MS NOW unloads withering supercut of all the 'deals' Trump claims Iran wants to make

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a visit to Verst Logistics in Hebron, Kentucky, U.S., March 11, 2026. REUTERSKevin Lamarque

Adam Lynch 

April 18, 2026 

ALTERNET


Critics say President Donald Trump is a walking example of projection. If so, the president’s description of Iran’s leaders over the course of his war with that nation may be telling, considering a steady rollout of claims recorded and presented for MS NOW’s The Weekend on Saturday.

“I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly,” Trump said February 6, in the weeks leading up to the February 28 joint U.S./Israeli attacks.

“They want to make a deal,” he said March 16, weeks after the attacks. And then: “They want to make a deal very badly,” on March 23 in Palm Beach, Florida.


“They want to make a deal so badly. You have no idea how badly they want to make a deal,” he repeated on March 24 at the White House.

“They want to make a deal so badly, but they're afraid to say it because they figure they'll be killed by their own people,” Trump claimed on March 25.

“They are begging to make a deal — not me. They're begging to make a deal very badly,” he insisted yet again March 26.

“They want to make a deal,” he proclaimed on March 27, followed by: “They’re begging to make a deal. They’re begging to make a deal” that same day at a new location.

“They want to make a deal. They want to make a deal more than I want to make a deal,” he claimed in the Oval Office on March 31.

“They’d like to make a deal very badly,” he repeated yet again April 13 at the White House.

Former CIA Director John Brennan told Weekend anchors that he doubted Trump had any credibility left to squander at this point.

“I don't think he's ever had credibility on this issue because he has consistently misrepresented and lied about the situation. And the Iranians know that,” said Brennan. “And that's why when we're talking about the Strait [of Hormuz] right now, it's absurd to think that the Iranians would allow the strait to remain open if the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports continues.”

“So, he's making all these claims about they've agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and, open up. And the Iranians know that he is lying. And why should they believe anything that he might be saying that has an element of truth in it?” Brennan added.

 

Inside the pattern of bungled decisions exposed in Trump's late-night screeds

U.S. President Donald Trump watches a match during the UFC 327 event at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, U.S., April 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Sabrina Haake 

April 18, 2026  

ALTERNET

Trump’s domestic agenda is so dystopian it’s hard to believe. Unleashing masked goons onto U.S. streets, building concentration camps, punishing the media, threatening judges, and labeling critics ‘enemies of the state’ all vie for his most Hitlerian maneuvers.

Trump has systematically destroyed institutions, privatizing agencies wherever possible to award billions to his cronies, while his family has earned over $4 billion in untraceable cryptocurrency ventures, to say nothing of suspiciously-timed stock transactions. After gutting food assistance, healthcare, and education to provide tax cuts to his wealthy donors, Trump recently announced “it’s not possible” to provide such services. He plans to spend the money instead on “military protection” while he does his best to provoke a military attack.

As bad as it is at home, Trump’s foreign policy blunders are even worse, setting us up for long term security consequences no one is talking about. In every bizarre late night social media post, Trump keeps modeling multi-faceted incompetence to explain his dastardly deeds. From threatening Greenland, to kidnapping Venezuela’s president and stealing their oil, to attacking the Pope, to exploding boats on the high seas then publishing snuff videos to brag about it, Trump has committed one hubristic, sophomoric, and dangerous act of aggression after another.

At 50 days into his “easy” and illegal war in Iran, he remains surprised that our NATO allies won’t join in. He still fails to comprehend that NATO is a defensive pact, not an offensive one.

Iran: A showcase of Trump’s insanity


In Iran, Trump keeps mocking the old adage: when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Instead, he brandishes shinier shovels.

Frustrated by Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, which has strangled 20% of the world’s oil transport, Trump nonsensically decided to impose his own blockade on Iran’s blockade. Blockading their blockade will only worsen the problem he’s trying to solve.

Trying to educate the economically illiterate, the WSJ explained, “The U.S. blockade on ships entering or exiting Iranian ports is set to drain more oil from a tight market, prolong the squeeze on other key commodities flowing through the Strait of Hormuz and inject significant uncertainty into the global economy.” They assessed, “Trump’s naval blockade of Iran risks further upending a global economy already battered by weeks of (Trump’s) war, escalating a regional clash into a worldwide financial shock that could prove more devastating than the fighting itself.”


Trump’s war in Iran will end up costing American taxpayers over $1 trillion, without factoring in energy prices, lack of healthcare, inflation, or the long-term costs of global economic contraction. And for what? Middle East policy experts say the war has made Iran’s cabal of religious fanatics even more dangerous.

How stupid does he think Americans are?

Trump blames the media for widespread public opposition to his war, but seems incapable of considering why Americans are opposed. He needs to look no further than his own words and deeds.


After Trump bombed Iran last June, he claimed to have “completely obliterated” Iran’s enriched uranium supply. Strutting on the world stage with great bombast, he declared that Iran’s nuclear capacity had been annihilated. Eight months later, he’s using Iran’s nuclear capacity to justify a war, without explaining what changed. Even his most diehard supporter wonders: was he was lying then or is he lying now?

It’s bizarre that Trump thinks Americans can’t track such a major incongruity, demonstrating either his deep contempt for them, or his own mental infirmity.

Signaling more incompetence during negotiations

Trump, who proudly rules by his “gut” instead of intelligence reports, doesn’t recognize that he’s swimming in geopolitical complexities above his head. It’s no surprise that the first round of negotiations to end the war he started failed.


To resolve the highly complex quagmire he created, Trump needs negotiators steeped in Iran’s history, geography, culture, and technological capacities. But he’s relying on loyalists: VP Vance, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, all of whom lack the expertise and diplomatic experience needed to achieve an agreement. Two diplomats from the failed negotiations immediately identified Trump’s problem: choosing negotiators for personal loyalty instead of subject-matter expertise.

The results reflect the obvious, and it’s nothing new. Kushner and Witkoff failed in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and failed in talks between Israel and Hamas while Israel continued bombing Gaza. For his part, Vance seems to have failed at everything.

The Pope’s moral clarity should shame Republicans

After Trump insulted Pope Leo XIV as if he were a rival politician instead of the religious leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, JD Vance said the Pope needed ‘to be careful’ when discussing war.


Three days later, the Pope warned that the world is “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants.” He reiterated Catholic teachings of peace— “Blessed are the peacemakers. But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.” Looking at you, Hegseth.

Every member of Congress swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. Every one of them, except perhaps Lindsey Graham, knows that what Trump is doing is illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional, but they have chosen power over honor.

Jamie Raskin’s 25th Amendment removal has no chance given Republicans’ immoral choice, long term consequences to America be damned. Watching the Pope hold steadfast in Chistian messaging, his clarity about wars of aggression, and his forceful opposition to evil forces manifesting in Trump, is a welcome balm to Republicans’ shameful depravity.

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.

Three nutty moments from Trump’s Turning Point speech

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Turning Point USA event at Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

Adam Lynch

April 17, 2026 

ALTERNET

President Donald Trump delivered the cap to the Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona, and he had a friendly audience to take his words. This might explain the absence of rolling eyes and questioning looks on a few claims that Trump inflated, played down or made a point not to mention at all due to their controversy.

1.The U.S. will march in and take the Iranian nukes that he claimed were obliterated.


Months ago, Trump claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities — the lingering existence of which he then later cited as one of the reasons to attack Iran last month and blow-up global fuel prices. But at the Friday TPUSA event, Trump said Iran’s nuclear capabilities are still somehow both “obliterated” yet in need of collection.

“You'll be very happy. The USA will get all nuclear dust,” he told the cheering TPUSA crowd. “You know what the nuclear dust is? That was that white powdery substance created by our B-2 bombers, those great B-2 bombers. Late one evening seven months ago. … And you know how we're going to get the dust, right? We're going to take it anyway. But taking it, taking it that way is slightly more dangerous. But we were going to get it anyway. … They will never have a nuclear weapon.”

But this information was immediately fact-checked by CNN reporter Nick Robinson, who told CNN anchor Jake Tapper that Iran has agreed to no such plan.

“[W]e’re hearing from Iranian sources who say that is just not the case. So, the Iranians are pushing back on some of what the president is claiming,” said Robinson.


2. The U.S. is paying Iran no compensation for Trump’s unilateral war.

Trump must be hotly aware of critics accusing him of hypocrisy for agreeing to pay Iran $20 billion after criticizing former President Obama for giving the country $1.7 billion because he denied that very fact at TPUSA.

“No money will exchange hands in any way, shape or form,” Trump insisted, in defiance of news that the U.S. has tentatively agreed to unfreeze $20 billion in Iranian assets.


British ambassador to the United States, Christian Turner claimed to CNN that he was “not close enough to the detail of how that would work” to say whether or not the transaction counted as a gift, but he conceded that as part of U.S./Iran negotiations Iran and Syria is “asking for an economic lifeline” from the U.S.

Bulwark Editor Jonathan Last called the transaction of money for Iran’s nuclear arsenal “a purchase … to the tune of $20 billion, which would be something that Donald Trump criticized the Obama administration for doing, but at a much greater scale.”


3. Ten wars ended.


The number of wars Trump has allegedly singlehandedly put an end to appears to be creeping up. This apparently includes the ending of the war he voluntarily started himself with February airstrikes on Iran, that left the nation’s more combative leadership in charge of the country.

Trump called his second term “by far the most successful first year of any administration in the history of our country, acknowledged by everybody.”

“To begin with, I ended eight wars, and it may be a little early to say this, but if we add Iran and Lebanon, that will be ten wars ended and many, many millions of lives saved,” Trump said.

Critics rated much of that claim bogus, with various international leaders denying either Trump’s intervention, or that the wars really ended at all.

World's oldest gorilla celebrates birthday at Berlin Zoo

Elizabeth Schumacher

04/13/2026

Lady Fatou, known as the "grand dame" of the Berlin Zoo, was certified last year by Guinness as the oldest living gorilla in the world.

When you're a 69-year-old gorilla, you get vegetables as a birthday gift

Image: Markus Schreiber/AP Photo/picture alliance

At 69 years old, Lady Fatou on Monday became not only the Berlin Zoo's longest-residing tenant but also maintained her title as the oldest gorilla in the world.

Born somewhere in West Africa in 1957, she arrived in Europe at the port of Marseilles in 1959 in the luggage of a French sailor. According to the Berlin Zoo, the sailor found himself unable to pay his bill at a tavern and gave Fatou to the landlady as payment. From there, she soon ended up in the German capital.

Fatou is a western lowland gorilla. In the wild they usually don't live past their 40s, and even in captivity 50 is considered advanced old age.

In 1974 she gave birth to Dufte, the first gorilla born at the Berlin Zoo. Although her daughter passed away in 2001, Fatou's granddaugther M'penzi still keeps her company in Berlin. She has at least three great-great-great grandchildren as of 2026.

Fatou's favorite foods are usually pre-cooked, as the grand dame no longer has teeth

Image: Markus Schreiber/AP Photo/picture alliance

"We are very proud to have been able to accommodate an animal with us now for more than half a century. We are pleased that Fatou is in such good health despite her age," zoo director Andreas Knieriem said on one of her previous birthdays.

Nowadays, Fatou has her own private enclosure and staff members dedicated solely to her care. She prefers to sit back and watch the other gorillas play rather than get involved in the action, zoo workers say.

Edited by: Louis Oelofse

Elizabeth Schumacher 

 reports on gender equity, immigration, poverty and education in Germany.

OUTLAW PALM OIL

Critically endangered Borneo orangutan born at Madrid zoo

A Borneo orangutan in the Madrid Zoo Aquarium gave birth in early April to a healthy baby, the zoo said. Habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade have severely curtailed the number of these gentle primates living in the wild.


Issued on: 15/04/2026
By: FRANCE 24

A critically endangered Bornean orangutan holds her newborn at Madrid Zoo Aquarium after the infant's birth on April 2. © Madrid Zoo Aquarium via AFP

A critically endangered Borneo orangutan has been born at Madrid's zoo, described by keepers as strong and developing normally.

After an eight-and-a-half-month pregnancy, mother Surya gave birth to a male weighing about 1.5 kilos on April 2, the Madrid Zoo Aquarium said in a statement.

The zoo released a video showing Surya cradling the newborn, which will be named through a public vote from a list of options proposed by the caretakers.

Surya has now given birth to four offspring, with keepers describing her maternal care from the outset as exemplary, and the baby feeding regularly, a key indicator of healthy development.

In this handout photo released on April 14, 2026 by Madrid Zoo Aquarium, Surya, a female Bornean orangutan, cradles her newborn shortly after its birth on April 2, 2026 at the Madrid Zoo Aquarium, in Madrid. © Madrid Zoo Aquarium via AFP


"When the baby is nursing, everything stops. She stays completely still until he finishes, and only then moves to eat or do anything else. She is a real supermom," said Maica Espinosa, a primate keeper at the zoo.

Orangutans usually give birth to a single baby or occasionally twins. They give birth, at the most, once every six years, and the interval between babies can be as long as 10 years.

Surya, a female Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), cradles her newborn. © Madrid Zoo Aquarium via AFP

The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies Bornean orangutans – known for their dark brown fur and gentle temperament – as "critically endangered", citing rapid habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade as major threats.

The species lives in the wild only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and on the island of Borneo, which is divided among Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

One Step Away From The Trump-Netanyahu Black Hole, The Italian PM Stands Out – OpEd


Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with US President Donald Trump. 

Photo Credit: The White House

April 15, 2026 
By Prof. Umberto Sulpasso


The electoral precipice for Giorgia Meloni was one step away. And the matrix was evidently all in the symbiotic alliance with Trump and Netanyahu, the two leaders who are shaking up the international political order with wars and disruptions. The resounding defeat in a constitutional referendum. The disjointed collapse in Hungary of the anti-Europe ally practically kicked out by the voters, had already shaken the electoral base of the PM. But Trump had the knockout blow in store: a frontal attack on the Pope and this would have been lethal for the PM if she had not decided to distance herself from the Trump-Netanyahu duo. But it is not certain that having changed course is enough

The Three Preparatory Blows To Meloni’s KO

1. The Jab-cross that opened the guard : The Constitutional Referendum lost

2. Jab-left hook. The resounding defeat in Hungary of Victor Orban, a symbol of anti-Europeanism disguised in the form of nationalism

3. Uppercut. The attack on the Pope by the American President

Three blows capable of transforming the next electoral experience into a historic KO capable of reserving the same fate for Meloni as the Hungarian leader. Cancellation.

The Italian political context is dominated by two women, PM Giorgia Meloni, and opposition leader Elly Shlein. And here Louisa May Alcott could be the inspiration for the post-Netanyahu-Trump in Italy. Her first successful book, “Little Women” was followed by a further success “Little Women Grow Up,” and Alcott’s second title fits singularly well with the politics of PM Giorgia Meloni, who on the brink of the precipice has decided that she politically wants to survive three blows received in less than a month, before they turn into a real KO.

From Manufacturing Consent To Manufacturing Dissent

If the defeat in the referendum can be read as a national event, the election in Hungary is the sign of an epochal eclipse of a political approach that had two leading theorists in Noam Chomsky and Edward Barnays: the election of Peter Magyar at the expense of Orban certifies the crisis of consensus as a means to conquer power, replaced by dissent.

I continue to consider Noam Chomsky a master of political philosophy despite the recent Epstein injuries. Personally, I am not hunting for unblemished heroes, there are none, and if there were they would not belong to the human species, and in any case they would not interest me: perfect beings are boring. I look for and appreciate personalities who do important positive operations of political theory, and Chomsky has done many. Opposition to the Vietnam War, struggle for freedom of information, support for qualified liberal personalities. Criticism of the fascist right wing in Israel. The Israeli government even denied him a visa for a conference in Tel Aviv. All this cannot and must not be forgotten and it is worth remembering Chomsky with regard to the Hungarian political election, because there is one thing that the great linguist taught like few others, and can be found in Manufacturing Consent, along with the book Propaganda by Edward Barneys, another pillar of twentieth-century political communication. And let’s see why.
Freud’s Nephew

Edward Barnays, Freud’s nephew, theorized the principle that government must be conquered with subliminal messages. He gave a practical demonstration of the potential of these messages in at least three sensational situations. One: launching the idea of the abundant “American breakfast”, (Eggs and Ham). Two: by favoring the coup d’état in Guatemala, by inventing, on behalf of United Fruit – from which Woody Allen would one day draw inspiration for his banana republics – the message that the president-elect was a communist, which was not true, but the subliminal message passed and there was a coup d’état favored by the CIA. Three: perhaps the most resounding success because it also concerns us, doubling the cigarette market with the brilliant idea of loading the image of the woman who smokes with positive messages. “Torches of Freedom” was the operation by which simultaneously a considerable number of women of American high society lit a cigarette in public, making it a symbol of female freedom. The cigarette, which was seen as a phallic symbol, became a manifestation of female sexual freedom. There were a few more cancers… but Barnays got a very high reward from the American Tobacco Association that had hired him, perhaps greater than that obtained by United Fruit.

Epochal Political Change: Power Conquered Not By Building Consensus But By Building Dissent – A Dangerous Political Change

But why were “Manufacturing Consent” and “Propaganda” put in the attic with the Hungarian election?

They go to the attic because it is now evident that electoral power is no longer won by “building consensus”, that is, by making positive proposals, while the vice versa of “building dissent” focuses on what is not good. On what goes wrong.

Péter Magyar, beat Victor Orbán not because he proposed an alternative program, but because he “disagreed”. Magyar does not come from the opposition, but from Orban’s own party from which he “disagrees”. His ex-wife, Judit Varga, was at one time Orbán’s Minister of Justice, is publicly accused of covering up regime scandals. And this is the winning lever. In Hungary, therefore, it was not the opposition that won, but dissent.

“Manufacturing Dissent” has a phenomenal lever in the spread of the Internet, and of the socials, which facilitate dissent in an endemic way, hyperbolically multiplying individual manifestations, favoring that state of social malaise that favors the seizure of power by the political producers of dissent, which is the media mechanism that has temporarily put Chomsky and Barneys in the attic.

But it is a very dangerous mechanism. Podemos has dissolved into thin air. The 5 Stars have had to give up all the most relevant reforms. Polls on Trump show his vertical fall. .
The Uppercut That Prepares For The KO Of PM Meloni: Trump’s Brutal Attack On The Pope

Italy has essentially become a secular country, but there is no doubt that the Pope continues to have a role of great importance. A role that has increased considerably in recent years. Francis’ pontificate has produced enormous sympathy even on the left and has created cultural and political availability that was unthinkable 30 years ago, when the left recognized itself in a strong anticlericalism. But this is an international phenomenon. Pope Francis greatly increased the approval rating for the Vatican on the basis of principles and values that the left – including the American left – has always made its own. Respect for the different. Protection of humanistic values. And above all, peace as an indivisible unifying good. Leo XIV seems to be following in those footsteps. Brutally attacking the Pope without taking into account the scope of the spiritual values in which progressives from all over the world, including those in Italy, recognize themselves, not only means creating a new fracture in America, but also means disintegrating the electoral base of the PM in Italy.


The Pope very intelligently chose not to start a war, but in Italy Meloni basically had to choose between two Americas: to stay by the side of the American President or to defend the Pope’s America.

And the PM, in order not to fall into the black hole of anti-pope Trumpism, has chosen to govern, distancing herself from Trump and Netanyahu for the first time. And it was resoundingly appreciated by the leader of the opposition, also a woman.

Little women grow up, Louise Alcott would say. It is not necessarily enough for the PM to remain in power. It is clear in Italy as everywhere that dissent is used to conquer power, but not to govern. Maybe Trump will also soon also find out.

Prof. Umberto Sulpasso

Prof. Umberto Sulpasso has taught in many European and American universities. He is the author of the GDKP the Gross Domestic Knowledge Product, the first quantitative model in the world of Wealth of Nations in terms of knowledge produced, purchased and circulated. The Indian Government had officially appointed in 2019 Prof. Sulpasso as Director of GDKP INDIA. Among his recent publications there is, " Know Global, The Most Important Globalization"; "Darwinomics, The Economics Of Human Race Survival"; "New Enlightenment In Economics In The 21st Century"; and "Knowledge the new measure of Wealth of Nations." Prof. Sulpasso has launched “Knowledge the infrastructural information which will create the New Silk Road with Africa and Asia countries” in a recent international conference.

'I thought she was brave': Trump turns on Italian ally over Pope criticism

Tom Boggioni
April 14, 2026 

RAW STORY

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has played host to a slew of foreign leaders, most recently Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as he prepares to take office (Filippo ATTILI/AFP)

Donald Trump has turned on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, publicly denouncing her as "unacceptable" for defending Pope Leo XIV against the president's criticism of his unprovoked Iran war.

According to Politico, Trump spoke directly with Italian daily Corriere della Sera to express his fury with Meloni's refusal to join his attack on the first American-born Pope who resides in Vatican City.

"I was shocked by her. I thought she was brave, but I was wrong," Trump said in the phone interview, delivering a stinging personal rebuke to an ally he had publicly praised just a year earlier.

When confronted with Meloni's Monday statement calling Trump's criticism of Pope Leo "unacceptable," the president responded with characteristic vindictiveness:

"It's her who's unacceptable, because she doesn't care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the chance."

Trump's grievance extends beyond the Pope dispute. He complained that Meloni expected the United States to "do the work for her" by protecting Italy from nuclear threats and ensuring stable oil supplies — suggesting she should be grateful for American military protection rather than criticizing his policies.

The deterioration of their relationship is striking. Trump noted the two hadn't spoken "in a long time," a stark contrast to just last year when Meloni visited Mar-a-Lago as Trump's guest. At that dinner, he called her "a fantastic woman" who had "really taken Europe by storm."

The rupture exemplifies Trump's pattern of discarding allies the moment they show independence from his agenda — a warning sign for other world leaders considering whether solidarity with the American president is worth the political cost.

Trump and Meloni: From close relations to a transatlantic crisis

By Stefania De Michele

Published on 15/04/2026 - EURONEWS

The relationship between Trump and Meloni was typified by warm handshakes and even warmer words until the US leader did something considered by most Italians to be unthinkable: he criticised the pope.

US President Donald Trump has turned on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, calling her "unacceptable" and claiming she lacks "courage" to back the US intervention in Iran after she condemned his attacks on Pope Leo XIV.

The unexpected public rift between the two leaders, who cultivated one of the closest transatlantic relationships over the past year, erupted after Trump criticised the pontiff for his anti-war stance on Iran.

"I thought she had courage, but I was wrong," Trump told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Tuesday.

Trump previously called Meloni "one of the real leaders of the world" and "full of energy, fantastic", while Meloni said she was able to speak to him "frankly even when we disagree".

It all seemed to be going so well until Trump did something that, for many Italians, is regarded as sacrilege: he lambasted none other than the Holy Father.

Trump said he did not think Pope Leo XIV was "doing a very good job" because he was "weak on crime" and suggested the pontiff should "stop catering to the radical left," also stating, "We don't like a pope who says it's OK to have a nuclear weapon."

Pope Leo XIV celebrates a Mass in the Saint Augustine Basilica in Annaba, 14 April, 2026 AP Photo

Trump's comments came after Pope Leo XIV openly criticised the US intervention in Iran from day one, stating just this weekend that a "delusion of omnipotence" is fuelling it.

Wherever you sit on the political spectrum in Italy, the idea of questioning, much less criticising, the pontiff is a red line.

Meloni on Monday called Trump's criticism of the pope "unacceptable".

"The pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn all forms of war," Meloni said.

She added she would not feel comfortable living in a society where "religious leaders do as they are told by politicians".

Trump pushed back, telling the Italian daily, "She's unacceptable because she doesn't mind that Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if they had the chance."

Parallel to this, it emerged that at the end of March, Italy had refused a request from the US military for aircraft to land at the Naval Air Station Sigonella on the island of Sicily, falling in line with countries like Spain and France that refused Washington's requests to overfly their territory before continuing towards the Middle East and fighting the war in Iran.

Relate

And in another move likely to annoy the White House, Meloni announced on Tuesday that Italy had suspended the automatic renewal of its defence agreement with Israel, which involves the exchange of military equipment and technology research.

But after Trump's jibes at the pope, can the relationship ever be repaired or will it be for conservative Meloni, dead and buried for good? Whatever happens from here, let's take a look at how one of the closest transatlantic relationships developed.

December 2024: First face-to-face in Paris

The first meaningful encounter between Trump and Meloni dates back to late 2024 and the reopening ceremony of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral.

It was a brief meeting, in a very crowded multilateral context, but it was enough to leave an impression on the US president, who described the Italian premier as a "real live-wire".

Trump gushed that Meloni was "full of energy (and) fantastic" according to people who were present at the meeting and who saw the encounter as a sign of warmer ties to come as Trump was still at that point president-elect and had yet to start his second term.

Clergymen give the Eucharist during the first public mass in Notre Dame Cathedral since the 2019 fire, 8 December, 2024 AP Photo

January 2025: Mar-a-Lago and the Sala crisis

In the middle of the drama surrounding the kidnapping of journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran, Meloni flew to Florida for a meeting with Trump at his Florida Mar-a-Lago residence.

The visit was brief, not preceded by any official announcement, and was interpreted as a strong political gesture at a time of heightened international tension.

According to sources close to the president, Trump was impressed and described Meloni as a leader who has "really taken Europe by storm".

“This is very exciting,” Trump told a group at Mar-a-Lago. “I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy.”

In the days that followed, Trump publicly praised Meloni for flying all the way to the US just to spend a few hours with him.

An aerial view of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, 31 August, 2022 AP Photo

January 2025: One of the few Europeans at the inauguration

Meloni was one of the few European leaders invited to Trump's inauguration in Washington. Her presence there was interpreted as having significant political weight, particularly given that so many other European leaders had been sidelined.

Just days later in Davos, Trump hinted at the possibility of a personal and political relationship with the Italian premier. "I like her a lot, let's see what happens," he said.

His praise for Meloni stood in stark contrast to his general belligerence towards the EU as a whole, slamming the 27-member bloc as treating "the United States very badly" against a backdrop of ongoing trade tensions.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrives before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, 20 January, 2025 AP Photo

April 2025: The political peak of the relationship?

An official visit to the White House represented, for some, the high point of the relationship between the two leaders, a meeting accompanied by a strong media presence and notably more personal tones.

Trump saved his warmest words for a social media post after the meeting: "She loves her country, and the impression she left on everyone was fantastic!"

During the White House talks, Meloni invited Trump to visit Italy and proposed an expanded format with European leaders to consolidate a direct political channel between Washington and Brussels.

Diplomatic sources described the meeting as "solid on the political level and surprisingly relaxed on the personal level" and generally harmonious.

US President Donald Trump meets with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office of the White House, 17 April, 2025 AP Photo

April 2025: First informal talks at the Vatican

At the funeral of Pope Francis, the two meet briefly in the Vatican. The context was considered highly symbolic and significant, with numerous world leaders present.

Sources present reported a quick but significant exchange, in which international affairs were briefly touched upon, a fleeting meeting that appeared to confirm the continuity of the direct channel between the two.

Related

June 2025: The isolated bench talks at the G7

The G7 in Canada was one of the most significant meetings between the pair, with Trump and Meloni choosing to isolate themselves on a wooden bench on the sidelines of the summit in Kananaskis.

That conversation, according to diplomatic sources, was long and direct and helped to reconcile some tensions in the final drafting of the declaration on the then 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, which also saw US military involvement.

Just days later at a NATO summit, the two again sat side by side and had an informal discussion on the main security issues.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrives during the official welcome of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, 16 June, 2025 AP Photo

August 2025: The Zelenskyy meeting

Meloni attended an international meeting convened by Trump at the White House with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in attendance, designed to discuss the future of Western support for Kyiv.

Trump hailed the meeting as a "big day" as Zelenskyy and his European allies all came to the US capital for a major discussion on how to end Russia's all-out war in Ukraine.

The US president then called Meloni "a great leader, an inspiration to all."

Trump also praised the Italian premier for leading her country at a young age and predicted she would be in office for a long time.

US President Donald Trump and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the East Room of the White House, 18 August, 2025 AP Photo

October 2025: The Gaza summit in Egypt

In Egypt, the two leaders meet at the peace summit for Gaza, amid the new plan promoted by Trump to end the Israel-Hamas war.

The US president, on stage, joked: "Who is this woman?" He then introduced Meloni to the international audience as "a very strong leader, she's doing a great job," and a "beautiful young woman".

The next day, on social media, Trump endorsed Meloni's autobiography and urged his followers to read it.

Early 2026: From the Nobel Prize to first tensions

On the US president's role in attempting to stop Russia's war in Ukraine, Meloni said on 23 January after a summit with Germany: "I hope we can give the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump and I trust that he can also make a difference on a just and lasting peace for Ukraine ... and then finally we too can nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize."

The prize instead went to Venezuelan opposition politician María Corina Machado “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."

That decision did not go down well with Trump, who has long coveted the award, and he told Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre he no longer needed to think "purely of peace" after failing to win the prize.

"Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace," Trump said in a message.

By early 2026, Meloni reiterated her willingness to confront Trump even when she disagreed with his positions. At the same time, the first structural differences on NATO and the Middle East were beginning to emerge.

A man wearing a mask resembling US President Donald Trump holds a sign designed like a Nobel Peace Prize medal during a rally in Tel Aviv, 11 October, 2025 AP Photo

March 2026: Hormuz Strait, the first real operational rift

The crisis sparked by Iran's closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz marked the first substantial point of friction between Washington and Rome.

Trump was getting increasingly vocal about his call for allies to assemble a naval force to open the strait going largely unanswered, with Italy among the most important countries which refused to become involved.

Relate

The European position was slammed by Trump, who called NATO a "paper tiger" and said he was considering withdrawing the US from the military alliance.

April 2026: The public rift

At the height of the crisis, some statements from Washington were interpreted in Rome as direct criticism of the Italian government's position.

Sources spoke of "uncoordinated tones through diplomatic channels," signalling a more formal communicative shift than had been previously used.

The government's response was firm: "Italy remains committed to international security, but every decision takes place within the NATO and multilateral framework."

Trump’s 'pope derangement syndrome' has him flailing in the face of 'God's messenger'

Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on May 8, 2025 (Marco Iacobucci Epp/Shutterstock.com)

Thomas Kika

April 14, 2026   

ALTERNET

President Donald Trump is suffering from what one expert on Catholicism called "pope derangement syndrome," causing him to lash out against "God's messenger" Pope Leo XIV with bitter, politically charged jabs due to his fundamental misunderstanding of the role.

James V. Grimaldi is the Pulitzer Prize-winning former executive editor of The National Catholic Reporter. On Tuesday, he published a piece in the New York Times calling out Trump's recent feud against the pope and accusing him of "missing the point" when it comes to the pontiff's actual role within the church.

Leo, who ascended to the head of the Catholic Church last year following the passing of Pope Francis, has emerged as something of a thorn in the side of the MAGA movement due to his statements calling for the humane and compassionate treatment of immigrants, among other issues. Most recently, his opposition to armed conflicts has drawn the ire of Trump amid his spiraling with Iran, prompting the president to lash out against him in a Sunday Truth Social post, bafflingly accusing the pope of being "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy."

This latest escalation also came on the heels of a bombshell report revealing that the Pentagon had seemingly threatened military action against the Vatican in response to Leo's comments.

In his piece, Grimaldi stressed, as many have, that Leo's comments are not driven by partisan antipathy for Trump and MAGA, but rather by an accurate interpretation of Catholic teachings. He also noted that the cardinals who elected him last year did so with an eye to "the future in terms of the unity and strength of the Roman Catholic Church," not because they were "designating a foil for Mr. Trump."

"Pope Leo’s statements aren’t partisan barbs; they are expressions of his understanding of the Gospel and Catholic social teaching," Grimaldi explained. "For Mr. Trump to respond to them as potshots or challenges to his authority reflects a misplaced obsession with the pope and a misunderstanding of his role as the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics worldwide — call it pope derangement syndrome."

He continued: "For many Catholics, myself included, Leo’s words make us proud of our faith and thankful to have a pope who isn’t afraid to clearly and powerfully articulate a vision of what we consider morally and scripturally right, even if — or especially if — the church’s teaching clashes with the views of a president. But that’s not necessarily because we are Democrats or disaffected Republicans (I am neither), nor because we’re reflexively anti-Trump. It’s not because we secretly hope Leo was elected to hector the president. It’s because we Catholics believe that the pope is the Vicar of Christ, in essence God’s messenger on earth. It only follows that he would proclaim God’s message, particularly when it matters most, regardless of the political fallout."

‘I Will Continue to Speak Out Strongly Against War,’ Says Pope Leo in Face of Trump Abuse

“The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’”


Pope Leo XIV gestures during a visit at the Maqam Echahid Martyrs’ Monument in El Madania, near Algiers on April 13, 2026.
(Photo by Alberto Pizzoli / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)

Brad Reed
Apr 13, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

Pope Leo XIV on Monday said he would not back off his criticism of President Donald Trump’s war of choice in Iran after the president targeted him with an unhinged late-night social media rant.

In a Sunday Truth Social post, Trump accused Pope Leo of being “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” even though dealing with crime and running US foreign policy are not part of the pope’s job description.

“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 wrote at the conclusion of his long tirade. “It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”

A short time later, Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated image that depicted him as a Christ-like figure.




Pope Leo in recent weeks has been openly critical of the US war in Iran, taking particular issue with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claiming that the conflict was being waged in the name of Jesus Christ.

“This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” the pope said during a Palm Sunday sermon last month. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

According to a Monday report from the Associated Press, the pope remained defiant in the face of criticism from the president.

“The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” he said. “I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel and inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges of peace and reconciliation, and looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.”

Leo added that he is “not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel,” and insisted that “I will continue to speak out strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems.”

Trump’s attack on the pope drew a rebuke from Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), who said it was reflective of a presidency circling the drain.

“ Donald Trump is flailing,” Kelly wrote in a social media post. “His war in Iran has led to the death and injury of American servicemembers and the death of Iranian children. He will attack anyone or anything to try to protect himself, even the Church that millions of Americans find faith and comfort in every day.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal suggested that Trump’s anti-pope rant was more evidence that he is mentally unwell and should be removed from office.

“The deranged and disgusting post from Trump attacking Pope Leo should certainly help him appeal to the more than 50 million Americans who identify as Catholics,” she wrote. “Perhaps this will convince JD Vance to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office?”

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was “disheartened” that Trump “chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father.”

“Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the pope a politician,” Coakley added. “He is the vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

The Rev. James Martin said he doubted Pope Leo “will lose any sleep over” Trump’s rant, but added “the rest of us should” because “it is unhinged, uncharitable, and unchristian.”

Ex-GOP insider reveals why Trump’s AI Jesus keeps him up at night: 'He wants your worship'

Nicole Charky-Chami
April 14, 2026 
RAW ST0RY

Former Republican strategist Rick Wilson shared just why President Donald Trump's decision to share an image of himself posed as Jesus "raising someone who looks a lot like Jeffrey Epstein from the dead," troubles him.


The co-founder of The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump organization, discussed in his Substack on Tuesday why Trump's latest move was not only unsettling, but analyzed just how "the entire scam" has played out among MAGA and Christian followers who supported Trump.

"Now, it’s been a minute since Divinity class, but I know my Bible well enough to know that what we’re looking at here is either the greatest act of accidental self-own in the history of organized religion, or, and bear with me here, a slow-roll confirmation of the one prophecy nobody in MAGA land bothered to read before slapping on the red hat," Wilson wrote.

"He might be the Antichrist," Wilson wrote. "And I mean that with exactly as much comedy and as much genuine theological dread as you think I do."

Trump's rise to power was propped up by a number of supporters, including the religious right.

"Trump has been sold to evangelicals (and a damn good percentage of Catholics) as America as a vessel of divine providence," Wilson explained. "The man with three wives, the hush money, the Epstein mess, the whores, the sexual abuse, the porn stars, the casinos, the fraud judgments, the scams and rip-offs, the gleeful cruelty, this is the man God chose."

MAGA was convinced Trump was essentially their guy, Wilson argued.

"That’s the pitch. With a straight face. From pulpits. Joel Osteen has several private jets and a house the size of Rhode Island because he and others like Franklin Graham sold you this guy. Think on that," Wilson wrote.

But the meme that sparked public outrage this week has led to more revelations about who Trump really is — and what he really desires, according to Wilson.

"Here’s the thing about the Jesus meme that keeps me up at night, not the blasphemy of it (though, sure, that too), but the demand it represents. The man doesn’t just want your vote. He wants your worship. He wants to be the thing you kneel before. He has always wanted that," Wilson added.

NYT conservative warns Trump put religious MAGA supporters in 'spiritual peril'

Daniel Hampton
April 14, 2026 

RAW STORY


A post on U.S. President Donald Trump's Truth Social account depicts an AI-generated image of himself apparently as Jesus posted on April 12, 2026. @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social/Handout via REUTERS

A prominent conservative Catholic columnist at The New York Times is sounding the alarm for President Donald Trump's religious base, warning that his escalating blasphemy is a harbinger of things to come that true believers should not ignore.

Ross Douthat, a conservative Catholic opinion writer who is not known for being a Trump critic, wrote Tuesday that the president's weekend social media rampage — which included a profanity-filled Easter post, an attack on Pope Leo XIV, and an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ — represents something far more serious than typical Trumpian excess.

"The compounding offense isn’t against religious identity or papal dignity. It’s a violation of the first and second commandments, where the offended party is Almighty God," Douthat wrote Tuesday.

Douthat was careful to acknowledge that popes are not infallible on political matters, and that conservative Catholics have legitimate grievances with the Vatican's leftward tilt. But he argued that Trump has simply never made a coherent moral case for the Iran war, leaving the pope with a valid reason to call it unjust.

In a striking passage, Douthat directly addressed Trump's believing supporters.

"If you are a secular observer who assumes that blasphemy is a sin without a real object, that escalation matters mostly as a window into the president’s second-term state of mind.

"If you’re a believer, though, then Mr. Trump’s entire political career — his catalyzing role in liberalism’s crisis, his movement from power to exile to power once again — exists under providential power. In which case a turn to presidential blasphemy is a warning for his religious supporters about potential conclusions to the story, and the spiritual peril of simply sticking with him till the end."

Trump is alienating America’s 'biggest religious swing voters'

Photo by Pedro Lima on Unsplash

Alex Henderson

April 15, 2026

ALTERNET

When John F. Kennedy Sr. won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960, many political journalists wondered if U.S. voters would elect a Catholic president. But JFK narrowly defeated the Republican nominee, then-Vice President Richard Nixon, by less than 1 percent but won the electoral vote 303-219.

Sixty years later, in 2020, devout Catholic Joe Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump by roughly 5 percent in the popular vote and 306-232 in the Electoral College. Now, in 2026, Vice President JD Vance, is a convert to Catholicism, and Catholics dominate the U.S. Supreme Court.

Moreover, Protestant candidates actively court Catholic voters. But in a biting opinion column published on Wednesday, April 15, The Guardian's Arwa Mahdawi argues that President Trump's attacks on Pope Leo XIV could alienate Catholic voters and become a political liability for Catholic Vance (who was raised Protestant).

"On Sunday, (April 12), Trump, who identifies as a nondenominational Christian, attacked the Pope on Truth Social, calling him 'WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,'" Mahdawi observes. "Shortly after, the president posted, and later deleted, an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure anointing the forehead of a man who looked vaguely like a skinny Jeffrey Epstein…. 'Blessed are the peacemakers,' Leo said on Monday, when asked about Trump's comments. 'I'm not afraid of the Trump Administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.'"

Mahdawi notes that the "majority of Catholics," according to polls, "disapprove of Trump's handling of the war on Iran."

"Alienating Catholics is not the smartest move: they are the U.S.' biggest religious swing voters," Mahdawi argues. "They largely voted for Biden in 2020, but, in 2024, Trump won the group by a 10- to 20-point margin. Unless he makes good on his threat to run for an unconstitutional third term, Trump doesn't have to worry about courting the Catholic vote again himself, but he hasn't made life easy for his Catholic vice-president, JD Vance, who is generally seen as Trump's successor. Vance has been very quiet about all this, causing Denise Murphy McGraw, the national co-chair of Catholics Vote Common Good, to call him out and state that silence is complicity."

The liberal Guardian columnist continues, "Vance broke his silence on Fox News on Monday, saying, 'It would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality.… and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.' I know you're desperate for your boss' job, JD, but I think it would be best for American public policy if there were a little less dictating and a little more morality."

Ex-Fox News host on Trump's Jesus post: 'Maybe he thinks he's a really important figure'

Robert Davis
April 13, 2026 

RAW STORY


A political analyst was stunned on Monday after President Donald Trump retreated from his religious snafus over the weekend.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday that Pope Leo XIV is "weak" on crime and foreign policy, and that Trump "doesn't want" a Pope who criticizes him or his administration's war with Iran. Trump also posted, and then deleted, a photo of himself appearing as Jesus Christ while healing a man lying on a bed. Both posts generated significant criticism from analysts and lawmakers.

Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News anchor, discussed the posts on "Erin Burnett OutFront" on Monday.

Burnett asked Carlson why she thought Trump made the posts.

"The first thing that came to me was because the Pope is more popular," Carlson said. "And in fact, today, right here on CNN, you showed a poll where the approval rating of Pope Leo in America is very high, and the approval rating of Donald Trump currently is low. And that is sort of what makes Trump click on a daily basis, he tends to take his ill feelings out on people who are more popular or who he deems to be having more success at the time."

Carlson added that she was surprised Trump received so much backlash from the posts.

"With regard to getting into religion, do I think it's going to have any impact? Probably not," Carlson said. "In normal times, I would have said yes, but he's gotten away with so much else. He makes fun of disabled people. He makes fun of people with autism. He made fun of Michelle and Barack Obama as apes. I'm actually surprised he took the post down."

"I'm not so sure that he doesn't totally think that he is some sort of really, really important figure," she added. "And maybe he had no understanding that it would have this kind of backlash."

MTG squirms as CNN throws her previous claims about 'Jesus' Trump back in her face

Robert Davis
April 13, 2026

RAW STORY

CNN screenshot

Former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene squirmed on CNN after anchor Kaitlan Collins asked her about previous comments where she compared President Donald Trump to Jesus Christ.

Greene joined Collins on CNN's "The Source" on Monday, where the two discussed Trump's most recent controversial social media posts. In one post, Trump called the Pope "weak" on crime and foreign policy. In the other, Trump posted an AI-generated photo of himself appearing as Jesus Christ healing a sick man in bed.

Trump doubled down on his comments about the Pope on Monday, but said he failed to recognize the clearly Christian iconography in the AI-generated photo.

Collins reminded Greene that she had once compared Trump to Jesus because they both were arrested, and played a clip of her saying it.

Greene seemed uncomfortable as she responded.

"We were talking about people being prosecuted unfairly by weaponization of government, political prosecutions, things such as the political protesters," Greene said. "That's what I was referring to there. I wasn't talking trying to portray [Trump] as Jesus. I think that was completely different."

Trump voter tells MS NOW he's appalled after seeing Jesus picture: 'I'm ashamed'

Tom Boggioni
April 14, 2026 

RAW STORY


Alex Tabet interviews Trump voter (MS NOW screenshot)

Attempts by Donald Trump to put out the firestorm he created by posting a meme picture of himself as Jesus on Truth Social seems to be flopping, MS NOW is reporting.

On Monday the president defended the picture, which had been taken down, claiming that he was being portrayed as a doctor, but in interviews on the street, self-identified Christians and Catholics uniformly criticized the president when shown a printout of the picture, with one Trump voter claiming he was “ashamed.”

Speaking with Anna Cabrera from in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, reporter Laura Haefeli told the host, “One thing is clear is this could actually cost him possibly the Catholic vote in this country, because people here outside of the most recognizable cathedral in the country are upset.”

Shown the picture, one woman told her, “Disgusting, just forget it. It's evil. Just evil. Yeah. Nothing more to say about it. He's crazy. Done.”

Reporting from Bradenton, Florida, MS NOW’s Alex Tabet, got similar responses when sharing the picture.

One man responded, “Personally? It's disgusting. I talked with my wife about it earlier. I mean, Jesus Christ is my lord and savior. And that right there is, I mean, that's I don't really have words for that. That's disgusting.”

“As a Christian, how do you feel when you see this image?” Tabet asked a man standing by his truck.

“Offended,” the unidentified man quickly shot back before continuing, “ Yeah. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed that he would actually do that. The man I voted for and trust."

”Politics are one thing, but stepping into that area is a little bit different. You know, a little bit stings for me a little bit," another man stated.

'Showed great respect': Mike Johnson praises Trump over 'sacrilegious' Jesus post

David Edwards
April 14, 2026 

RAW STORY

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (Reuters)

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said President Donald Trump shared an image of himself as Jesus because he didn't view it as "sacrilegious."

On Tuesday, Johnson told CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi that he contacted the president after he posted the sacrilegious image.

"Was it blasphemy?" the reporter wondered.

"I talked with the president about it as soon as I saw it and told him that I don't think it was being received in the same way he intended it," Johnson replied. He agreed, and he pulled it down. That was the right thing to do."

"He explained how he saw that, and I don't think he thought it was sacrilegious at all," he said.

Johnson insisted that Trump "showed great respect to others by removing it."

Trump's threat against Pope Leo is exactly why Francis shaped him for the job

Donald Trump just inadvertently invoked the Christian understanding of the Antichrist

Michael Signorile, 

The Signorile Report

April 12, 2026 

In recent days we learned that Pope Leo will likely not visit the United States during Trump’s presidency and declined an invite to the 250th birthday celebrations.

The tensions between the Vatican and the U.S. have been clear as Leo has slammed Trump for his brutal attacks on immigrants and, now, his reckless war in Iran, in which Trump threatened to “wipe out” an entire civilization.

A report has now surfaced that the Pentagon—not the State Department—called the Vatican’s ambassador in for a meeting in January after the pope’s state of the world speech in which he criticized Trump’s military moves. And the Vatican emissary was given a stark warning. From AL.com:

A Trump administration official gave the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States a “bitter lecture” about America’s military might and suggested the Catholic Church get on board with American foreign policy after Pope Leo XIV gave a speech condemning use of force and preaching diplomacy, according to a new report.

Cardinal Chrisophe Pierre, who at the time of the January meeting was the Holy See’s ambassador to the U.S., was summoned by Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby to the Pentagon in an unprecedented move, the Free Press reported Monday.

Pentagon officials “picked apart” the American pontiff’s January speech, “reading it as a hostile message directed at Trump’s policies,” according to the outlet’s sources. The Pentagon was reportedly furious that the speech challenged Trump’s so-called Donroe Doctrine that the Western Hemisphere should be controlled by the United States.

At one point during the meeting, according to the Free Press, “one U.S. official went so far as to invoke the Avignon Papacy, the period in the 1300s when the French Crown leveraged its military power to dominate the papal authority.”

Pope Francis was preparing for just this kind of battle before he died, seeing Trump as a threat to the world. I wrote back when the conclave chose Leo in May of last year about how Francis shepherded Leo into the job. I figured this was a good time to repost it.


May 9, 2025

With the arrival of Pope Leo XIV, much of the media has emphasized the mystery of the papal conclave, focusing on cryptic rituals, traditions shrouded in secrecy, and deep solemnity—which sells and keeps people riveted—when there are some things that are pretty clear as day regarding the politics of the selection of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost. And even MAGA world sees that, and is in a full-blown meltdown over it.

The Catholic church is a global institution with huge cultural impact. As a nation state, The Vatican, with embassies and diplomats all over the world, and a presence at the U.N., has a head of state who has outsized power. The pope has a massive political platform. Certainly Francis sought to influence public policy, in the U.S. and in countries around the world.

And, as I noted last week, Francis was a smart politician—unlike his predecessor, Benedict, who was a lousy politician, a man led by the impulsiveness of his zealous conservatism, rarely making strategic decisions.

It’s clear that Francis knew—or certainly tried to ensure—that Prevost would be the next pope, desiring to have someone who would continue his direction for the church, away from the conservative American church’s ideologies and emphasis. Francis had named the vast majority of the cardinals who voted on his successor, and they were loyal to him—and likely loyal to his wishes if indeed he’d lobbied them prior to his death.

Francis brought Prevost to the Vatican in 2023—making him a cardinal, and thus eligible to be pope, only two years ago—to further learn the intricacies of the Vatican (and, by default, the papacy), obviously grooming him for the job. Francis put Prevost in charge of the office in the church that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most powerful offices in the Vatican, tasked with reshaping the church’s leadership.

It involved choosing new bishops upon retirements, but also sometimes removing church leaders and replacing them because they were trouble. Prevost worked alongside Francis in the two years before his death, a critical time. That was when Francis was seeking to reshape the American church’s hierarchy, as I wrote at the time, which for years has been deeply enmeshed in GOP—and MAGA—politics.

It was during that two-year period when there were big moves, such as Francis’ firing of Bishop Robert Strickland of Tyler, Texas—an icon of extremist MAGA Catholics—who defied Francis’ teachings. It was also during that time that Cardinal Raymond Burke was booted from his palatial Vatican apartment and sent packing. He was a Trump-supporting Covid denier who was making a fortune on the MAGA speaking circuit in the U.S.—and someone who also defied Francis’ reforms.

Prevost was there for all that and was deeply involved in helping carry out those decisions.

Before taking that job in Rome, however, Prevost, who was born in Chicago and educated in the U.S. and had spent his early years as a priest in the Midwest, was in the field as a missionary in Peru, where he also became a citizen of that country. He was Apostolic Administrator of Chiclayo, then named the Bishop of Chiclayo by Francis in 2015, where he served until Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 and made him a cardinal.

He got the experience as a missionary—a life experience that was vital to Francis’ outlook in reaching the people and getting beyond the church’s stone buildings—and then came to the Vatican to work with Francis in his last two years.

Francis may have had a few people in mind whom he was preparing over the years, but it was Prevost he clearly seemed focused on near the end of his life. The cardinals’ selection of Prevost, an American, sent shock waves through the world of church scholars and pundits, since no one expected an American to become pope because the U.S. has traditionally been seen as having too much power already.

But I believe having an American as pope at this point in time was part of Francis’ plan. Prevost was active in recent months on X. He hadn’t posted in all of 2024, but this year he slammed JD Vance, among other posts criticizing the Trump administration. I don’t think any of this was an accident, as these social media posts would become big news—which they are—upon the pope’s death and Provost’s becoming Pope Leo, sending a very clear message.

One opinion piece from The Catholic Standard that Provost re-posted just a few weeks ago was written by the auxiliary bishop of Washington, DC, Bishop Evelio Menjivar, who is from El Salvador and had been an undocumented immigrant himself for many years. It’s a powerful piece slamming the Trump administration:

The video of a student being accosted by masked agents after her visa was revoked without notice – apparently because of an op-ed she co-wrote years ago – is horrifying. Most egregiously, the government has now claimed the authority to unilaterally seize certain people based on mere suspicion, or because of their tattoos, and send them to a prison in El Salvador accused of human rights abuses – all without review by a court to even determine their identity. The government admits some have been wrongfully deported, but officials are fighting attempts to right these wrongs.
More than a few natural-born Americans are saying they do not recognize their country anymore, but many of us from other lands recognize all too well the terror of people being snatched by secret police and disappeared. We left our former countries precisely to get away from it.


It’s also noteworthy that Prevost chose Leo for his name, meant to signify his carrying on the work of Pope Leo XIII, who was known as the father of social justice. In his 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, Pope Leo outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safety in the workplace, and the ability to form labor unions. Interestingly, the previous Pope Leo served from 1878 to 1903, during the entire presidency of Trump’s favorite president, William McKinley, the fanatic on tariffs who also emboldened big business to trample on workers.

Provost also criticized Trump often in his first term, on issues such as gun violence and immigration. I believe Francis understood the need for a pope who is from this culture, who speaks English fluently, who spars in his own voice on social media, and who could sit down with American television interviewers and lay out the case against harsh policies and attacks on the marginalized.

While the U.S. is just one country among many, and while the church is growing much more in Asia and Africa, Francis had to see—as many of us have—that right now Trump is an existential threat to everything in the world that is held sacred, including the Catholic church itself. The Vatican is smack dab in the middle of the European Union, under attack by Trump’s trade war and by the U.S.’s encouragement of Vladimir Putin’s encroachment on Europe. And the Vatican is surely impacted by any weakening of NATO.


But it’s, of course, beyond self-preservation. The causes that Francis promoted—supporting migrants, helping the poor and marginalized, saving the planet—are under assault.

We don’t know a lot about Leo’s recent beliefs and positions on women in the church, LBGTQ rights and other issues. Like Francis himself, he showed some hostility to gay rights many years ago—almost 15 years ago, in fact—but like Francis, he likely evolved, like many other leaders.

He recently remained open—though not fully committed—to Francis’s having allowed blessings of same-sex unions. And he has supported Francis’s commitment to “synodality”—diverse inclusiveness from grassroots lay people in the church—which the American conservatives in the church have fiercely opposed. My hunch is that Francis told him to keep his powder dry on the issue—as Francis did before he was pope—but we’ll know in time.

What is true is that there is no going back now to the archconservatives. Francis’s legacy lives on. And there is now a voice in the Vatican who is both a citizen of Peru and the U.S., someone whose maternal grandparents were Creole people of color from Louisiana. And he is someone with an enormous platform, who looks like he will be an outspoken home-grown counterpoint for all Americans—and the world—to the brutality of the Trump era.

President vs. Pope: How feud with Leo could hurt Trump

By AFP
April 13, 2026


Over the recent Easter period, which is sacred to Christians, Trump has made a series of eye-opening posts when it comes to religion - Copyright AFP SEBASTIEN BOZON

Danny KEMP

US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader at home.

Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections.

So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics shows no signs of abating.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. He’s wrong,” the 79-year-old Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.

In the post on Sunday, Trump called the pontiff “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” suggesting that Leo was elected pope in May 2025 only because he was American and a possible bridge to the Trump administration.

Trump then posted an AI-generated image seemingly depicting himself as a figure like Jesus Christ, which he later deleted. He insisted on Monday that he believed the image showed himself as a doctor.

For his part, Pope Leo told reporters on the papal plane en route to Africa earlier Monday that he has “no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.”

Leo had earlier this month branded Trump’s threat to destroy a “whole civilization” in Iran as “truly unacceptable.” He has also previously criticized Trump’s mass deportation campaign as “inhuman.”

Three-times married billionaire Trump has long reached out to America’s evangelical Christians with his conservative, nativist vision.

They backed him in his election wins in 2016 and 2024 despite a series of scandals and an ambiguous personal relationship with religion.

But Trump, who has previously hawked $60 Bibles branded with his name, appeared to have had something of an awakening during his second term.

At his inauguration last year he said he had been “saved by God” after a 2024 assassination attempt on the campaign trail and has taken a more explicitly religious tone.

– ‘Evil tirade’ –

Yet over the recent Easter period, which is sacred to Christians, Trump has made a series of eye-opening posts when it comes to religion.

On the morning of Easter Sunday, as Christians were celebrating around the world, Trump posted a profanity-laced warning to the “crazy bastards” of Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or else — bizarrely signing off: “Praise be to Allah.”

Then, amid what appeared to be increasing frustration after talks with Iran produced no breakthrough, came Sunday’s attacks on Pope Leo.

“I am disheartened that the president chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father,” the head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul Coakley, said in a statement.

At least one prominent Catholic in Trump’s administration backed the US president over the pontiff.

US Vice President JD Vance, a recent convert, told Fox News on Monday, “in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality… and let the President United States stick to dictating American public policy.”

There was no immediate reaction from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Catholic.

Perhaps more worrying for the White House is the ire on the religious right, particularly among former allies.

Any slackening of support for Trump will add to concerns among Republicans that they could lose control of Congress in November’s mid-term elections, with the economy already a worry amid high oil prices caused by the Iran war.

“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,” one time ally and former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene said.

“This comes after last week’s post of his evil tirade on Easter and then threatening to kill an entire civilization. I completely denounce this and I’m praying against it!!!”

Conservative commentator Riley Gaines also railed against the apparent Jesus image.

“Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this,” Gaines said on X, urging Trump to show humility and adding: “God shall not be mocked.”