Second Coming: Trump auditions for role after POTUS
TOI correspondent from Washington: In a Netflix-era episode of Church vs State, US President Donald Trump, fresh from watching a cage fight in Miami over the weekend, has waded into a brawl with a 2,000-year-old institution that has outlived empires, plagues, and—until now—social media.In a blistering post that read like a theological review on Rotten Tomatoes, the MAGA boss, churning politics with religion, declared that the US born Pope Leo XIV is “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy,” before accusing the Pontiff of being an Obama Sympathizer and a “political hitman” for the Radical Left. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump thundered in a takedown triggered by what he saw as politicking by the papacy, although he praised the Pope’s brother Louis—“all MAGA”—while suggesting Leo was picked only because the Vatican thought an American passport would soothe Washington.As if the tirade wasn’t enough provocation, the MAGA supremo posted an image of himself bathed in golden light, arms outstretched in unmistakably messianic pose, looking less like a chief executive and more like a saviour at Second Coming. Critics called it peak hubris; supporters called it “based.” Either way, the President appeared to be auditioning for a role not typically listed on the ballot amid another media meltdown caused by a divisive figure who pushes the limits of political propriety almost every day. The visual was later deleted amid a global backlash, even as Pope Leo declined to descend into the mud-wrestling pit in a measured response on the papal plane en route to Algeria. “I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel. We are not politicians. We don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker,” the Pope said. But the Catholic world did not take the slight lying down. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump shill who often posed with an AR-15 rifle when she was full-blown MAGA, denounced the post in fiery terms. “On Orthodox Easter, President Trump attacked the Pope because the Pope is rightly against Trump’s war in Iran and then he posted this picture of himself as if he is replacing Jesus,” she fumed. But not everyone in MAGA was clutching their rosaries. One Trump loyalist fired back online: “Remember the Pope has been going after Trump pretty hard lately pushing globalist political talking points. If the globalists can install a political hitman as Pope… then I’m pretty sure Jesus is fine with Trump’s post.”So, has the man whose genius has always been turning outrage into turnout gone too far this time? If this were any other politician, the post would be a career-ending flub. But in Trump’s MAGA era, it’s just another manic Monday.
