The White House’s social media post on Friday night depicting Donald Trump as the pope was apparently “just a little fun,” according to the president.

“Actually, my wife thought it was cute,” Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to a seemingly AI-generated image in which he appears dressed in white papal attire. “Actually, I would not be able to be married, though. That wouldn’t be allowed. To the best of my knowledge, popes aren’t getting married. Not that we know of, no.”

Still, personally acknowledging that he and his wife witnessed and shared the bizarre and offensive image wasn’t enough to deem the image real.

“I think it’s the fake news media, you know,” Trump said. “They’re fakers.”

Trump also insisted that Catholics “loved it” and chalked up critiques of the stunt to the “fake news.” But that also appears to not be based in reality.

“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” posted the official account for the New York State Catholic Conference on X. “We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”

Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also had rough news for Trump, writing in Italian that the image “offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the global right enjoys being a clown.”

Even New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan—a supposed Trump ally, who was named a member of the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission Thursday—said that the picture “wasn’t good.”

When asked by a reporter if leveraging the official White House account to share “memes” was “diminishing” the value of the channel, Trump responded that the press should give him “a break.”

“Somebody did it in fun. It’s fine. Hate to have a little fun, don’t you?” poked Trump.

It’s not the first time the self-purported Christian has made light of the religion’s principles. As a way to line his pockets last year, the notorious scammer launched a $60 Bible co-promoted alongside “God Bless the USA” singer Lee Greenwood.

And in the midst of his bank fraud trial in 2024, the famed adulterer compared himself to Jesus, claiming that someone had sent him a note likening his legal comeuppance for decades of financial abuse to Christ’s persecution.

And just last week, Trump actually said he’d “like to be pope.”

“That would be my number one choice,” Trump told reporters.

The Trump administration continues to subvert the constitutional right to due process to justify its illegal, extrajudicial deportations.

“The right of ‘due process’ is to protect citizens from their government, not to protect foreign trespassers from removal,” wrote deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Monday morning. “Due process guarantees the rights of a criminal defendant facing prosecution, not an illegal alien facing deportation.”

This is not how the law works. The due process clause of the Fifth Amendment states:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger. [emphasis added]

The clause has no specification for citizenship.

Miller’s claim has been widely rebuked.

“Stephen Miller is lying to you. The Supreme Court has emphasized for generations that EVERY person gets due process,” wrote American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. “Here’s none other than Antonin Scalia in 1993: ‘It is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law in deportation proceedings.’”

“What is it about the phrase ‘no person’—as in ‘no person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law’—that you seem to be unable to get into your thick, sociopathic skull?” asked George Conway.

“Shaughnessy v. U.S. (1953): ‘It is true that aliens who have once passed through our gates, even illegally, may be expelled only after proceedings conforming to traditional standards of fairness encompassed in due process of law,’” wrote The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake.

As Miller continues to contort the law to keep up his cruelty, Trump reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to authoritarianism when he responded to a simple question about being required to uphold the Constitution with an “I don’t know.”

President Donald Trump has claimed he’s not paying attention to who buys his cryptocurrency coin—but companies are openly trying to use it to influence the administration’s policies.

Freight Technologies Inc., a North American shipping company, is buying up to $20 million of Trump’s meme coin, $TRUMP, in the hopes of influencing his tariff policy, HuffPost reports. Javier Selgas, the company’s CEO, said in a news release Wednesday that purchasing Trump’s digital token would be “an effective way to advocate for fair, balanced and free trade between Mexico and the U.S.”

During an interview on NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Trump was directly asked whether........

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