Trump’s God Complex
Losing allies, sniping at the Pope, depicting himself as Jesus: Trump is playing on tilt.
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1. Pope Fights
Three things happened this weekend, each of which suggested that Donald Trump is, as poker pros put it, playing on tilt.
(1) Donald Trump gave Iran everything it wanted in the hopes that it would agree to stop the war he started. His plan seems to have been: Capitulation followed by renegotiation. When he tried to change the terms of America’s surrender, the Iranians rebuffed him and reclosed the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s response was to say that if Iran was going to close the strait, then the United States would blockade the straight.
Is this some idiot reverse psychology? Or dementia? Who can say?
(2) Viktor Orbán, the proto-Trump whose goal was to create a permanent one-party state, was deposed by Hungarian voters in a landslide election. Trump had pushed all-in to support Orbán, explicitly aligning the U.S. government with the Hungarian strongman and even sending JD Vance in-country to campaign for him.
Hungarians have now thrown Orbán over and Trump will watch to see if the new government pursues criminal charges against Orbán and his confederates and/or if it attempts constitutional reforms to prevent Orbánism from ever taking root in Hungary again.
Trump must know that he is watching one of the possible futures that await him 31 months from now. Which may be why:
(3) Trump picked a fight with Pope Leo XIV. Here is the statement he published at 9:03 p.m. on Sunday night:
Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart. I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History. Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican. Unfortunately, Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church! President DONALD J. TRUMP
And here is the image he posted 46 minutes later:
My friends, these are not the actions of a guy who’s winning. This is what it looks like when a man is spiraling out of control and reaching for something—anything—to get well. This is playing on tilt.
In poker, when a player is on tilt he loses the ability to judge between good and bad risks. He’s so desperate that he pushes all-in not because he has the nuts, but because he thinks he has no choice. He chases cards, refuses to walk away, and turns what could just be a run of bad luck into full-on bankruptcy.
That’s where Trump is right now. And it is delicious. So let’s interrogate this moment because—for once—you’re going to love it. This is the funniest thing you’ve ever seen.