Good Evening, this is the Commonwealth Report. News for the public, not the powerful.
Is Trump Already Plotting the Invasion of Cuba?
While he’s still waging an illegal war against Iran, Donald Trump has turned his sights to Cuba. Multiple sources tell reporters that the Trump White House has quietly issued a new directive to officials at the Pentagon and elsewhere in the government to ramp up planning in case the U.S. “intervenes” in the island nation. Trump has been publicly dangling invasion talk for weeks. “We may stop by Cuba after we’re finished with this,” he said, while standing next to a woman in a DoorDash grandma shirt at a White House photo-op. He’s already imposed a brutal oil blockade on Cuba, cutting off the fuel shipments the country relied on from Venezuela after Trump’s military operation removed Maduro from power in January. Cuba has lost ten percent of its population to mass migration since 2021. Three nationwide blackouts hit in March alone. Food shortages are pushing millions toward malnutrition. And now the Pentagon is being told to get ready. One military intervention apparently wasn’t enough for this man.
Mexico Launches Free Healthcare for Everyone While Trump Guts American Health Programs
Here’s a contrast that should make every American furious. On April 7th, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum signed a presidential decree establishing universal free healthcare for all Mexicans at any public health institution in the country. The rollout begins in 2027 with emergency care, adding lab work, radiotherapy, and specialized services later that year, and full universal hospitalization and prescription drug coverage by 2028. Meanwhile, Trump’s 2027 budget hacks 15.8 billion dollars from the Department of Health and Human Services. He’s pushing to automatically enroll seniors into private Medicare Advantage plans, which insurance companies have used to fraudulently overbill the government by the trillions through a practice called upcoding, making patients look sicker than they are. Trump says the federal government just can’t afford healthcare. Funny how he always finds the money for war. Mexico just enshrined healthcare as a constitutional right. America is sprinting in the opposite direction, and working people are going to pay for it with their lives.
Does Anyone in America Still Trust Trump on Taxes?
On this Tax Day, CNN’s Harry Enten laid out the numbers and they are devastating. Trump’s net approval rating on taxes has collapsed 30 points since his first term. He’s now 28 points underwater overall on the tax issue. But with independents? He’s 58 points underwater. Fifty-eight points. That’s not a slip. That’s a collapse. His “One Big Beautiful Bill” tax package isn’t pulling him out of the hole. Americans give it a net approval rating of negative 20 points overall, and among independents it sits at negative 41. The bill that was supposed to be Trump’s big legislative trophy is a political anchor dragging him straight toward the midterms. You can’t cut taxes for billionaires, gut healthcare and social programs, blow up the deficit, and torch the global economy with chaotic tariffs and then expect working people to cheer. They’re not cheering. And November is getting closer every single day.
Trump Weaponizes Jesus Again and Dares Christians to Stop Him
First, Trump posted an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ healing the sick. His own MAGA base erupted in outrage and the post was deleted. Then Trump claimed he thought it was a picture of himself “as a doctor.” Not Jesus. A doctor. Now, just days later, he’s posted another AI-generated Jesus image on Truth Social. This one shows Jesus and Trump standing side by side, with Jesus’s arm wrapped around the president. Trump’s caption mocks what he calls the “radical left lunatics” who objected to the original post. He’s not backing down. He’s escalating. This is a man impeached twice, found liable for sexual abuse, convicted of felonies, and now draping himself in the image of the Son of God to own the libs. Real Christian leaders across this country are appalled. Republican elected officials are silent. When a president begins casting himself as a divine figure standing above all earthly accountability, that’s not politics. That’s something much more dangerous.
Hungary’s New Leader Bulldozes the State Propaganda Machine on Live Television
Days after his Tisza Party swept Viktor Orban out of power in a landslide, Hungary’s prime minister-elect Peter Magyar walked straight into the state broadcaster’s studio and told them to their faces they were done. On live radio and television, Magyar called the state outlet a “factory of lies,” said its propaganda was something that Joseph Goebbels and the North Korean leadership would admire, and vowed that once he takes power, the network will be shut down and replaced with something genuinely independent and impartial. The live interviews exploded into shouting matches. Magyar accused the broadcaster of airing fabricated stories about his own children during the campaign. Remember, Trump and JD Vance personally traveled to Hungary and campaigned for Orban. They lost. Democracy won. It’s a reminder that even the most entrenched authoritarian propaganda machines can be beaten when voters get a real choice and choose to fight back. America, take note.
Did Trump’s DOJ Think Ignoring Federal Court Orders Was Optional?
A federal judge in California just sanctioned a Trump Justice Department lawyer for repeatedly blowing off court orders in immigration detention cases. Chief U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley fined DOJ attorney Jonathan Yu after Yu missed multiple deadlines in a habeas corpus case. A court had ordered a detained immigrant released on April 3rd. Yu didn’t file the required compliance notice. The judge issued a show-cause order. Yu missed that deadline too. The freed man ended up stranded in Bakersfield without his identification, unable to get home to Utah, at real risk of being re-arrested by DHS. The court ordered Yu to return the man’s passport and driver’s license and file a status update. Yu missed that deadline as well. The judge wrote that “compliance with court orders is not optional.” Yu claimed he’d been assigned over 300 immigration habeas cases in three months. The judge made clear this wasn’t about workload. This was willful disregard. When the Justice Department treats federal court orders as mere suggestions, the rule of law isn’t bending. It’s breaking.
And that’s the way it is. Tonight Wednesday, April 15th, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
