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JD Vance defends Trump amid spat with Pope Leo: ‘Stick to matters of morality’
(www.theguardian.com)
war and genocide, those notoriously uncomplicated amoral matters.
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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And then there’s that oh so small matter of Trump fucking kids
are you still talking about donald "the john" trump's connection with jeffrey epstein?!
Taking a stand on a illegal and unnecessary war IS an issue of morality...
"stick to matters of morality".... That's exactly what he's been doing you fat-headed clown! The pope has been talking about the (im)morality of war and the abuse of power. Which is painfully relevant.
I've seen some people talk about how Vance is some intellectual titan who we should fear because he's so smart. But all I've seen over the last few years is him being played like a fiddle by scumbags and other idiots.
I’ve seen some people talk about how Vance is some intellectual titan That's funny as - there are some truly stupid people.
Same people who thought Paul "Rage Against the Washing Machine" Ryan was a political prodigy and strategic genius.
I've never had reason to think Vance was any smarter than the average person.
But I just want to point out that smart people also get fooled by scumbags and confidence tricksters. People are almost always smarter in some areas compared to others, and so even if you're smart in science or politics, that doesn't mean you're going to see every con from a mile away.
I also don't think he's so much tricked by them as he's an opportunist that sees MAGA as his fast track to the Oval Office, and he's happy to sell his soul and lie through his teeth to do it. But also, yeah, he's not stupid, per se, but neither is he particularly intelligent or competent.
Friendly reminder that Vance is a Catholic.
And he's had two different popes tell him that he should quit calling himself one.
Additional reminder that he also fucks couches, which is frowned upon by the church.
"Thou shall not fuck couches" was one of the original 15 Commandments, but-- well, you know.
That's what he's doing.
"Not killing people" sounds like a matter of morality to me.
Man, I would pay good money if - even just for a day - hypocrisy would be painful.
These are matters of morality. Don't run such a deeply immoral government if you can't handle criticism.
When was the last excommunication? I think we're about due.
In all seriousness, while I am confident that it wouldn't get to that level, if the Pope and Trump actually do get in a pissing match...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interdict
In Catholic canon law, an interdict (/ˈɪntərdɪkt/) is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits certain persons or groups from participating in particular rites, or that the rites and services of the church are prohibited in certain territories for a limited or extended time.
France
Pope Innocent III put the whole Kingdom of France under interdict on 13 January 1200 to force Philip II of France to take his wife Ingeborg of Denmark back. After a reconciliation ceremony, the interdict was lifted on 12 September 1200.
England
Pope Innocent III also placed the kingdom of England under an interdict for six years between March 1208 and July 1214, after King John refused to accept the pope's appointee Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury.[15]
Like, it isn't the Middle Ages any more, but the Pope could probably put a considerable amount of political pressure in if he really wanted to.
current papacy is pretty nuch built around ignoring even the most obvious of schisms, see german catholic church openly allowing bishops to marry/be gay/woman.
That sounds like misinformation.
whoops, it's "bless gay couples", let priests marry, allow female deacons.
i'm not up-to-date on that brand of superstition's lore terms so i don't really care how priests/deacons are all that different from bishops.
all 3 are things the catholic church used to kill a/o excommunicate for befode though
In an ideal world the Pope would have as much influence as the leader of Hogwarts.
I guess...
But it wouldn't be as funny as excommunicating Vance. And then when he complained about it excomm-ing the President too.
But it wouldn’t be as funny as excommunicating Vance.
Mmm...debatable. I would be laughing if Trump managed to get a national interdict from the first US-born pope.
thinks
It'd create a stupendous political shitstorm. Like, back when Catholic immigration to the US started to increase, there used to be a national frenzy from the (then-much-more-Protestant) American population worried that the Pope would control the government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Catholicism_in_the_United_States
Puck, 1894:
Harper's Weekly, 1871:
https://thomasnast.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/15TW-TheAmericanRiverGanges.jpg
I'd venture to say that starting a Protestant-Catholic split would be an extremely bad move in terms of the Republican Party's fortunes, given that it's presently the social conservative party.
I could honestly see some bullshit happening like this, if either were to be excommunicated: trump starts his own "offshoot" of Catholicism where he's literally just God now, and all his MAGAts will switch to this new "religion" because Daddy trump said so.
Worked for Henry VIII, but Henry wasn't going to be out of office in less than three years, either...
vance is just mad because it cant use the death touch on the current pope, like the last pope and the iran deal, and orbans campaign.
Couchfucker Vance admits that the entirety of the Trump admin is amoral.
Hoo boy. Is it surprising Vance doesn't recognize a matter of morality when it's staring him in the face?
Issues of morality... Like checks notes illegal wars?
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).
I find it hilarious when two leaders of pedophilic groups argue with each other about morality.
JD Vance has to defend Thiel's alt-catholocism. They're in a "rad trad" cult.
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Telling the Pope to mind his business while dropping bombs on schoolgirls.
This is how all Christians sects start...disagree with guy in charge...start you own similar group...profit. Long live supply side Jesus.
God, what a useless idiot.
No room for morality in the theater of war, huh JD?
I'm pretty sure opposition to war is morality
Also fucking hell he's bad at catholicism. You don't publicly argue with the pope, you be a good catholic and ignore him.
Did they just "shut up and dribble" the pope?!
The pope needs to excommunicate this evil clown
There is a lobbyist at my office who is a very smart, very nice guy, but unfortunately, a republican and a dumpfuck voter. Oh, and a devout catholic. I'm dying to know what he thinks of all this shit.
Man what a timeline to live in. The politicians that make a big deal in letting the church have say over State matters now thinking to keep the two separate as the church head may have different ideas on how the State should conduct itself
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber wouldn't know what morality was if it bit them in the ass.
Who wants to tell him?