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JD Vance defends Trump amid spat with Pope Leo: ‘Stick to matters of morality’
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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Bizarre comment in my view - I think anyone would regard war as an issue with morality.
Trump posting that bizarre AI image of him as Jesus, referring to himself during Easter as being king like and like Jesus, and then attacking the Pope is just ridiculous.
I'm not religious but I was raised Catholic and I know that the pontiff is regarded as the supreme voice of the Catholic Church (the concept of "papal supremacy"). So for Trump to attack the Pope and JD Vance to double down is basically an attack on Catholics. And for the republicans and Trump, Christian voters are a significant part of their voter base.
Attacking the Pope may ironically play well in some other parts of his Christian base. However even outside the catholic part of his base, Trump portraying himself as a god or Jesus like character will be repugnant and very difficult to role back from.
Trump is looking very weak and irrational over Iran, then posting bizarre imagery as him as a god and attacking the Pope. I thing it's pretty clear he is off his rocker, potentially even showing signs of advanced dementia because this is way above even his background level of crazy over the past 15 years. And Vance is looking increasingly like an idiot - defending the indefensible, doing bad jobs over things like the Iran negotiations, and going to Hungary to interfere in an election campaign.
I don't know if Trump will make it to the end of his presidency. But regardless Vance may have hoped he was in the best position for the 2028 presidential election as Trump's deputy. Instead I think he's stuck trying to be loyal to Trump while Trump sets everything on fire - his base, the USA and even the American Empire.
Vance has no choice. He can't leave the fold (unintended joke).