Trump Is No Longer the Most Important American in the World

While Trump plays a garish caricature of Louis XIV, his amour-propre stands in sharp contrast to Pope Leo XIV.

With great humility, Pope Leo XIV delivered his first homily on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square.

“I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother, who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy, walking with you on the path of God’s love, for he wants us all to be united in one family,” he said.

The new pontiff, who was known as the “Saint of the North” for helping Peruvians throughout the COVID pandemic and after deadly floods, seems to have chosen his name carefully, as the last Pope Leo (XIII) who was best known for his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum that championed the working poor.

Pope Leo XIV’s message of love and unity is the antithesis of Donald Trump’s crude divide-and-conquer tactics that have dominated American life for a decade, and made our country poorer for it.

But as it stands, Trump — who now has a $400 million luxury jet courtesy of the Qatari royal family and recently bragged, “I run the country and the world” — finally finds himself in the shadow of a fellow American. And that’s something his colossal ego just can’t abide.

If you listen closely, the pope, who was born Robert Prevost, still has a faint Chicago accent. His ascent from the Second City to the Holy See has launched a thousand memes (mostly, but not all, involving deep-dish pizza, although my favorite is an homage to the Jordan-era Chicago Bulls).

And the Holy Father even has a MAGA brother living down in Florida — what could be more quintessentially American than that?

The conventional wisdom was there would never be an American pope so long as we were a great superpower. So what does this say about the United States’ standing in the world under the Trump II regime? Nothing good, of course.

But Pope Leo XIV stands as a singular figure right now who can resist the vicious cruelty of Trump and his authoritarian pals around the world — Putin, Orbán, Xi, MBS, and more — just as Pope John Paul II was a force against communism in his native Poland and beyond.

Before he was bestowed with the Fisherman’s Ring, Leo XIV led significant reforms within the church, like adding three women to the voting bloc that determines bishop nominations presented to the pope. Meanwhile, Trump has been on a tear to fire qualified women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people in the military and every facet of the federal government.

And the new pope had already dipped his toe into U.S. politics (on social media, where else?), criticizing J.D. Vance, supporting vaccine access during COVID, and expressing outrage after George Floyd’s murder. A number of his posts during both of Trump’s terms have focused on his signature issue, immigration: defending DACA, condemning the family separation policy, and opposing the deportation of U.S. citizen Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.

Naturally, Trump’s motley crew of MAGA influencers were incensed by the “WOKE MARXIST POPE,” as the clown-lipped Laura Loomer put it, with Pizzagate conspiracy-peddler Jack Posobiec basically demanding that Pope Leo XIV pledge his fealty to Trump.

But what else would we expect after Vance solemnly remarked that it was "pretty crazy" meeting Pope Francis right before he died. And then Trump (who, unlike his VP, isn’t even Catholic) trolled everyone days later by posting a picture of him in full papal regalia, which looked like the result of an intern asking ChatGPT to generate the most sacrilegious image possible.

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Trump may have talked a good game during last year’s election about Making America Great Again for the great unwashed — using far coarser language than the pope, of course — but his record has never matched the rhetoric.

During his first term, as ProPublica reported, he tried to allow employers to pocket workers’ tips and succeeded in denying millions of low-wage workers overtime. Trump also tried to raise the rent on at least 4 million of the poorest Americans, many of whom were seniors or disabled.

And of course, Trump has always made his personal wealth (down to the gold toilets in his New York penthouse oozing Saddam-style gaudiness) central to his political campaigns, convincing millions that alone proved his genius. And he’s never been shy about expressing his contempt for those he considers beneath him.

"My entire life, I've watched politicians bragging about how poor they are, how they came from nothing, how poor their parents and grandparents were,” he told the New York Times in 1999. “And I said to myself, if they can stay so poor for so many generations, maybe this isn't the kind of person we want to be electing to higher office. How smart can they be? They're morons."

For Trump, gold is greater than godliness. So he jumped at the chance to risk our national security and shred the Constitution by jetting around in the “palace in the sky” from his Hamas-funding friends in Qatar (who also gifted a 747 to Erdoğan, so Trump’s in great company). The corrupt deal was rubber-stamped by former Qatari-lobbyist-turned-AG Pam Bondi, which is neat.

It seems the public backlash against his bribe hurt Trump’s feelings, so he lashed out on social media, per usual.

“The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME!” he declared, adding, “Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country.”

Of course, Trump is (shockingly) not really leveling with us, as his new Air Force One won’t belong to the government once he leaves office — it becomes the property of his presidential library.

That hasn’t stopped MAGA minions from comparing Trump’s “flying mansion” to France giving America the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of our countries’ enduring friendship.

But for Trump, there is no difference. He sees himself as a modern-day King Louis XIV: "L'état, c'est moi."

And so, as Pope XIV preaches that we all have a responsibility to those around us, Trump is trying to decimate health care for millions, rip mothers away from their families during ICE raids, and personally enrich himself at the nation’s expense.

This is the time for all of us to stand up against Trump’s wanton brutality and graft. We need His Holiness’ leadership now, more than ever.

Susan J. Demas is the CEO and Executive Editor of Lincoln Square.