Trump picks fight with the pope, then posts AI photo depicting himself as Jesus 

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It’s Monday. You have two more days to file your taxes if you haven’t done so already!  

Trump picks fight with the pope 

Pope: ‘I’m not afraid of the Trump admin.” 

Trump posts AI image depicting himself as Jesus 

Judge tosses Trump’s WSJ defamation suit 

Trump’s Strait of Hormuz blockage begins 

Iran taunts U.S. over gas prices 

President Trump goes after … *checks note* … the pope: 

President Trump fired off a lengthy post on Sunday night bashing Pope Leo XIV, accusing him of being “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” 

From Trump’s attack on the pope: “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.” 🔎 Read Trump’s full post — it’s lengthy! 

How did Pope Leo take it?: “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for,” the pope said, according to The Associated Press. 

What sparked this feud?: During a weekend service, the pope called for leaders to stop to the war in Iran, denouncing the “delusion of omnipotence” with the U.S. and Israel. He didn’t mention Trump by name, though.   

And Trump is returning the sentiment: The president just threatened to “ELIMINATE” ships that “come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE.”

Related read, via The Atlantic: ‘The Iran War Showed a New Side of Pope Leo’ 

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And he portrayed himself as … *checks notes again* … Jesus: 

President Trump angered some of his conservative supporters for posting an AI image depicting himself as Jesus.  

NEW UPDATE: The AI image of Trump appears to be removed from his account.

More about the image: The image shows Trump healing a sick man while wearing religious garb. He’s surrounded by his followers, an American flag, eagles and the Statue of Liberty. 📸 See the AI image of Trump as Jesus 

Some of the criticism:  

♦️ Conservative political activist Riley Gaines posted on social media, “Why? Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this. Is he looking for a........

© The Hill