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Runaway Country with Alex Wagner

Trump’s Unholy War Against the Church

Runaway Country with Alex Wagner

Runaway Country with Alex Wagner

News, Society & Culture, Politics, Government

4.813.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 69 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

President Trump has a God problem. After criticizing the Pope and posting an image of himself as Jesus online, Trump has caused an uproar among his Christian base. This week, Alex speaks to Pastor Doug Pegitt about the crisis of conscience many faith leaders and parishioners are facing as their political leanings and moral beliefs collide. Then, she’s joined by Jennifer Palmieri, former White House Communications Director under President Obama and Senior Advisor to the Clinton and Harris campaigns, to talk about the power of the Catholic swing vote and how Democrats could win over religious voters.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, everyone. This is the week President Trump decided to launch a new war against the Pope and to play the role of Jesus on the internet.

0:09.3

For context here, the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, has been very vocally critical of Trump's war against Iran since it began.

0:18.0

When he delivered his Palm Sunday message, the Pope said that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war,

0:24.3

but rejects them, saying, even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.

0:29.6

Your hands are full of blood.

0:32.6

Then, a week later on Easter Sunday, when Trump threatened to destroy the entire civilization of Iran, the

0:38.3

Pope called Trump's comments truly unacceptable.

0:41.9

Since Trump launched his catastrophically misguided war of choice, Pope Leo has been preaching

0:47.4

a message of peace and publicly reminding our allegedly Christian president of his very

0:53.8

unchristian behavior.

0:56.3

Surprising exactly no one, Donald Trump has not taken this well.

1:00.2

This Sunday, Trump launched what has to be one of his weirdest attacks on truth social,

1:04.5

saying Pope Leo is weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy.

1:09.1

He meets with Obama sympathizers like David Axelrod, a loser from the left.

1:13.8

Leo should stop catering to the radical left and focus on being a great pope, not a politician.

1:19.2

It's hurting him very badly, and more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic Church.

1:23.8

And then, 45 minutes later, Trump posted a picture of himself as Jesus.

1:29.3

Needless to say, this did not convince the people who needed convincing.

1:33.3

Pope Leo, for one, sure didn't seem like he believed Donald Trump is a second coming of Christ,

1:37.7

not by a long shot.

1:38.9

I have no fear that neither the Trump administration are speaking out loudly about the message in the gospel.

1:45.0

And that's what I believe.

...

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