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Donald Trump’s late-night social media meltdowns are infamous. But even by his standards, last Sunday was particularly extreme. Throughout the night – up until 4am – the US president was busy on his Truth Social account.And squeezed in between posts on his new ballroom and Joe Biden was a bizarre attack on Pope Leo – God’s representative on Earth to 1.4 billion Catholics.
Clearly angry over the Pope’s criticism of his war in Iran, he called him weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy. Just 46 minutes later - the president posted an AI-generated picture of himself as Jesus basking in a holy glow.
The backlash – from the most dedicated Trump die-hards from both his Catholic and his evangelical supporters – was swift and damning. But his beef with the pope has continued all week.
Investigative journalist Sarah Posner tells Annie Kelly about how important these voters are to Trump. She says: “Trump never would have become the Republican nominee in 2016 and would never have become president in 2016 or in 2024 without his white evangelical supporters. For many decades, the Christian right evangelicals, together with some Catholic and mainline Protestant allies, have been a central block for electing Republican presidents.”
Yet while they are angry, he probably hasn’t lost his rightwing evangelical supporters forever. “They claim that sometimes God chooses an unlikely figure to lead a nation at a critical juncture in its history,” Sarah says. “I think for them to abandon him or to erode their support for him will take some time.”
