President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania attended the funeral of Pope Francis last week at the Vatican. Many Catholic Church cardinals from around the world were there as well. They were mourning the pope’s death, honoring his legacy, and discussing who will replace him. Next Wednesday, 130 cardinals will officially begin deliberations to choose Francis’s successor.
On Tuesday, President Trump said to reporters gathered outside the White House, “I’d like to be the pope.” Was he being real or joking? Donald Trump says many things like that, leaving listeners to wonder if he means it or not. Thus, he often is not a clear communicator. I call that “speaking with forked tongue.”
Trump Sometimes Says of His Rhetoric, “I Was Only Joking”
But Trump then added to that brief statement, “That would be my #1 choice.” No reports I read said he then laughed or indicated anything by his expressions that he was joking. That also is a Trump trait—making outrageous statements that first appear to most listeners as a joke without him indicating as much. He has done regarding making Canada the 51st U.S. state and taking Greenland and the Panama Canal as well, and when he has said these things many people thought he was joking, but he afterwards said he meant it.
Yet another Trump trait is that when he receives extreme pushback from such outrageous statements during the immediate hours or days afterwards, he then says he was “only joking.” I’ve blogged about this before and what the Bible says about it, that it is like being a “maniac” (e.g., “The Bible Compares Donald Trump to a Maniac“).
Trump Touts AI-Generated Photo of Him as Pope
To make matters worse, the next day Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself looking real serious, dressed as the Catholic pope, and seated. Couldn’t that be considered sacrilegious? And yesterday, the White House posted it on its social media platform as well.
Trump then caught a lot of flack on the internet about this atrocious behavior from a guy who not only is not a Catholic, but has never been religious. In fact, he’s been just the opposite. Trump then said it was merely a “joke.” Yeah, sure. About 65% of the Catholic vote in the last presidential election voted for Trump. This so-called joke about being pope may cause Republicans to lose a few votes in the mid-term elections next year.
PUSHBACK!
Here were some comments on the internet about Trump posting that image of him as pope: “Just when you think he’s hit a new low;” “I’m not Catholic, but there are no words for how thoughtless and inappropriate this is;” “why is his behavior always dismissed as ‘jokingly,’ he’s insane;” “deeply offensive on every level;” “what an EMBARRASSMENT;” “such bad taste, so offensive to Catholics, and no respect for the dead;” “replace the ‘p’ with a ‘d’ and he’s elected.”
The Catholic Church was upset by this Trump rhetoric and image as well. The New York State Conference of bishops said of this matter on X, “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St Peter. Do not mock us.”
I think Donald Trump is just about a maniac. Read my book, Bible Predicts Trump Fall. What do you think?
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