After Attacking the Pope, Trump Shares Image Depicting Himself as Messiah

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White Catholics are among a rapidly dwindling number of demographic groups that still view Donald Trump favorably. So, naturally, the president on Sunday not only attacked Pope Leo XIV but also shared an image in which Trump is depicted as Jesus Christ.

While shocking, neither of the social media posts is surprising.

After all, Trump is not exactly a turn-the-other-cheek kind of guy, and the pontiff has been a vocal critic of the US and Israeli attack on Iran.

While Leo initially spoke more in generalities, that condemnation has become more pointed in recent days, perhaps in part because top administration officials like former Fox News morning show host and current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have made the conflict sound like a modern-day crusade.

Or perhaps because using Easter Sunday to drop F-bombs on Iran and threatening the annihilation of an entire country are not very Christian things to do.

In any case, the first US-born pope in history has gone as far as urging Americans to reach out to people who could put an end to the war.

“I would like to invite everyone to pray, but also to seek ways to communicate,” he said last week. “Perhaps with congressmen, with authorities, saying that we don’t want war, we want peace.”

None of this is sitting well with Trump, who cannot stand criticism and feels compelled to respond to any slight.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” he wrote in a social media post on Sunday night, adding that he prefers the pontiff’s brother, who is reportedly a MAGA supporter.

The president also rambled on about COVID and suggested that Leo only became pope because of him.

“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician,” Trump ranted on. “It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”

For what it’s worth, according to a recent poll, Leo is highly popular in the US with a mere 8 percent of Americans having an unfavorable opinion of him. For comparison, the same survey shows that 53 percent of them feel negatively about Trump.

The pontiff responded to the president’s rant on Monday.

“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do,” Leo told reporters.

While Trump can hardly be described as a scholar of the Bible, it seems as though even he would know that peace and forgiveness (aka “being weak on crime”) are pillars of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Speaking of the Messiah, the president also shared an image of himself as Jesus in which he is healing or resurrecting a man who, according to some commentators, has a passing resemblance to Trump’s old pal Jeffrey Epstein.

We’ll leave that interpretation to others, but you can judge for yourself.

As for why Trump thought it would be a good idea to post the image, that is a question we do feel qualified to answer: The president is severely mentally ill and suffers from a textbook case of malignant narcissism.

There you go, that part is easy.

For pure entertainment value, the president picked a great day for depicting himself as Jesus Christ. Congress is coming back from recess, and we imagine that Republican lawmakers, especially the Catholics among them, will be delighted to be asked what they think about this post.