Donald Trump’s first offensive against Pope Leo XIV did not do the president any favors. Not only did it make the Republican appear petty, but as the latest Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found, nearly 6 in 10 Americans had a negative reaction to Trump’s comments.
As The New York Times’ David French summarized in a recent column, “By putting his disagreement with the pope at the center of the national conversation, Trump’s elevating the pope’s words and demonstrating the profound contrast between the two men. In this contest between a pope and a president, the president looks weak and erratic. He looks small. Between Trump and Pope Leo, there is only one man who is demonstrating strength and moral consistency on the world stage.”
Naturally, the president decided to double down anyway, renewing a wildly unnecessary dispute that appeared to have run its course. The Wall Street Journal reported:
The unprecedented rift between the world’s two most prominent Americans has divided Catholic voters, threatening to cost the Republican Party some of its support from a key constituency in this year’s midterm elections.
“The Pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said in an interview with radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt recorded on Monday. “I don’t think that’s very good,” he said, adding: “I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people.”
As a factual matter, Trump continues to go after the pontiff with demonstrably false claims. At no point has Leo ever said that he’s comfortable with Iran having nuclear weapons. The president keeps accusing the pope of adopting this position, but it remains entirely made up.
Relatedly, the idea that the pope is “endangering” anyone with a position that he does not have is ridiculous.
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But stepping back, it’s also difficult to understand the Republican’s strategy. The pope is a popular and respected public figure, here and abroad. He’s also demonstrated an unmistakable indifference to Trump’s efforts to intimidate him into silence. Given how poorly the president fared after slamming the Catholic leader in April — even congressional Republicans publicly urged him to focus his energy elsewhere — common sense suggests it would be in Trump’s interest to stop trying to scold him.
But the president just can’t seem to help himself.
A few weeks ago, Trump lashed out at the pontiff as someone who “likes crime,” caters to “to the Radical Left,” is taking steps that are “hurting the Catholic Church” and has met with “Obama Sympathizers.” In the days that followed, he kept the offensive going, apparently because the pope hurt his feelings by criticizing the war in Iran. (When German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also recently hurt Trump’s feelings by criticizing the war, the president announced plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Germany. There are, however, no U.S. troops at the Vatican.)
This week, he not only kept the simmering fire going, he also offered the world a timely reminder about his delicate sensibilities, brazen dishonesty and lack of impulse control.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spent part of Tuesday publicly denying that Trump said what he obviously said, is scheduled to meet with the pope this week. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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