In terms of smartness, I’d rate the latest Trump war about in the same class with his other wars.
NEW: President Trump writes an extremely disrespectful post on Truth Social, insulting Pope Leo XIV
“I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s terrible the U.S. attacked Venezuela.
I don’t want a pope who criticizes the President of the United States.
Pope Leo should be thankful; If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
Full disclosure. I think it’s arguably true that Leo was elected because the Vatican is in financial trouble and the American church provides a lot of money—and many cardinals thought that, after Bergoglio’s hostile-to-America years, some rapprochement would be helpful:
TheCatholic Church faces a huge operational deficit and American donors have descended on Rome offering to help. But their presence on the eve of conclave raises questions about outside influence President Trump has appeared to nominate Timothy Dolan as his preferred candidate, but in reality his chances are close to zero William Cash Saturday May 03 2025, 6.00pm, The Sunday Times
May 7, 2025 Conservative Catholics from America headed to the Vatican to possibly donate big bucks to the church if cardinals choose ‘the right pope’ to succeed Pope Francis. As 133 cardinals who are eligible …
May 9, 2025 Did Trumpdonatemillions of dollars to the Vatican? According to several media reports, Donald Trump made a donation of $14 million to the Vatican on the occasion of Pope Francis’ funeral. The sum would have been welcomed by the Holy See, which is facing a deficit of around 70 million euros.
There’s a clear difference of opinion here. Trump thinks he bought the Vatican, Leo disagrees.
Trump credits himself for getting Pope Leo elected and says he likes his [Leo’s] brother, Louis better.
