You see, the knob-glazers surrounding the president have run off with a passion after "buy Greenland" and "make Canada the 51st state", so why not humor yet another megalomaniac delusion of the slowly rotting Turnip-in-Chief?
I should have expected as much when Sen. Graham spoke as if Trump as Pope was a real possibility:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested that the more than 230 Catholic Cardinals in the conclave “keep an open mind” about considering President Donald Trump for the papacy.
“I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope,” Graham posted Tuesday on X. “This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility! The first Pope-U.S. President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII!”
Graham showed support for the idea after President Trump was asked by a reporter if “he had anyone in mind” to succeed Pope Francis after he died at the age of 88.
People assumed he was joking. Nay, nay. He was planting seeds.
My reaction to Grham at first was that his Renfieldism had reached a new and depressing low. Trump already has the US presidency as his billionaire senility Make-a-Wish job, he can't be Pope, too! We've even let him have a second term because his brain plaques haven't scuffled him off yet!
But still...have you ever really looked at Trump's Oval Office makeover? We all thought he was aiming for Versailles. Perhaps he's aiming for something a little nearer to Rome?
After all, hasn't Trump, too, been a martyr? (He tells us he has! His wounds!) Why can't we have a Pope who doesn't wait around for death before canonization, but offers himself up as a living saint? He turns away bullets with a glare. His ear miraculously heals. He uplifts the economy with a finger! He heals the wounded white pride of a nation. Etc. He multiplies loaves of bullshit and fishes for compliments.
Maybe I'm not the ideal Devil Advocate for Trump, given my long perorations against him and all his works, and my militant agnosticism and mere Catholic adjacency--but hasn't the Seat of Rome had worse men?
I dunno--uh, maybe? Tough call, really.
But don't the billion faithful of the Catholic Church deserve someone who is at least Catholic? I think so. I would certainly think they deserve someone to lead the faith who has the ability to believe in a power greater than himself--that isn't Putin.
I can't be personally insulted by Trump's presumptiveness. It isn't a joke about MY religion. What I can feel, as a human being, is shock that he is surrounded by people who find the religion of others, their reverence, their mourning for a good man who served as Pope and hopes for the future of their church, so paltry as to make it an official joke coming from my country's executive branch.
That insults me as an American and a human being of good will to others. I have had hard words for the church, because has done its share of harm in the world--but this is in the belief that institutions can reform. Or, if they outlive their utility, can decay and become ridiculous.
But Trumpism, as a political "faith" cannot reform and it has simply always been ridiculous.
UPDATE: See what I mean?
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