While many GOP players have rallied behind his attacks on the Vatican, a handful have shunned the president
US President Donald Trumpâs war of words with Pope Leo XIV appears to have split his own MAGA movement. While a number of prominent Republicans have distanced themselves from the exchange, others have stepped in to reassure him of their continued support.
The feud erupted after Pope Leo, the first Americanâborn pontiff, publicly criticized the USâIsraeli war on Iran, calling Trumpâs threat to destroy Iranian civilization âtruly unacceptableâ and stating that God âdoes not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.â The pontiff has also expressed concern over the Trump administrationâs handling of immigration.
Trump responded with a social media tirade, calling the Pope âWEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policyâ and posting an AIâgenerated image of himself as a Jesusâlike figure, robed in white, healing a sick man while surrounded by fighter jets and US flags.
Here are the Republican believers who have come out of left field:
Senator Lindsey GrahamÂ
One of the most prominent hawks in Washington slammed Pope Leo in a Fox News interview, claiming the pontiff was âmiscalculatingâ by advocating for world peace.
âThe Catholic Church didnât really get Hitler,â Graham claimed, arguing that the Vatican is now repeating the same mistake by failing to recognize the âevilâ of Iran.
Graham, a Southern Baptist who says he bases his unconditional support for Israel on the Bible, insists that Iranian leaders are âreligious Nazisâ who would âkill all the Jews if we let them.â
House Speaker Mike Johnson
The Southern Baptist defended Trump by suggesting that Pope Leo had deserved the backlash for âwading into political waters.â
He also tried to lecture the pontiff on Christian theology, claiming that Pope Leo did not understand the âjust warâ doctrine which Washington has used to justify its attack on Iran.
Developed by Saint Augustine, the doctrine holds that warfare is permissible only as a tragic last resort to restrain evil and restore peace, never for vengeance or gain. Pope Leo was an Augustinian friar for 12 years.
Johnson, an evangelical Protestant with a business degree from LSU and a law degree he parlayed into running a law school that never enrolled a single student, felt the need to correct the pope on a point of Augustineâs war doctrine.
The US Vice President, a Catholic convert, also accused Pope Leo of misinterpreting the Augustine doctrine, urging the pontiff to âbe careful when he talks about matters of theology.âÂ
He also argued that the Vatican should âstick to matters of moralityâ rather than foreign policy.
The Catholic senator from Ohio delivered a pointed personal attack, stating that his âmother would be ashamed of the current pope.â
Tom HomanÂ
Trumpâs latest âBorder Czarâ and a selfâdescribed âlifelong Catholicâ told the Vatican to âstay out of immigrationâ and that they âdonât know what theyâre talking about.â He also offered to âsit down to explainâ Catholic doctrine to the Pope.
Elise Stefanik
The New York congresswoman claimed on network news that the pope had âpolitically attackedâ Trump, insisting the papacy should remain âstrictly spiritual.â
MAGA financier Hal LambertÂ
Pope Leoâs criticism of Trump is part of a âChicagoâcentricâ plot involving former President Barack Obama to hurt Republicans in the midterms, according to the Point Bridge Capital CEO, a prominent Republican megadonor.
MAGA elites are now regularly delivering lectures about the teachings of Jesus Christ toâŚthe Pope.
This is not âI disagree with the Church on X issue.â
This is âMy personal interpretation of the Gospel is superior to the Vicar of Christ.â
Trump has made U-turns on a number of campaign promises, including the war on Iran, and has already seen his support base fracture. His sudden attack on the Catholic Church has ruffled even more feathers within the MAGA movement.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune responded to Trumpâs latest tirade by calling on the president to âleave the church alone.â Republican Senator Susan Collins, a Catholic, said she found Trumpâs comments âoffensive and inexplicable,â adding that âhe should not be treating the Pope as a political rival.â
Former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has become a vocal Trump critic, went further by denouncing the presidentâs AI Jesus image as âblasphemyâ and condemning Trump for attacking the Pope on Orthodox Easter.
Three other prominent conservatives who have recently had a falling out with Trump, namely Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones, all delivered scathing critiques of the presidentâs feud with the Pope and the AI Jesus image.
Jones and Owens have gone as far as to call for Trumpâs removal under the 25th Amendment, describing him as a âgenocidal lunatic.â
