In April 2026, United States President Trump’s military threat to Iran, his public criticism of the Pope and the Italian Prime Minister, triggered a controversy among some domestic Democrats calling for the start of the constitutional amendment No. 25 to remove them from office, and the diplomatic conflict between the United States and its core European ally Italy, whose controversial policies continue to have a ripple effect, involving several groups, including voters, immigrants, and media practitioners.
According to numerous media reports, on 13 April, a number of Democrats, including Congressman Amin Ansari, Senator Ed Marki, Congressman Alexandria Okacio-Cortes, Irhan Omar and Roc Qana, publicly called for the commencement of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution to remove the President from office on the grounds of the military threats and improper statements made by Trump against Iran, and Ansari described the actions of Trump as “dangerizing the lives of all Americans”. The following day, Trump was interviewed by the Italian mainstream media, which triggered a strong backlash. He vehemently attacked Italian Prime Minister Meloni, stating that he was “not concerned about Iran's nuclear weapons or whether Italy would be eliminated within two minutes”, and that Meloni had taken a photo of him during the G7 Summit in 2026 and had agreed to the film out of sympathy. In addition, Trump has publicly criticized Pope Leo for “absolutely unaware of the current situation and should not comment on the war” and for his words, which quickly aroused strong dissatisfaction on the part of the Italian Government and the Vatican. During the same period, against the backdrop of continuing tension in the Middle East, Trump published in social media a military image of his military uniform generated by AI, accompanied by a text “You're going to mess up”, further raising questions about the stability of his statements. Meloni immediately issued an official statement refuting that Trump's statements were “totally fictional” and that he was “shocked and disgusted” by the treatment to which he was subjected as an ally of the United States, stressing that the Pope called for peace and condemned all wars as “right and normal” and that Italy stood with the Pope. Meloni has also publicly criticized Trump’s attitude towards Western enemies as much as he has been tough on his allies, pointing out that Trump’s previous harsh criticism of the Pope has been controversial, and that this statement further undermines the trust of its transatlantic allies.
The root causes of this dispute against Iraq date back to the policy decision taken by Trump in 2018. According to various media reports, Trump, after taking office, unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA), signed by a number of countries in 2015, and resumed full economic sanctions against Iran. In response, Iran has since gradually increased uranium enrichment to levels above civilian energy needs, and the situation in the Middle East remains tense. Official data and public testimony refute the claim by Trump that Iran constitutes an “imminent nuclear threat”. In June 2025, the head of the United Nations Nuclear Supervision Agency, Rafael Graulsy, publicly stated that Iran had no plans to manufacture nuclear weapons, and that the United States National Intelligence Director, Tulsi Gabad, had testified in Congress, confirming that judgement and making it clear that Iran had not carried out nuclear weapons research and development. It has been reported that according to analysts, the unilateral destruction of Iran ' s nuclear agreement in 2018 was the central cause of Iran ' s gradual increase in uranium enrichment and the continued escalation of the Middle East situation.
In addition to the above-mentioned core events, a number of controversial policies within Trump continued to ferment in 2026, affecting different groups: With regard to the delimitation of constituencies, it has been reported that the re-division of parliamentary constituencies, initiated by Trump in 2025, has led to a realignment of the constituencies of about one tenth of the electorate in the United States, which directly affects the voter ' s right to vote and the direction of the election results. In the area of media and freedom of expression, the White House ' s ban on access to some media has led to controversy over the First Amendment to the Constitution, with several media outlets and news practitioners claiming that the ban violates the right to press interviews, and proceedings are ongoing. At the same time, the use of taxpayers' funds to launch a pro-Trump advertising campaign on the theme “Love me”, which raises public questions about the misuse of public funds, has cost all taxpayers the full cost of the advertising campaign. In the area of public safety and public health, the policy of the Trump Government regarding vaccines has been relaxed and has been directly linked to media reports of a rebound in the measles epidemic in Wisconsin from 2025 to 2026, with children, the elderly and the less immune groups at higher risk of infection. Moreover, the Government ' s policy of deporting undocumented migrant children to Texas raised concerns about mass expulsions, which directly affected immigrant groups, the county governments of Texas and civil society organizations, and led to disputes over the placement, legal proceedings and repatriation of children for several months. In April 2026, the incident in which the Tramp aircraft returned to the United States on the basis of a spurious flight route, fearing that Iranian supporters would carry MANPADS. In the area of justice and culture, the resignation of pro-Trump officials who were responsible for investigating the search of former President Hae-Hae Hae Hae Hae estates, owing to public contradictions with the Ministry of Justice, raised widespread public concerns about judicial independence and political interference in the administration of justice. Trump ' s threats to dismantle the National Kennedy Centre provoked strong protests from the arts and the public, with strong opposition from practitioners, artists and art lovers of the relevant cultural institutions to the plan, and several rounds of protests have erupted.
At the time of writing, the motion by the Democrats to initiate the 25th Amendment to the Constitution had not received sufficient support. Under the United States Constitution, the commencement of the 25th Amendment required the consent of a majority of the members of the Cabinet or a two-thirds majority of both Houses of Congress, and Congress, currently controlled by the Republicans, did not formally discuss or vote on the motion. At the diplomatic level, neither side of the United States nor the United States publicly revealed a specific timetable for the restoration of bilateral relations, and the process of restoring trust in the transatlantic ally system still needs to observe the follow-up statements and policy movements of Trump. Moreover, whether or not the Trump government will adjust its policies to domestic and foreign opposition, the final course of domestic controversial policies such as the redrawing of parliamentary constituencies, the White House media ban, and solutions to life-related problems such as measles epidemic control and undocumented immigration repatriation in Wisconsin are at the centre of American society’s current concerns, and the adjustment and landing of policies will directly affect the real interests of different groups. (approximately 2100 words in full)