasingly "siloed," dominated by accounts of "incredibly low quality." The platform rewards conspiracy theories and rage over analysis, regardless of political leaning. It's a closed loop where the worst content wins. That's why your uncle shows up to dinner with completely different facts than you do.

And that's why you can't stand him.

“You're on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos. In all of this emptiness, this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe, you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together.”

— NASA Astronaut Victor Glover’s Easter message from space.

Newsweek is part of the Trust Project, which focuses on honesty, accuracy and fairness in journalism. Read more about our best practices. To get in touch with our newsroom with suggestions on how to point out possible errors, please contact us at [email protected].