A terrifying incident unfolded in a Southern California town that has left a young father of three fighting for his life.

As The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday, a 35-year-old man named Joel from San Bernardino County suddenly burst into flames at a Victorville shopping center near the Mall of Victor Valley.

According to the Victorville Police Department, the incident occurred on March 30 at roughly 7:35 p.m.

When the police arrived, they stumbled upon a gruesome scene, as Joel’s skin was reportedly falling off from the flames.

Joel was left with third-degree burns covering 90% of his body.

He was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Hospital and is in ‘extremely critical’ condition.

It’s unclear how the fire started, but witnesses told the Victor Valley News that they suspect it could have started in an area that Joel, a transient from nearby Hesperia, used as an encampment.

Joel’s sister-in-law, Jenny Cobb, started a GoFundMe to support his recovery and released the following statement:

Our family is completely heartbroken. Joel is a father of three, and his children need him. Watching someone you love go through something this devastating is something you can never be prepared for.

We are leaning on our faith during this time, trusting God, and asking for prayers for Joel’s healing, strength, and recovery.

The road ahead is overwhelming. When Joel is able to recover, he will face multiple surgeries, intensive burn care, risk of infection, and a long, painful rehabilitation process that could take months or even years. Burn recovery is one of the most difficult journeys a person can go through, both physically and emotionally.

We are asking for help so that Joel can focus on fighting for his life and, if he recovers, on healing and getting back to his children—without the added burden of financial stress.

Joel’s family is currently seeking $9,000 in total donations. As of this writing, the GoFundMe has raised just shy of $3,500.

The Daily Mail notes that Joel’s wife, Brittney Buell, died unexpectedly in 2022. The pair shared three children: Aleah, Jimmy, and Joel.

The post HORROR: Father of Three Suddenly BURSTS INTO FLAMES Near California Shopping Mall appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Daily Show host Jon Stewart had a goofy on-air meltdown Monday night after realizing he has a striking resemblance to the sickly man being “healed” in a controversial AI-generated meme posted by President Donald Trump.

The now-deleted image, which Trump shared on Truth Social late Sunday night, depicted the president dressed as Jesus Christ, wearing flowing white robes with a red sash, extending a glowing hand over an elderly man lying weak and bedridden in a hospital bed.

The background included American flags, bald eagles, fighter jets, and a winged creature with horns in the sky.

Trump deleted the post after it drew sharp backlash from some conservatives who labeled it blasphemous.

When asked about the meme Monday at the White House, Trump downplayed it, claiming he thought the image showed him “as a doctor” in a Red Cross context rather than as Jesus.

During Monday evening’s episode of The Daily Show, Stewart paused when the meme appeared on screen.

Zooming in on the bedridden patient, he said, “Oh my God… What the guy in the bed, can I just…”

“Am I okay?”

Stewart continued, “What the f-ck?! I mean, look, I know I don’t have the vigor and spunk of my MTV days. But I didn’t know we were here already. I didn’t realize my look had reached… leper territory.”

“I mean, from the picture, it looks like it was touch and go for a while. Thank God, in my time of need, I was surrounded by family… This is freaking me the f-ck out. I’m just glad that Jesus-Trump brought his healing orb.”

The official The Daily Show account posted the full segment clip on X, captioned, “Trump posted an AI image of himself as Jesus healing a bedridden–wait, is that Jon Stewart?!”

WATCH:

Trump posted an AI image of himself as Jesus healing a bedridden–wait, is that Jon Stewart?! pic.twitter.com/P4Fgs7v8YY

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) April 14, 2026

The meme was posted amid Trump’s ongoing public criticism of Pope Leo XIv, whom Trump accused of being “soft on crime” and too weak on foreign policy issues.

The post WATCH: Jon Stewart Responds to His Striking Resemblance to the Bedridden Patient in Trump’s Deleted AI ‘Jesus’ Meme: ‘I Didn’t Realize My Look Had Reached… Leper Territory’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Senator Ruben Gallego turned on his good friend Eric Swalwell after initially defending him on social media.

On Monday, Gallego began to distance himself from Swalwell shortly before the California Democrat announced his resignation from Congress amid allegations of sexual assault.

“I want to be clear: I had no knowledge of the allegations of assault, harassment, and predatory behavior against Eric Swalwell,” Gallego said ahead of Swalwell’s resignation.

“I trusted someone who I believed was a friend, but it is now clear that he is not the person I thought I knew,” he added.

On Tuesday, after a fifth Swalwell accuser came forward at a press conference in Beverly Hills and accused the California Democrat of violently raping her at a West Hollywood hotel in 2018, Gallego threw Swalwell under the buss

“Eric Swalwell lied to all of us. He lies to the most powerful people in this country. And they trusted him,” Gallego told reporters.

“They trusted him with the most sensitive spots in our government. Whether it was a Judiciary Committee, Intel Committee, or impeaching Donald Trump,” he said.

“And that clouded my judgment, my friendship with him, our family’s friendship together with him clouded my judgment, and I was wrong,” Gallego said.

Gallego claimed that Swalwell was living a ‘double life’ but conceded he heard rumors that Swalwell was ‘flirty’ with women.

WATCH:

A reporter asked Gallego if he was in the hotel room and sitting next to Swalwell on the bed in the leaked video.

Martin Shkreli and Jack Posobiec released videos of Swalwell sitting on a bed with a sex worker. A man who resembles Gallego is briefly seen sitting on the bed.

“Was that you sitting next to him?” a reporter asked Gallego.

Gallego said that was not him in the video.

“No, I was not sitting next to him, I was not in the room,” the Democrat Senator said.

“I didn’t know where it happened. Right-wing political operatives are pushing this narrative that somehow I was in that room with uh Eric Swalwell and that is an absolute lie,” he said

WATCH:

HUGE UPDATE: Sen. Ruben Gallego (D) just DENIED being in the room or on the bed with Eric Swalwell in the leaked video.

Q: “Was that you sitting next to him?”

GALLEGO: “No, I was not sitting next to him, I was not in the room.”

“I didn’t know where it happened—Right-wing… pic.twitter.com/e3vW7aTotD

— The Patriot Oasis (@ThePatriotOasis) April 14, 2026

The post WATCH: Democrat Senator Ruben Gallego Throws “Best Friend” Swalwell Under the Bus, Denies He Is in Viral Video of Swalwell and Sex Worker appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Joe Biden personally wanted Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as his 2020 running mate, but ultimately went with Kamala Harris because of the Black Lives Matter riots, according to a new profile published in The Atlantic.

The revelation comes from an in-depth piece on Whitmer as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, which details the behind-the-scenes dynamics of Biden’s vice-presidential vetting process.

Whitmer had risen to national prominence in 2020 for her aggressive and authoritarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic and her public clashes with President Donald Trump.

By summer 2020, Whitmer was actively being vetted for the VP spot.

Whitmer was the first finalist to meet with Biden in person in Delaware in August 2020.

Insiders said she got along well with Biden and was prepared to accept the position if offered.

A former senior staffer for Whitmer told The Atlantic, “The moment called for a black running mate,” explaining the intense pressure on Biden following the nationwide riots after the death of George Floyd.

The Atlantic reports:

All of this attention seemed like it might add up to something, and by summer 2020, Whitmer was being vetted for vice president. She wasn’t sure about it at first, people familiar with her thinking at the time told me; she struggled to imagine herself as a creature of Washington, D.C. She got along well with Biden, though, and by the time he asked her to fly to Delaware for an in-person chat, she was ready to say yes. Biden didn’t ask. The moment called for a Black running mate, the former senior staffer for Whitmer told me, so he had to choose Kamala Harris. “But I think he wanted it to be Whitmer,” this person said. Asked to confirm, a former adviser to both Biden and Harris said that the assessment carried “some weight.”

A former adviser to both Biden and Harris added that the claim Biden “wanted it to be Whitmer” carries “some weight.”

Whitmer herself confirmed in a December 2020 interview with Detroit’s FOX 2 that she would have accepted the role if Biden had asked.

“If Joe Biden had called and said, ‘I need you to be my partner and be my running mate,’ I would have said yes. This election was that important,” she stated.

Whitmer later claimed she felt a “sigh of relief” that the call never came, as she preferred to remain governor of Michigan.

Biden had publicly pledged to select a woman as his running mate. Whitmer was seen as a strong ideological and geographic fit. However, multiple outlets at the time reported that black Democratic leaders and activists urged Biden to choose a black woman, with some warning that picking Whitmer could cost him support in key states like Michigan.

Whitmer went on to campaign vigorously for the Biden-Harris ticket and continued supporting Biden through his 2024 reelection bid until he withdrew.

The post REPORT: Joe Biden ‘Had to Choose’ Harris Because of the BLM Riots, But He Actually Wanted THIS Governor appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Meloni lacks courage, says Trump.

As the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is ongoing, and the fragile US-Iran ceasefire still holds, Donald J. Trump keeps fighting the PR-social media war with guns blazing, never leaving an attack, a slight, or an affront unanswered.

This time, his target was Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, once an ally.

Meloni has just weathered a defeat in an important referendum on Judicial reform, and is now toeing the public opinion line very carefully, leading her to strive to keep away from the Iran confrontations, and to defend Pope Leo’s interference in political issues, denouncing Trump’s criticism as ‘unacceptable’.

So, today, Trump told an Italian newspaper that he was ‘shocked’ by Meloni’s behavior.

Trump said that he expected her to be more courageous, delivering ​scathing criticism to Meloni.

Trump blasts Meloni:

Does the Italian public like the fact that your prime minister isn’t giving us any help in getting the oil?

Do people like it? I can’t imagine they do.

I’m shocked by her. I thought she had courage—I was wrong.

Source: Corriere pic.twitter.com/lahtJcDCDK

— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 14, 2026

Reuters reported:

“Trump responded in an interview with Corriere della Sera, saying ​Meloni was ‘very different from what I thought’ and denouncing her for refusing to ​help re-open the Strait of Hormuz, which has been blocked by Iran.

‘I’m ⁠shocked by her. I thought she had courage. I was wrong’, he is quoted as ​saying in the Italian-language article posted online.”

When criticizing her for failing ​to back US efforts in the Middle East, Trump said Meloni wanted America ‘to do the job for ‌her’.

“Asked ⁠about her condemnation of his comments on Pope Leo, he said: ‘She is the one who is unacceptable, because she does not care whether Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow Italy up in two minutes if it had the chance’.”

Trump:

“Iran would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the chance.”

Source: Corriere https://t.co/MztqEj2w03 pic.twitter.com/LfTsZKVE6l

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 14, 2026

“’They (Italy) ⁠pay the ​highest energy costs in the world and are not ​even ready to fight for the Strait of Hormuz… They depend on Donald Trump to keep it open’, ​Trump said.”

Read more:

Pope Leo XIV BLASTS Trump’s Iran Warning as ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ (VIDEO)

The post Trump Torches Italy’s Meloni for Her Defense of Pope Leo XIV and Stance on Iran War appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.