Beltway Insider: Trump Film Tariffs, Church Quickly Elects Pope, Biden Media, Jeanine Pirro
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- Category: Beltway Insider
- Published on Sunday, 11 May 2025 05:55
- Written by Janet Walker
President Trump announced this week that he would be imposing a 100% tariff on all films made in "Foreign Lands," as part of his Golden Age of America campaign vowing to make Hollywood, once again, churn with robust production.
The President's job approval rating, according to The New York Times for the period ending May 11, 2025, shows remained consistent with 44% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as president remained consistent at 52%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.
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Catholics Cardinals Elect New Pope
In a surprise to all, the cardinal electors chose a new Pope, after just four votes, the two day effort was one of the shortest in the church's history. When the ballots were counted, Robert Prevost, 69, a long time confident and protege of Pope Francis, was named the pontiff's successor.
Robert Prevost, who took the name Pope Leo XIV, is the first American pope, a native of Chicago, Illinois, attended Villanova earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He was dedicated to the philosophies of the church early, raised in a Catholic home, and had strong beliefs on pivotal issues, even in the late 1970's, including abortion, which will become a critical issue during his papacy.
The timeline of Prevost's mentorship under Pope Francis, began while the former pope was still Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, and according to reports, Prevost who was shepherding a congregation that has been described as some way station town in Peru, where sheep smell was the norm, the American born, Prevost began to pastor and minister to the disenfranchised and marginalized citizens, in north-western Peru both as a missionary and bishop. Pope Francis appointed him Later, he served in Trujillo, north-western Peru, and was appointed as the Bishop of Chiclayo.
When Pope Francis also kept his protégé in mind and when he could he appointed Prevost to the prestigious position of prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2023, effectively overseeing the selection of new bishops worldwide. Later in 2023, Francis made Prevost a cardinal.
After the death of Pope Francis, Prevost, who seemed to escape the world's radar as a potential successor, seemed to check all the boxes according to "Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame who focuses on U.S. Catholics, said the 69-year-old Prevost ticked off all the boxes as the papal conclave voted: "a pastoral heart, managerial experience and global vision," The Washington Post reported.
Critical Divisive Issues Plague the Church
Pope Leo XIV has long been mentored by the former Pope Francis and is expected to adopt many of the same views and Church direction on the myriads of hot button issues that currently erode the foundation and reach.
As Pope Francis, was opposed to abortion, calling it murder, which is not out of step with many religions and right wing radicals, Pope Leo XIV is said to have similar views, and yet the church seems to overlook key passages as they seek the wisdom of God is adopting policy which can be alienating.
Scripture is clear, from the Genesis to Revelation, God's greatest gift to mankind is choice and how can a protectorate so dedicated to serving the body of believers attempt to deny or create a deep division within the1.2 billion Catholics by suggesting that a decision made privately alienates from God. Every miracle in the Bible is prefaced with a choice, choose today, pick up your mat and walk, stretch out your arm. No miracle was ever performed without choice, simply choosing to believe.
How then can we deny others the right to their choices?
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LGBTQ issues
Pope Francis, was gracious on the church's position on gay and lesbian, although operated on a don't ask, don't tell belief, not fully welcoming same sex couples into the church, but stated, "If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge?"
It is doubtful, Pope Leo XIV will be as generous, and has opposed gender education and sexuality, and has explained "Note, for example, how alternative families comprised of homosexual partners and their adopted children are so benignly and sympathetically portrayed on television programs and in cinema," he said at the time, according to the Arlington Catholic Herald," reported The Washington Post.
Immigration
Pope Leo XIV, a naturalized Peruvian citizen, is said to be aligned with the late Pope Francis' views on immigration and has been a harsh critic of the U.S. position. Prior to his election as pope, he used his social media to sharply criticize Trump and the vice-president. He is said to follow traditional church beliefs and is aligned with biblical beliefs of helping those considered abandoned and ostracized by society, the poor, downtrodden, and the least, according to church doctrine and biblical teaching.
Trump Withdraws Ed Martin; Names Jeanine Pirro Interim DC US Attorney
Embattled U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia nominee Ed Martin was replaced this week by former Fox News legal host and former Westchester County District Attorney, and Judge, Jeanine Pirro.
Pirro, a camera ready, Trump loyalist, is a staunch defender of the president even to the point of aligning herself with him on the allegation the 2020 election was stolen.
Martin, who ties to Russia and omissions on his Senate Judiciary Questionnaire, was removed by Trump before his 120 days expired. Pirro, must complete the same lengthy form, and face senate confirmation hearings, she also has 120 days to be confirmed, or Trump will be forced to find another candidate.
Trump did not toss Martin aside. "Instead, the president said Martin will be tapped as an associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney, putting him in the position of recommending pardons for a slew of defendants involved in the violent insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021," APNews.com reported.
Moreover, this recently formed working group of attorneys, which has been called a "weaponized working group," within the Justice Department, almost a hit squad to dig deep with presidential authority, to find anything prosecutable, and will be charged with investigating the former administration, and attorney who investigated Trump.
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Coronavirus Total
At the order of the President of the United States, the U.S. no longer recognizes the value of The World Health Organization. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually. The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants.
For the seven days ending May 11, 2025, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the World Health Organization increased by 6,692 to 777,726,897. The total worldwide death toll increased by 478 to 7,094,925 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated April 20, 2025, from the World Health Organization).
Former President Biden Hits the Media Trail
Former President Biden, who has become the catch-all for all the issues that are now affecting the Trump Administration began a preemptive media tour to promote both his upcoming book, which is not yet written, and to clear the air.
As he appeared on the ABC's Morning Talk show The View, Biden also defended his own legacy, which has been the subject of repeated attacks, and a constant diet of ad hominem rants, always attacking Biden, instead of assessing the fault to his own administration, which is an earmark of the Trump Administration and his communication team.
"Trump is suffering a significant erosion in his job approval. He has to have somebody to blame, and he is deflecting as much attention as he can on Joe Biden," said former congressman Steve Israel (D-New York). "Silence by Joe Biden would be a win for Trump; it validates Trump's absurd charges. So being quiet is not an option," reported The Washington Post.
While he tried to explain the reasons behind the democratic loss, and named all the issues, that have been already been hashed out, he didn't mention a simpler reason was the trump administration effective stop the steal campaign, and voters who bought into it simply wanted payback. I think they would rather have a paycheck now.
Hollywood Week: Trump Announces Film Tariffs, WGA Sanctions Scabs, Menendez Hearing, Combs Jury Set
Trump Hits Film Industry with Tariffs (partially reprinted from The Hollywood Week)
President Trump, this week made a loud and reverberating tariff statement, this time directed at the film industry indicating he will be adding 100% tariffs to all films who utilize production services outside the United States.
"The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States," Trump wrote in his post. "Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!," reported CNN.
As films are considered intellectual property and not goods, tariffs usually don't apply, however, as Trump is attempting to revitalize the movie making industry, this effort stops filmmakers from finding the best regions, that offers the most lucrative incentives for the production of their film.
What this translates to in the many production locations in the U.S., is the possibility of inflated and price gouging production costs, years long delays in rebates, and take it or leave it ultimatums, leaving filmmakers to decide if filming in low cost regions, "in Foreign Lands," that offer a 30 day cash back on the majority, even up to 90%, of included production costs is worth the battle of the possibility of 100% tariffs.
As American allies are still muddling through the first round of tariff sticker shock, and new deals are being struck between Washington and the world, more than likely the film production industry in these regions and territories will somehow be written into the new tariff negotiations and independently hammered out.
While many interpret Trump's wording of "in Foreign Lands," to mean outside the United States, the possibility remains that nations like Serbia could be considered a foreign land, and other countries, such as the United Kingdom, who the president has just announced a trade deal, may not register as a foreign land, in this instance.
For more information on President Donald Trump: Whitehouse.gov.
Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.