New friend fight: Destroys everything in two minutes
Johan Edgar
First the supporters.
Now Donald Trump is fighting with his allies.
– She shocks me, says the president.
Three things have created serious friction between Trump and his previously loyal base recently:
The war in Iran, criticism of the Pope and the image of Jesus.
The internal battles became so great that the president was accused of “radiating the spirit of Antichrist” by a conservative writer who is a personal friend of JD Vance, writes the Wall Street Journal.
Attacks Meloni
Now the fight has become something of an international conflict with another old friend.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni finally came out on Monday to criticize Trump for the attacks on Pope Leo XIV and his peace statements after great pressure from the opposition.
– I believe that President Trump's statements about the Holy Father are unacceptable, said Meloni.
– The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and proper that he calls for peace and condemns all forms of war.
The words really upset the American president and he attacked in an interview with the Italian press.
– She shocks me. I thought she was brave, but I was wrong, Trump tells Corriere della Sera.
“Destroys in two minutes”
– She is the one who is unacceptable because she doesn’t care if Iran has nuclear weapons and would destroy Italy in two minutes if they had the chance.
Less than a year ago, Trump called Meloni a “fantastic woman” and “a great leader”. After Orbán’s loss in the Hungarian election, Meloni is his last close ally in the EU.
The fight between Trump and the Pope has put Meloni, who has been one of the president’s closest allies and has said she hopes he will one day receive the Nobel Peace Prize, in a difficult position.
In an article titled “Donald Trump Gives Giorgia Meloni a Problem from Hell,” Politico reports on the massive criticism in Italy following Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV.
Carlo Calenda, leader of the Azione party, called Meloni’s failure to defend the pope “embarrassing” over the weekend.
Weak and terrible
The opposition politician said it showed Meloni’s political weakness and described her as subservient to Trump, while also saying that the relationship has not brought any benefits to Italy.
“The government still has not understood that the pro-Russian, pro-Trump right is poisoned and on the verge of losing,” Calenda told Politico.
It was over the weekend that Donald Trump wrote a long post on Truth Social in which he called the pope “weak on crime and terrible on foreign affairs.”
“I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s okay for Iran to have nuclear weapons,” the president wrote.
Later, he published the AI image that depicted himself as a kind of Jesus figure who healed a sick man – and which created a storm among the Christian right in the US.
The explanation: Me as a doctor
Half a day later, the image was removed from his account.
– It is supposed to be me as a doctor, who makes people healthier. And I make people healthier. I make people much healthier, Trump explained to reporters at the White House on Monday.
Trump published the AI image of himself as Pope last year. Photo: Truth Social
Last year, Trump published an AI image of himself as Pope.
The controversy surrounding the president's posts on social media could cost Republicans in the midterm elections, writes the Wall Street Journal.
In three straight elections, Trump has won a majority of Catholic voters.
But now many of them are angry — and disappointed.
Disrespectful
“We’re a little off balance,” John Yep, CEO of Catholics for Catholics, a nonprofit organization that has organized gatherings at Mar-a-Lago and has close ties to the White House, told the Wall Street Journal.
Yep was having dinner with friends after a church visit on Sunday when he began receiving a flood of messages about Trump’s image of Jesus.
He told the WSJ that the feeling around the table “was one of sadness, because we were really confused about this president after Catholics gave him such overwhelming support, and yet he’s treating our faith with such disrespect right now.”
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