Trump Wages War Against the Pope and the MAGA Base
From the pontiff to podcasters, no one is safe from the president’s wrath
Since last week…
Trump called out four of the most popular right-wing podcasters for breaking with him on Iran.
Trump squared off with the pope and posted a meme of himself as Jesus.
Mentioned: Donald Trump…Tucker Carlson…Megyn Kelly…Candace Owens…Alex Jones…Ben Shapiro…Dave Rubin…Laura Loomer…Owen Shroyer…Dave Smith…Nick Fuentes…Benny Johnson…Michael Knowles…Patrick Bet-David…Marjorie Taylor Greene…Riley Gaines…Steven Crowder
Et Tu, Tucker?
The MAGA civil war over military operations in Iran just went nuclear. After weeks of defections, President Donald Trump authored a Truth Social post targeting four of the loudest voices in the America First movement criticizing the war: Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones. Trump called them “nut jobs” and “troublemakers” with “low IQs,” in addition to more personalized insults:
“Hand Flailing Fools like Tucker Carlson, who couldn’t even finish College, he was a broken man when he got fired from Fox, and he’s never been the same — Perhaps he should see a good psychiatrist!”
“‘Crazy’ Candace Owens, who accuses the Highly Respected First Lady of France of being a man, when she is not, and will hopefully win lots of money in the ongoing lawsuit. Actually, to me, the First Lady of France is a far more beautiful woman than Candace, in fact, it’s not even close!”
“Megyn Kelly, who nastily asked me the now famous, ‘Only Rosie O’Donnell,’ question” (referring to the first 2015 Republican primary debate when Kelly asked about the derogatory names that Trump has called women he does not like, to which he replied that he only called Rosie O’Donnell these names).
“Bankrupt Alex Jones, who says some of the dumbest things, and lost his entire fortune, as he should have, for his horrendous attack on the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, ridiculously claiming it was a hoax.”
The named influencers, with the exception of Megyn Kelly, responded to the president’s attacks with a mixture of levelheaded lamentations and antagonistic clapbacks:
Tucker Carlson: “I feel sorry for him as I do for all slaves. He is not free…I don’t think it’s as simple as he’s under the control of Benjamin Netanyahu. But you could summarize it that way and you wouldn’t be totally inaccurate.”
Candace Owens: “Only a fool or someone under the express direction of one could have thought to hit send on what you published on Truth Social last night…You’re the leader of the free world and you’re tweeting about us…Trump, MAGA is no longer commanded by you and you know it. You belong to the Epstein class. That is your legacy.”
Alex Jones: “Listen, I’m not mad at him. He’s mad that he’s wrong and he’s mad he got set up by Israel. Once the man, twice the child — this is dementia. It doesn’t matter. We’re gonna keep intervening. He knows he was wrong about Iran, he’s throwing a fit, and it’s okay. We’re going to continue to be adults and just respond to this.”
On the sidelines, internet personalities who backed the president’s military intervention in Iran remained steadfast in their support of the war and trashed their fellow right-wing influencers on their shows:
Ben Shapiro: “Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones — the reason he is going after these people is because these people have revealed themselves for who they are: people who do not want to make America great again, they believe America is weak and ought to remain weak.”
Dave Rubin: “Now [Megyn Kelly has] turned on him, and she’s done it in the most cynical way because she’s doing it purely for clicks…I don’t think anyone really thinks Megyn’s saying anything that she believes anymore…If you look into reality over narrative in this case, Trump is doing quite well. And Tucker and these other guys are not.”
For her part, Laura Loomer reveled in her role making Tucker’s opposition to the war known to the president: “I want that motherfucker, Tucker Carlson, to know that I’m the one who knifed him from the front… I’m the one that sent the president all your shit, Tucker, because he deserves to see the fact that you are lying about him and you are smearing him.”
Meanwhile, other notable opponents of the Iran war also jumped in:
Owen Shroyer: “This is exposing how weak Trump is…what an idiot. Trump, you want to say that they’re low IQ? You just attacked four of the biggest names in right wing politics…You’re cooked. You have the low IQ.”
Dave Smith: “I’ve never seen anything like this before where a president is trashing all of the people who got him elected and it’s so naked. It’s like, look, here’s the rules, okay? Donald Trump requires 100% loyalty and he offers absolutely none. That’s the deal.”
Perhaps the most impassioned criticism came from Nick Fuentes, who used the opportunity to spell out his view of Trump’s loyalty as far as the MAGA influencer class is concerned: “Trump is a treacherous person and always has been… How many of these people got involved with Trump, lost everything, sacrificed everything on his behalf, were destroyed only to be discarded, only to be backstabbed, thrown under the bus…It’s in his nature.”
As Trump purportedly works toward a ceasefire in Iran, it remains to be seen whether a comparable ceasefire can be reached in the raging MAGA civil war.
The Immaculate Misconception
President Trump ran afoul of the papacy after Pope Leo XIV condemned the war in Iran. The pontiff first slammed Trump’s April 7 threat that Iranian civilization would die, calling it “truly unacceptable.” Then, during a peace vigil on Saturday, April 11, the pope continued to call for an end to hostilities: “Enough with the idolatry of self and money! Enough with the display of force! Enough with war! True strength is manifested in serving life.”
In response, Trump took to Truth Social on April 12 to call the pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” He also declared that he liked the pope’s brother, Louis, better because he is “all MAGA.”
Topping it all off, the president credited himself with Leo’s ascension to the papacy: “He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
Later that same day, Trump posted an AI-generated meme on Truth Social of his face superimposed on Jesus Christ’s body. The move drew widespread backlash from figures across the right:
Megyn Kelly: “What we didn’t know was coming was this absolutely absurd offensive meme, AI-generated version of a picture showing Donald Trump as Jesus…It is obviously him purporting to be God. That is what he’s doing and it is blasphemous. By any definition of that word.”
Benny Johnson: “[Y]ou are not Jesus, you are not God. Don’t post yourself as God. You shouldn’t. You know, you just shouldn’t. No one’s gonna drag you out and stone you, but it’s bad for your mortal soul.”
Michael Knowles: “The post is sacrilegious. It just is. It’s just inescapable. It’s just a sacrilegious post. To put oneself in the position of Christ is just sacrilegious.”
Patrick Bet-David: “There’s one thing you don’t play with. You just don’t, you don’t play with God. It’s the only thing.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene: “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. 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!!!”
Alex Jones: “I’m not giving him an out. He needs to be clear and say there’s only one king. That’s King Jesus. He’s the Lord and Savior…No one can defend him. No one can defend whoever is saying he’s Jesus. And that’s what this is. So don’t deny, don’t try to gaslight.”
Riley Gaines: “Why? Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this. Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this? Either way, two things are true: 1) a little humility would serve him well 2) God shall not be mocked”
Steven Crowder: “It’s never good to compare yourself to Jesus.”
Tucker Carlson: “Here’s a leader who’s mocking the gods of his ancestors, mocking the God of Gods, and exalting himself above them. Could this be the antichrist? Well, who knows? At least that’s my conclusion. Who knows?”
Trump went on to delete the post from Truth Social. When asked about it during a press gaggle on April 13, Trump replied that he didn’t know it was depicting him as Jesus: “I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor, and it had to do with the Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker there, which we support. And only the fake news could come up with that one.”
It’s unclear which doctors the president has been seeing, but whoever designed their uniforms has taken some creative liberties.