The Populist vs. the Pope

It seems that, for the first time in living memory, God and the Devil are represented on Earth by two Americans. In fact, the acrimonious spat between Pope Leo XIV and US President Donald Trump has revived the age-old clash between the sacred and the secular, albeit in a new and at times crude way. The two men could not be more different. Pope Leo XIV—the first American to hold the office—preaches peace, multilateralism, and the need to uphold international law, while Trump spouts racist, xenophobic, and misogynist rhetoric and advocates for war. The mild-mannered Pope insists on kindness, mercy, and justice, embodying spiritual power and espousing reconciliation. But the swaggering Trump, like a tyrannical Roman emperor, relies on violence, representing military power without moral legitimacy. Trump’s actions speak for themselves. Despite his absurd claim to have ended ten wars, he is waging an illegal war against Iran and has used force unilaterally in several other countries, all while enabling Israel’s bloody campaign in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. At home, Trump has launched a draconian mass-deportation campaign against immigrants of color, often from places he calls “shithole countries.” As part of his illusory bid to revive a white Christian America, Trump has also fueled Islamophobia. Ironically, his government’s massive cuts to social programs have hit poor white Americans—an important part of his base—particularly hard. Leo XIV, who was elected to the papacy in May 2025, initially avoided wading into US politics, despite being an obvious counterweight to Trump. But that began to change late last year, when the Pope urged US Catholic bishops to support immigrants and backed their statement criticizing the Trump administration’s draconian mass deportations. In January, the pontiff went further, calling for “the strengthening of supranational institutions, not their delegitimization”; stressing that the rule of law is “the foundation of all peaceful civ