Welcome to The Fill From the Hill, a recurring political column where one University Times writer dissects the key political topics and controversies in the news, from domestic politics to international affairs. This week tackles Donald Trump’s crusade against Christians and other religious denominations. Despite my position, this column is not representative or a reflection of the opinions of the UT Staff nor the UT itself.
Over the last month, Donald Trump has received increasing criticism from his base over posts on his Truth Social platform and his use of religious topics.
It began on April 5, in the early hours of Easter Sunday, when the president made an expletive-laden post demanding Iran to reopen the then-closed Strait of Hormuz. He ended his post with “Praise be to Allah,” which many saw as a mocking of the Islamic faith.
In the hours and days following, several conservative pundits like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, among many others in Trump’s base, denounced the president’s statement, calling it out of line, and Carlson even called it “vile on every level.”
Two days later, on April 7, Trump posted another threat directed at Iran. In his message, he threatened that “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Although a ceasefire was reached, there was, once again, major outrage regarding the post.
On the same day, Pope Leo was asked about the threat, after having previously shared hopes on social media for peace between Israel, Iran, and the US. He called the president’s post “truly unacceptable.” Over the following days, he continued sharing his feelings on his social media, denouncing the war.
Following this, the president made a long post rebuking the Pope, claiming everything, from him being “soft on crime” to claiming that the Pope believes it is “OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” Further, Vice President JD Vance also shared criticism of the Pope at a Turning Point USA event in Georgia. This step was seen as a massive departure and a slap to many Catholic conservatives.
Within a day of his initial posting, the President shared an AI-generated image depicting him as a Jesus-like figure healing a person. There was immediate outrage from many in Trump’s base, as many pointed to it and called it blasphemy.
When asked about this by the press, he claimed that he thought the image made him look like a doctor. He also said that “only the fake news could come up with that,” in response to the claims. In a rare move, the president later deleted the post.
Now that the table has been set, let’s get into our views on Trump and his attacks on his religious base.
Samuel Valencia: Trump might have finally picked a fight that he cannot win with his base.
Religion is one of those topics you simply don’t mock. Whether you yourself practice or you don’t, it’s just something that you should avoid as a general rule of thumb. There are hundreds of denominations around the world, and they’re sacred to everyone who practices. Trump saw that and absolutely blew a hole through it.
Attacking not only the biggest two religions in the US (Christianity and Catholicism) but also attacking the Pope himself is an insane step, even for Trump. It’s as though he’s completely ignorant of the people who voted him into power this time around.
Ultimately, it comes down to the simple fact that he is continually proving to be an embarrassment, not only to the office of the president but to the entire country. To see the president of the United States openly feuding with the Pope is just unacceptable, especially in the context of a war that Trump himself started.
Pope Leo was not directly attacking Trump; he was simply being critical, as anyone with a functioning brain would be, of the US’s foreign policy. War in any capacity is against the emphasis for peace that comes hand in hand with religion, so Pope Leo’s stance makes total sense, as he’s the leader of one of the world’s largest religions.
You can’t start a mess and expect everyone to just go along with it because it favors you. The US conflict with Iran was done for nothing more than to satiate Israel, and it’s just shameful to see our foreign policy being driven by a foreign country.
And as far as that AI-generated picture goes, what a disgrace. I’m not quite sure what was more shocking: the sight of Trump as Jesus in that hideous AI “art” style, or the fact that he actually deleted it. Someone with an ounce of thought must’ve finally gotten to the Oval Office to let him know that this one wasn’t going to slide.
Mocking religion in any capacity is just wrong, but to posture yourself as the literal figurehead of these religions is beyond comprehension. Trump’s behavior never really makes sense, but it’s choices like these where you have to stop for a second and go, “okay, what was he genuinely thinking here?”
It should come as no shock that Trump has no regard for religion, just like how he didn’t have any genuine care for any of his supporters that he threw under the bus in any of his other controversies. Everything is on the table for Trump, and if it comes to defending himself by throwing weak punches like this, he’ll do it.
It’s always been about self-preservation for Trump. He is totally incapable of actually caring for anyone but himself, and every day he shows it– yet his supporters just wave it off. And as far as Vance is concerned, since he’s a spineless coward, he’ll go down swinging with Trump no matter what.
So, Trump has successfully managed to anger just about his entire MAGA base with his actions in this second term. But will it amount to anything? Probably not. His base will forget all of this ever happened, just like how they forgot about the “no new wars” thing, and the Epstein cover-up, and all the other nonsense he’s pulled since he returned to office.
