Donald Trump is torching the coalition that made him president, seemingly oblivious to the depth of discontent permeating his movement, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• Why it matters: Trump won back the White House with the most eclectic alliance in modern politics — a blend of MAGA diehards, crypto evangelists, nonwhite men, podcast bros, anti-war populists and culture-war Christians.

What Republicans celebrated as a once-in-a-generation coalition may turn out to be exactly that, never to be reassembled.

🔎 Zoom in: Over the past two weeks, Trump has tested the loyalty of MAGA's Christian base with a series of extraordinary provocations.

• It began on Easter, when Trump threatened to bomb Iran's power plants and bridges in a profanity-laced Truth Social post, and signed off with "Praise be to Allah."
• Two days later, he warned Iran that "a whole civilization will die tonight" — appalling some of his closest former allies, including Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones and Candace Owens.
• On Sunday night, Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV — the first American-born pope — as "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," furious that Leo had condemned his threats against the people of Iran.

Within the hour, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure — healing a bedridden man, flanked by bald eagles and the American flag.

• The image drew rare condemnation from MAGA loyalists, including allegations of blasphemy and even demonic possession.
• Trump deleted the post yesterday morning, telling reporters: "It's supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better."

Between the lines: Catholics, who make up roughly a fifth of the U.S. population, are America's most powerful swing religious bloc. Trump's attacks on the pope — who is far more popular than he is — could prove self-destructive in the midterms.

🔭 Zoom out: Trump's war on his own coalition extends far beyond the pews.

• MAGA media: Trump has lashed out at the most powerful voices in the "America First" ecosystem, disavowing erstwhile allies for their criticism of his Iran war. The fallout is forcing influencers who've spent years in lockstep to publicly pick sides.
• Podcast populists: Trump's 2024 campaign attracted a generation of young, nontraditional Republican voters who'd never pulled a lever for the party before. The Iran war, the Epstein files and suspicious trading activity tied to Trump announcements have shattered their fleeting trust in politicians.
• Crypto enthusiasts: Trump ran as the "crypto president," and the industry poured millions into his campaign. A cascade of controversies — including crashing prices and new allegations of self-dealing — has left true believers questioning whether they were ever anything more than marks.
• Nonwhite voters: Trump made historic inroads with Latino and Black men in 2024 on the strength of his economic message. Deep pessimism about the U.S. economy has rapidly unraveled those gains.

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Republicans are betting big on AI to defend their imperiled congressional majorities in the midterms, Axios' Alex Isenstadt and Holly Otterbein write.

• GOP strategists are using AI to quickly simulate voters' attitudes toward events such as the Iran war — and to scan the social-media universe for up-to-the-second trends in public opinion.
• On the horizon: AI agents calling voters to persuade them to support GOP candidates, one Republican operative tells us.

By contrast, Democratic operatives — many wary of privacy risks and worried about what AI could mean for their jobs — have been much slower to adopt the technology.

• The party, with few exceptions, hasn't been using AI in ads.
• The DNC has barred staffers from using ChatGPT and Claude, though it does allow them to use Gemini to code, analyze data and do other tasks.

🥊 Between the lines: The White House's digital shop sets the tone for the GOP's aggressive approach, firing off AI-generated social media posts boosting Trump and blasting his critics.

• Keep reading.

I'm told OpenAI will unveil a souped-up version of its coding agent, Codex, later this month. Axios tech leaders tell me the current version is already close to Claude Code good.

• The new model — Spud, as it's known internally at OpenAI — will be released into the consumer wild of ChatGPT later this spring.
• The company will bill this as part of CEO Sam Altman's effort to help everyday users get a piece of AI's economic bounty.

⚠️ OpenAI is also developing a separate model to tackle cybersecurity threats. At first, this specialized model will be open only to members of OpenAI's two-month-old Trust Access for Cyber program, which consists of vetted companies, researchers and other cyber-defense organizations.

• I hear OpenAI is huddling with the Trump administration about how to make the cyber-defense model available to a broader group by providing sufficient infrastructure and tools.

Anthropic last week announced its Mythos model of Claude, powerful enough to reshape cybersecurity. Anthropic says the current version, Claude Mythos Preview, will never be generally available to the public.

• A source tells us OpenAI's model for cyber-defenders will eventually be available to a much larger group than the 40+ software infrastructure organizations that currently have Mythos access.

📈 If you're a CEO or on a CEO's team: Sign up now to join Jim's new Axios C-Suite weekly newsletter.

One big data point that should make executives double-check their AI plans, via a new Grant Thornton survey:

• Nearly 8 in 10 executives say their company couldn't pass an AI governance audit right now, meaning "they can't explain, measure or defend their AI, and they're not prepared to handle the fallout if it fails."

Why it matters: A mismatch between adoption and accountability raises the risk of regulatory scrutiny, legal exposure and costly mistakes as AI plays a bigger role in high-stakes decisions at work, Axios' Ashley Gold writes.

• More data.

Two congressmen accused of sexual misconduct — Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) — announced they'll leave Congress early, Axios' Andrew Solender and Kate Santaliz write.

• Swalwell said it was "wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties." He continues to deny some misconduct claims — which include sexual harassment, assault and rape by four women.
• Gonzales, who admitted to an affair with a former staffer who died by suicide, said he "will file my retirement from office" when Congress returns today. It wasn't immediately clear when he'll officially leave.

👓 Between the lines: Both were facing a push for their expulsion along with bipartisan calls to step down.

• Swalwell suspended his gubernatorial campaign in California on Sunday.

More on Swalwell ... Gonzales.

Bombshell Bloomberg report: United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby is pitching a megadeal to merge with American Airlines and create the world's largest airline.

• Kirby floated the idea "to senior government officials, though it's unclear if any overtures have since been made or if an actual process is underway to explore a deal."

💣 Antitrust minefield: Even under a business-friendly Trump administration, a deal this size would invite heavy regulatory scrutiny and potential consumer backlash.

• Keep reading (gift link).

Barak Ravid, our Middle East expert, writes: Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host ultra-rare talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors in Washington today.

• It'll be the highest-level direct meeting between Israel and Lebanon since 1993.

Why it matters: The talks will focus on a possible ceasefire and longer-term disarmament of Hezbollah, along with a peace deal between Israel and Lebanon, sources say.

• Go deeper.

This photo by Andrew Harnik of Getty Images won the White House Correspondents' Association's award for excellence in visual coverage.

• The caption: "President Donald Trump stands by as attendees help a guest after he collapsed during an event on lowering drug prices in the Oval Office" in November.

🏆 Other honorees:

• Josh Dawsey, a Wall Street Journal political investigations and enterprise reporter, wins the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage. Read the winning stories.
• Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller of the AP for print news coverage under deadline pressure. Their story detailed how incoming Trump officials questioned career National Security Council staff on their loyalty to Trump.
• Kaitlan Collins of CNN for her broadcast report on President Trump's Oval Office clash with Volodymyr Zelensky last year.
• The Wall Street Journal won the Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability for coverage of the Epstein files, including Trump's "bawdy" letter for Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday.

Full announcement.