5 Stories You'll Care About in Politics This Week

— -- If this is “humble” Trump, perhaps the Republican Party wants the one with all the braggadocio back...At least Donald Trump proved he doesn’t have to be loud. He tried to duck trouble with facial expressions, found new trouble not with what he said but with what he didn’t, and then canceled a campaign event. The debate is over (finally), so now it’s time for some guests.

Here’s a glimpse at some of the stories the ABC News political team is tracking in the week ahead:

POPE’S POP

Pope Francis is about to spend some quality time in Donald Trump’s home country. OK, so the nation hasn’t chosen Trump to represent it on the world stage –- at least not yet. But the most anticipated papal visit to the United States in recent memory comes against the backdrop of a volatile American political scene. The pope has challenged Catholic Church dogma, and he poses a threat to US political assumptions, too. His words on income inequality and climate change could push the Catholic presidential candidates -– Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie among them -– to square their views with an evolving church. Bush and his wife plan to attend the pope’s mass in Washington, and Francis will be greeted upon arrival by President Obama and will visit the White House. At least one Catholic Republican member of Congress has promised to boycott the pontiff’s address to a joint meeting of Congress -– a speech that could provide an emotional and political exclamation point to a busy visit.

STUMPING TRUMP

Might the Donald be –- gulp -– vulnerable? A shaky debate performance against newly aggressive rivals was followed by a raucous town meeting where Trump didn’t disabuse a questioner of the notion that President Obama is a Muslim, and that terrorist training camps are being run inside the United States. Previous predictions of Trump ceilings have somehow only built him a higher floor. But combined with his birther efforts and comment about immigrants, Trump’s appeal to nativist sentiments are a growing concern for a Republican Party intent on appealing to a changing electorate. And the party has thus far really only seen Trump as his support has grown. There’s no predicting what he’s like when bad news starts to flow in.

ON FIORINA

Carly Fiorina is now 2-0 in debates, and this time she beat the big boys. Her mastery of the biggest of those boys in particular gives her the largest share of buzz coming out of the second Republican debate. Schooling Trump on business matters is one thing; she also won a split-screen facial-expression battle against the man who has perfected the art. The question could become less whether Fiorina rise than at whose expense that rise will come. It might be Ben Carson supporters up for grabs in the outsiders-only bracket. Plus, the next few weeks figure to be an all-out battle for survival for much of the GOP field. Financial woes will combine with an establishment push for consolidation to pressure several candidates to drop out of the race, and not just those whose only seats have been at the kids’ table.

HILL ON WHEELS

It’s almost time for another shutdown showdown -– this time, featuring some major 2016 players in starring roles. House conservatives are threatening to halt government funding if President Obama doesn’t agree to defund Planned Parenthood, something they know won’t happen. They’re being publicly and privately encouraged by some 2016 candidates, notably Ted Cruz, who is reprising a part he played in the last government shutdown. Republican leaders in both the House and Senate say they won’t let government agencies shutter come Oct. 1. But House Speaker John Boehner is facing down an effort to oust him from the speakership from inside his own party. Over in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is facing calls from his party’s presidential candidates to change Senate rules in an effort to block the president’s Iran nuclear deal that he knows will almost certainly be ineffective.

CHINESE CHECKERS

China –- friend, frenemy, or something worse? The complicated American relationship with the world’s most populous nation will be on full display in the coming days, with President Xi Jinping’s weeklong visit to US soil. He’ll be greeted in Washington with the pageantry associated with close friendship – 21-gun salute, joint news conference with President Obama, state dinner Friday night. But the White House has stressed that the visit will be an opportunity to “address areas of disagreement constructively,” and weighty questions of cybersecurity, trade, currency manipulation, and territorial sovereignty loom. China has become a political punching bag for 2016ers, too. Scott Walker has called on Obama to cancel the state visit, while Trump said he’d forego the formal dinner and just serve a “double-size Big Mac” to the Chinese president.