May 8th, 2025

On Thursday’s Mark Levin Show, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has become the first American Pope in the history of the Catholic Church – Pope Leo XIV. Prevost’s election reflects his close alignment with Pope Francis’s vision on issues like the environment, poverty, and synodality. We’ll see what he does, but hopefully, he is more along the lines of John Paul II. His extensive missionary work in Peru and fluency in multiple languages were likely factors in his selection by the papal conclave. Later, President Trump’s deal with Britain really is a very big deal. It’s part of his strategy to open worldwide markets and create a more market-oriented global economy, which is why it is pro-capitalism and more free-market oriented. He imposed tariffs and reciprocity on other countries for leverage to force them to lower their tariffs and reduce foreign government subsidies of their businesses. Trump is creating the most open market system in modern world history. Afterward, Sen Tom Cotton calls in to explain that any new nuclear deal with Iran that does not involve the complete dismantlement of its nuclear program will not pass the Senate. Republicans agree with Trump that Iran needs to completely dismantle their program. Finally, Rishi Arun, president of Temple University’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), stated that it is their mission to destroy imperialism, the United States, and capitalism. Mohammed Khatib, from the designated terror organization Samidoun, said that liberating Palestine would be a step toward dismantling the United States. They seek the violent overthrow of America – they are at war with us.

Memri
In Webinar Honoring Convicted Policeman-Murderer Mumia Abu-Jamal, President Of Temple University In Philadelphia’s Students For Justice In Palestine (SJP) Rishi Arun Says: It Is Our Job To Destroy Imperialism

Photo courtesy of Deposit Photos

The podcast for this show can be streamed or downloaded from the Audio Rewind page.

Rough transcription of Hour 1

Segment 1
Hello, America. Mark Levin here. Our number 877-381-3811. 877-381-3811. While you probably heard by now there is a new pope. You probably heard he’s the first American pope choosing pope in the history of the Catholic Church. Although that is true. This is not an area of my expertise. And it doesn’t matter. Let’s see. The prospect seemed unthinkable at one point, writes Breitbart. His name was Cardinal Provost Prevost, I should say Robert Francis Prevost. He chose the name Pope Leo the 14th. In succession with Pope Leo the 13th, who most famously penned the encyclical on Novarum, which condemned socialism. They write better news noted in 2019. It came at a time when the world faced multiple questions about the nature of labor in the midst of industrial revolution. Okay, well, it’s a little the weeds for me, I’m afraid. No, He was born September 14, 1955. It’s my month. I’m September, Mr. Producer. He’s two years older than I was born in Chicago, Illinois. He could have a 20 plus year papacy if he lives into his eighties. Clerical life began in 1977 when he entered the know How do you pronounce his rich, your Catholic Nova state? You don’t know. All right. Of the Order of Saint Augustine before taking a solemn vows in 1981, became an ordained a priest in 1982. Over the next several decades, he spent time in both the United States and Peru. Before Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the dioceses of the Chicago Leo Peru in 2014. He’s been a cardinal for only two years. Some say his mentor was Pope Francis when he may have a same ideological approach, but maybe not. It says here, according to various accounts, he holds similar views to his predecessor, Pope Francis, with some differences on contentious issues, per the College of Cardinals report. What is the College of Cardinals report say? Right. Air quotes it on key topics. Cardinal Prevost says little, but some of his positions are known. He is reportedly very close to Francis. His vision regarding the environment, outreach to poor and migrants and meeting people where they are. He said last year the bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom. He supported Pope Francis’s change in pastoral practice to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion. Provost appears somewhat less favorable, currying favor to the LGBTQ lobby than Francis. But he showed mild support for something I can’t pronounce. As bishop of Chicago, Leo, I guess, said Chicago in among other. No, that’s not actually. He also opposed a government plan for teaching gender theory in schools. The promotion of gender ideology is confusing because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist, he told a local news media. Now, according to The New York Times, provost faced some controversy while Bishop of Shook of Giglio when handling the investigation. Look, I’m not going to get into all this. The guy is a clean slate. It’s only a matter of time. People will. I’ll make their own conclusion. But it is exciting even for me. I’m not Catholic, but it’s still exciting that we have a pope from the United States and hopefully things will work out very well. The one pope I know a whole lot about was John Paul the second. He was a truly, truly great man. He was an anti-communist. He was on the conservative side. If not conservative, the Russians tried to assassinate him. He worked very closely with President Reagan, Prime Minister Thatcher. Helmut Kohl, Germany. And he helped lay the groundwork for the overthrow of the communist regime in Poland. Lech Walesa as well. The Catholic Church had a major role in that. This is what I think, and not just the Catholic Church, but other churches. The the the Jewish organizations to this. This is where they’re best, where they stand up to tyranny, where they stand up to these despots, whether they be Marxist fascists or Islamist. This is where I think they have the best impact. And they understand that both Christianity and Judaism and. Islam in in certain respects, that is not the radical terrorist Islams, but people who practice Islam and are very decent human beings and so forth that all of us, all of us should be speaking out against the forces of terrorism, communism, fascism, autocracy. Because, of course, they target religion, they target faith, they target the ability to even practice your faith. And in the case of the Islamists, they want to murder anybody who doesn’t practice the way they insist that things should be practiced. So I hope. I hope. What do I know? But I hope this cardinal is more. Sort of along the lines of John Paul, the second who I think will be a historic figure for as long as there is mankind. I really believe that in his contribution to liberty and democracy and humanity is really incredible. And of course, I say that as a Jew. But why shouldn’t I? Just incredible. All right. I can’t add a lot to this, but I wanted to start off with it because I know it’s important. It’s certainly important to a lot of people. So Cardinal Robert Francis proposed is now the first American pope in the history of the Catholic Church, and nobody expected it. I don’t think. All right, now back to my wheelhouse. Also from our friends at Braveheart, FBI investigating mortgage fraud claims against New York Attorney General Letitia James. Right. Jamie Fir, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is in fact reportedly opening a criminal investigation or has into New York Attorney General Letitia James, who’s target of President Donald Trump regarding alleged mortgage fraud. Looks like an open and shut case as far as I’m concerned. But what do I know? A lot. This is something I know a lot about. Let’s go to the New York Post. The investigation, first reported by the Albany Times Union, follows a request that the Justice Department investigate James sent by Federal Housing Finance Agency director William Pulte to the Justice Department last month. New York’s Northern district, where Pulte Referral was steered, is led by U.S. Attorney John Saxon, the third an ally of President Trump. Well, mortgage fraud, first of all, you don’t appoint U.S. attorneys who aren’t at least known to the president. That’s number one. Their political appointments. And number two. This was an obvious case. By the way, Pulte. I wonder if that’s Pulte Homes that goes. Representative Elise Stefanik I love this lady. I think, in fact, she’d be a great president and I have her on my show tomorrow night excuse me, a Saturday night. Elise Stefanik on Life, Liberty and Levin Saturday. Now, Stefanik, who represents the district where the investigations were initiated, commended the FBI and Albany prosecutors. She said the investigation into Letitia James is a vital step toward justice. I will continue to fight to expose New York corruption, protect constitutional rights, and hold these failed Democratic leaders in New York accountable. You know, she is fearless. Stefanik is really fearless. Now, Paul, this letter alleged James falsified records to obtain favorable loans on a home she purchased in 2023. This is while she’s gone after Trump in Virginia and a Brooklyn brownstone she’s owned since 2001. The Democrat also allegedly indicated the Virginia home would be her, quote unquote. This is from the filing her principal residence. While acting as New York’s top cop and that she misrepresented the number of units in her Brooklyn residence, she said there were four. There are five middle names for both properties listed above appears to have falsified records in order to meet certain lending requirements, received favorable loan terms, Pulte told Attorney General Pam Bondi. Can amount to criminal charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, false statements to a financial institution, among other things, Politi added. And they ought to throw the book at her. They’re to throw all the books at her. In fact, they are ahead or we’re ahead with all the books. As far as I’m concerned, she’s a fraud, a phony and a fool. She’s abused the justice system for political purposes. And here she is flat out, allegedly, reportedly. But it looks like undeniably a crook, a simple, pathetic crook. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office in Albany didn’t immediately return. Quest for comments, but I’ll get mine nonetheless. She’s previously dismissed the allegations as baseless and claimed the referral was part of a revenge tour by the president. Oh, yeah. Revenge tour. He told you to file false mortgage documents. Is your residence in Virginia? Is your daddy, Your husband? You have five units in that that brownstone or four. That simple. She famously profess no one is above the law. When she launched her investigation into President Trump. Outrageous, a fraud case where there is no fraud statute that’s never been used. Hey, but what the hell? Due process for illegal alien Ms. 13 wife beating human traffickers, but not Donald Trump. The AG’s office has retained a high powered attorney, Abbe David Lowell. Abbe Lowell was Hunter. Biden’s lawyer Did a fantastic job, didn’t he, Mr. Producer? That just tells me she’s guilty as hell. Not because she is a lawyer, but because she is Abbe Lowell. He only takes cases where clients are guilty as hell. He was retained by the attorney general’s office. Wait a minute. Rather than James in her personal capacity, according to a Times Union report, which means New York taxpayers will eventually foot the bill for his services. Now, why would New York taxpayers have to pay for her lawyer? Involving criminal charges, having nothing to do with their office and everything to do with her enriching herself. Mr. Producer. Why are the New York taxpayers on the bill for Letitia James? Democrats in Albany are expected to sign off on a provision creating a $10 million slush fund. State officials can tap to cover any reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses incurred, including for probes not directly related to their employment. James plans to rely on both state funds, a private legal defense fund to fight the battle. Yeah, that sounds like welfare to me. Legal welfare, does it not? That’s legal welfare paid for by the taxpayers and. Also buying influence, people contributing to a private legal defense fund that’s buying into this is unethical in every respect because she is. Because she is. Last month, America First Legal, one of the great firms out there, filed a complaint against James with the New York State Unified Court Systems Committee on Professional Standards, which oversees disciplinary matters for lawyers licensed in the state. Of course, I’m sure that’s loaded with left wing kooks. If Mr. James has engaged in fraud by deceiving her lenders and the government to obtain financial benefits she would otherwise not be entitled to and she is engaged in professional misconduct, violated her obligations and as a lawyer and is subject to discipline by the New York bar, said the letter by AFL sent about two weeks ago. Leticia, we hardly knew you. Oh, yes. I wonder when she goes to prison with that triple x large orange suit. And wonder when she goes to prison. If she’ll use the Democrat line that women are men and men and women and everything in between. I wonder I wonder what kind of prison she and her lawyer will demand that she serve her time in. Really, I wonder. Could be interesting. And I hope she has a lot of cigarettes, too, because as I understand it, she likes to chow down and you can trade cigarettes, you know, for an extra muffin or maybe an egg. Oh, yeah. I’ll be right back.

Segment 2
You know, ladies and gentlemen, Donald Trump put all these tariffs in place across the board with virtually every country, maybe every country, as far as I know, friend, ally and transitioning. I got to thinking about it. It goes against my grain, you know, as a free market conservative. What is all this? And then I got to thinking, Wait. Oh, wait a minute. The White House may not be explaining it the way I think about it, but here’s what I see as a reality and very practical. We’ve got countries that have enormous tariffs on our country as a as a general matter and on our products specifically in some other countries. And what Trump says is, okay, I’m going to put. Tariffs on every country that puts these tariffs on us. Reciprocity. You lower your tariffs, we will lower ours. You eliminate them. We will eliminate ours. I thought to myself, What is this man doing? And I wish free market conservatives like me would understand what he’s doing. He is creating the most open market system. In modern world history, not in all world history. Before there was this whole notion of capitalism a market. And I’m not going to get into all that I’m talking about now in modern. Global history. By driving down the tariffs in other countries. And then he reduces the tariff he put on their countries, which obviously it’s not just a matter of a of a level playing field. You’re opening markets, you’re engaging in actual trade. And he’s doing the same thing with countries that are heavily subsidizing their businesses to the detriment of us. So tariffs to the detriment of the United States, subsidies by other countries to their businesses, to the detriment of the United States, he said. Okay. Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. You back off. We’ll back off. Britain’s the first one more to come. And so we’re going to have the freest global trade economy in modern history. And I want to tell you about this British deal, which is a big deal in one moment.

Segment 3
Okay, let me hit the highlights of this trade deal with Britain on the White House fact sheet. They would know best. It will significantly expand U.S. market access. These ads drive me nuts. Come on, get out of there. Get out of there. I guess not. All right, let me. Let me move this. Sorry, folks. Will significantly expand U.S. market access to the United Kingdom. And by the way, they have the sixth largest economy in the world. What else will it do? Success, creating $5 billion opportunity for new exports for U.S. farmers, ranchers and producers, and includes more than 700 million in ethanol exports. Quarter of a billion. In other agriculture products like beef. We haven’t been able to sell any beef in Britain. As a matter of fact, it commits the countries to work together to enhance industrial and agricultural market access, and it closes loopholes and increases U.S. firms competitiveness in the UK’s procurement market. It ensures streamlined customs procedures for US export. It establishes high standard commitments in the area of intellectual property, labor and environment. It maximizes the competitive competitiveness and secures the supply chain of U.S. aerospace manufacturers through preferential access to high quality U.K. aerospace components creates a secure supply chain for some pharmaceutical products. And here’s a thing. Apparently the U.K., unknown to the press and certainly unknown to me, has a very big tech market. There aren’t Silicon Valley, if you will. And so we will have access to that and they will have access to our markets. Of the things that aren’t on this list that I read elsewhere, for instance, will be our ability to sell at least 100,000 and perhaps more automobiles into Britain, which we have been unable to do, as well as steel and aluminum and so forth. And we’re going to have apparently some joint ventures in different industrial areas as well. And this is all to the good. And there’s others coming. You’re going to see Japan, that’ll be huge. And some of the other countries as well. South Korea, that’ll be huge. So I guess what bothers me, does the president deserve a little bit of a pat on the back here? I mean, I’m as tough as anybody else on all these people, but a little pat on the back. You know, I’m not an ideologue. I believe in a philosophy. There’s a difference. An ideologue is somebody who believes in X, and that’s it. Even when reason experience, logic tells you get off the mark, they don’t get off the mark. And so that’s Marxism. As an example, that’s Islamism. As an example. We constitutional conservatives. We believe in prudence. Prudence as a principle. And Prudence tells you to use your best judgment. The burka and trusteeship. We all we all believe that Burke had a significant role in what we consider modern day conservatism. And I remember as a kid reading about the Burke in Trusteeship. And what is that? It’s named after Edmund Burke. Who was an Irish citizen. A Briton, a member of their parliament and a big time supporter of the American Revolution. Even though a big time opponent of the French Revolution. And he was right, the American Revolution was a revolution for representative government. The French Revolution was like a marxist revolution to destroy their society. Our revolutionaries didn’t want to destroy our society. They wanted to defend it, but they wanted some say in how the government works. That for another day, even though we’ve talked about it over the decades. And so the bottom line is we believe in a philosophy, not in an ideology. Prudence is part of it. And so when you get information as a human being that causes you to reason something in a different direction or something of that sort doesn’t mean you destroy your principles. Eternal truths, unalienable rights, and so forth. We’re talking about the approach to advancing these eternal principles and liberties and rights. There’s a difference. We’re not ideologues. We believe in a philosophy. We believe in principles. And we believe in prudence. In other words, we have a brain for a reason, with the ability to reason for a reason. Experience matters. The king trusteeship, just as a side point to just give it a summation. A brief summation is. For if you represent. So you’re a congressman and you represent your people, obviously, in your district. You want to take into consideration what their views are. You want to take into consideration what their views are. But you were elected as their representative to make decisions. So that’s part of what you take into consideration as well as your own knowledge, experience and thought processes. In other words, today, even in modern times, we don’t say, What do you think? Press the button and you vote. And so the majority wins. We don’t want that because sometimes the majority is wrong because our rights are unalienable. We don’t get our rights from a majority. We don’t get our rights from other people. We don’t get our rights from government. We get them from God. And so on earth. What we try to do is use those those tools God gave his children, human beings. To make the right decisions in sometimes the collective of the public doesn’t make the right decision. Many times they do make the right decision. But the bottom line is not majority rule for all purposes. The bottom line is. The ability for the individual to exercise their own judgment. We have a Bill of Rights for a reason. The Bill of Rights doesn’t say your neighbor gets to vote on whether or not you have a right to have a gun. It says you have a right to a gun. Right. Your neighbors don’t get to decide if you have free speech. You have free speech. That’s why I reject this whole idea. Populism and how stupid it is. Populism in the 1870s was socialism, just so you understand. And in many ways, the populace today sound like socialists, don’t they? They sound like Bernie Sanders and AOC. Big Pharma. Big oil. Big ag, big this big that. What do they sound like? I personally don’t care how big a business is, how small of businesses, whether it’s in between big or small, whatever those definitions mean. I don’t care. They produce services and goods that people want. Or they’d be out of business as long as they’re not subsidized by the federal government. And one of the reasons we are big businesses, not the only reason, is because sometimes you need an enormous amount of capital to do things like. To do research on drugs. Small pharma doesn’t have enough capital to do R&D. There is no such thing as small pharma. That’s why small pharma doesn’t have the capacity to invest billions of dollars hoping to find some kind of a cure for some horrific disease or illness and then come up empty. Big pharmaceutical companies have that capacity. I’m not a special pleader for them. I’m explaining it. That’s why oil companies, even independent so-called smaller companies, have to be big enough to suffer losses, because every time you drill a well, it doesn’t come up. With oil. Our gas, for that matter. It just doesn’t. So you have to have a certain capacity, a certain capital base to make investments. And some parts of our economy, some of the industries that that had developed over time need a lot of capital. And so they’re not going to get them if they’re running a neighborhood store. It doesn’t make any sense. Most of you shop at Walmart. That’s a damn big company. Good. And they provide a lot of services, products at very good prices for you. That’s why you shop at Wal-Mart, right? But you also like to shop at the neighborhood store. That’s good, too. It’s called competition. It’s okay. But the fact that Wal-Mart is big doesn’t make it bad means it’s successful because of you. So the so-called populist slash socialists who talk like Marxists. Big, big. Wham, bam, bam. And what else I find interesting about them, apart from their insanity on national security and foreign policy and back to domestic, is they talk like the Marxists and the socialists about class warfare. They talk like them. And some of them are very earnest. They are some of them are senators and congressmen. Who you might like. But more and more they talk like them. Remember, I had one of them on the show. I’m not going to embarrass him. He’s a dear friend. And he was doing a big there, some big farm. Remember what I said to Mr. Shanley? Bernie Sanders. One of my dearest friends. You sound pretty strange. What happened to you? What are you talking like that for? Meanwhile, look at government. Now one of the areas we rely on government to do its job. Which it monopolizes is air traffic control. And now we learn that for the last 30 years, we’ve had an antiquated air traffic control system. That doesn’t function properly. Yeah, We have millions and millions of people. Tens of millions of people who are flying every year relying on the FAA. Poor Sean Duffy has to deal with this. I’m going to have him on Life, Liberty and Levin on Sunday to talk about this and to talk about Schumer and the Democrats and what and bully George and what they failed to do and what they covered up. But at Sunday for now. And so we should give the government more power. Why? Why is it thought that politicians, just people who get elected by mostly lying to you and bureaucrats, people who get jobs who you don’t know you know nothing about them are more righteous and more prudential, more intelligent, more expert than the rest of us. In fact, that’s counterintuitive. They’re not in bureaucrats aren’t in any type of a competitive situation. And all this talk about the the early Marxists about let’s have an expert class. There’s this massive bureaucracy that they talked about. You’re not experts. Most of them are protected by the civil service and their unions. What are they experts at? No, they have to hire federal contractors to give them the information that they say they want. But in any event. You understand what I’m saying, Mr. Producer? You’ve heard me say it over the years. It’s very, very important to understand who we are. We’re not populists. We don’t believe in majority rule all the time because one day we’re not in the majority and we still have our free speech rights, our unalienable rights, our right to a gun. Due process for we, the American people, equal protection. Our rights. Have nothing to do with the popular will. Our economy. I find it very interesting that the populists, they talk about populism when they’re promoting Central. Government ism. It’s very weird. So I love to debate these people off the debate me. Most of them won’t. I’ll be right back.

Segment 4
You know, Judge Jeanine Pirro is a good friend. She’s fantastic. She’s just been appointed the interim United States attorney for the District of Columbia. And I don’t know of any better pick than her. I really don’t. Well, you New Yorkers, you know her well. In fact, the whole nation as well. So congratulations to our friend Jeanine Pirro. Really just fantastic. When the good ones get in, we like to be. We like to be. Celebrating that. I want you to do me a favor. You a favor? All of us a favor. Your Mother’s Day this Sunday. But whether we have Mother’s Day or not, there’s always something going on on the weekends. Those of you who have smart TVs or maybe not smart TVs, just DVR systems on your TV. Go ahead, if you would. And record set the recording on your TV for Life, Liberty and Levin 8 p.m. Eastern Time, Saturday, 8 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday. These are very important shows. We spend a lot of time on the show. That’s not what you should watch. But we spend a lot of time on the show to try and bring you new, different, important, relevant information. I don’t bring on clowns, although that could be fun. I don’t bring on dancers. I don’t bring on singers. I don’t bring on actors and actresses. Although maybe I should, but I don’t. But we still have a lot of fun. It’s very entertaining. It’s substantive, it’s informative. I bump into people all the time who thank me for what we’re doing. So as long as you’re watching. We’ll keep doing it if you stop watching. Well, then I’ll stop doing it. But go ahead and download the DVR. It’s for weekends like this. Mother’s Day on Sunday. Hey, we’re going to celebrate Mother’s Day, too. We’re going to go out to dinner. Mother’s Day on Sunday. There’ll be Father’s Day a few weeks after that and other and other events going on on the weekends when you’re with your family. It could be sporting events, it could be church or synagogue, could be anything. So go ahead and set the DVR while it’s in front of mind while we’re talking about it. And I’m encouraging as many of you as possible to go ahead and do that. Just set it and then you won’t have to set it again. Not just one. Set it for good. 8 p.m. Eastern Time, Saturday. 8 p.m. Eastern Time, Sunday on Saturday Show. We’re going to have Elise Stefanik. She is a superstar and Katie Pavlich, she is a superstar. These are two of the smartest people, not just women, people I know. And I think down the road. Stefanik is presidential material, and there’s a lot of talk about her wanting to run for governor of New York. I think she’s going to do it. And we talk about that, too. Sunday shows another blockbuster. We have Senator Ted Cruz and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. And Sean Duffy has a lot of things he wants to tell you about the FAA and how it got into the condition it’s in today. So these are two great shows, Saturday and Sunday, 8 p.m. Eastern. Set your DVR, watch us live too, if you can. And we’ll be right back.