Trump has made the same grave error twice
It's really a lack of imagination and inability to comprehend other mindsets
It’s totally unsurprising that President Donald Trump dumped a heap of scorn on Pope Leo XIV on his Truth Social website. I will be a bit charitable here, because I do not believe Trump’s audience is the Pope himself, or committed Catholics. His audience is lapsed Catholics, Christmas and Easter attendees, people who call themselves Catholic because their parents were and they grew up in the church, and others who are skeptical or abusive of Catholics. In other words, he was addressing everyone but people of genuine faith.
Trump focused on Leo’s election as Pope, writing “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.” You know, that statement could have a smidgeon of truth, because Vatican politics is a real thing. But you know something else? Pope Leo XIV would not be in the Vatican if he were not a lifelong, ardent, scholarly, and committed leader in the Roman Catholic Church. If Leo had not committed his life to Jesus Christ and the blessed hope of the resurrection, and the certainty of God’s righteous judgement, then he would not be Pope, like the billions of others on this planet who lack that kind of faith and commitment.
Donald Trump is incapable of grasping a worldview based on faith. His imagination is too narrow to allow any motivations outside of power, greed, lust, and vengeance. Of course, these are the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
In keeping with his own worldview, Trump attacked Leo on the basis of ambition to become the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Perhaps there is some ambition, but again, that’s not the primary motivating factor. Leo’s response to Trump is telling, and equally stinging: “I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do.” Also, asked about Trump’s post on Truth Social, he replied, “It’s ironic — the name of the site itself. Say no more.”
The Pope gets it. He understands that he is dealing with someone who has no grasp of the power of the Gospel, and therefore cannot receive a message that disagrees with his own decisions. Now again, Trump’s decisions to go to war might advance the United States’ interests, as the administration sees them. That’s the job of the president. But it is the job of the Pope to deride wanton destruction and death meted out by governments wherever in the world it happens.
You know who else gets it? The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s Supreme Leader (if he’s conscious), Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. Iran is ruled by clerics, like the Pope, except of course they do not follow the teachings of the Church, because they follow the Quran, in the Shiite tradition. The IRGC is composed of committed followers, who have pledged their lives to the cause of their religion, and to jihad, a holy war to destroy what they see as unbelieving evildoers, and also Israel, to hasten the arrival of the Twelfth Imam, and paradise for those in Allah’s favor.
The IRGC is made up of religious zealots. They do not seek power for power’s sake. They do not seek money for the sake of riches, though of course many are happy to possess money, luxury, and power. Ambition is a thread that wraps itself tightly around any human endeavor. However, like Pope Leo XIV, it’s not the IRGC’s primary motivation. Donald Trump is dealing with people who don’t care what Trump’s target audience of MAGA followers believes. They do not care what the president says about them being weak, or losers, or dumb. Those kinds of insults have no effect whatsoever on them or on their actions.
President Trump’s failure of imagination to understand that others might have different motives than the ones he knows is a grave error. It will not serve him, or the nation, well in dealing with Iran. I don’t know how blockading the Strait of Hormuz will be received in Tehran. I do know it’s a danger because it could expand the war to include China, even Russia, and NATO. Turning the Iran conflict into World War III is not on my wish list, nor do I think it’s on most Americans wish list. However, Iran’s impetus to make a “deal” that Trump will find acceptable is not based in economics. It is based on their own survival and ability to continue to pursue their primary aims.
I believe the only path forward is to end the regime in Iran. That means widening the war, not to include other nations, but to mount a large amphibious operation and land war to conquer Tehran, and remove the Islamic Republic. I don’t think the American people are on board with it, but it’s the only way to “win.” Anything short of that is losing, because the regime will simply rebuild, and the world order will be more open to dealing with Iran and less open to following what the United States, under Trump, says.
The president has made the same grave error twice. Dealing with Pope Leo is not really relevant to the war. But making that error with the IRGC is catastrophic to the end goals of the war (if we know what they are, because Trump has never really articulated them).
I am hoping against hope that this president will expand his understanding, but at his age, it’s not a high percentage bet.
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A couple of thoughts:
1. The current ruling regime seems to be extremely deficient when it comes to having an operational Theory of Mind[1]. They're all inflicted with Main Character Syndrome (MCS)[2], where if you are not them or on their team, you're reduced to a "non-player character"[3] to be either exploited or defeated, the same as NPCs in the video games and movies that have taken on an increased importance in people's lives as they disassociate from their local physical communities, and spend more time in their personal bubbles.
2. Trump is the personification of MCS. While I doubt that he's played (or cheated) as many video games as Musk[4], being born an entitled rich brat - and never growing out of the role - is another easy path to MCS. Given that we are all NPCs to Trump (and his crew) - to @SGMan's point - Trump has no responsibility for getting anyone but his team on board, and we NPCs either are resources he can use to wage that war OR we become the villains to be conquered alongside the Main Bosses of the Iranian Mullahs. The idea that Trump is in the employ of the American nation is completely foreign to him, as opposed to the idea that the American nation is a resource for him to spend to run up his score.
3. Thank you for NOT succumbing to MCS and actually taking into account the Iranian regime's priorities in your coverage of all of this. I know you're opposed to those priorities - I think most of us here are - and not doing so is the diplomatic equivalent of inviting an opponent to manipulate you with small concessions in favor of larger ones that the Main Character refused to understand or consider. (Given all of Trump's performative Christianity these days, you'd think that there would be someone in his circle to let him know that it's the next level that actually matters - this one is merely for sorting the players and determining who gets to move on. The Iranians actually get that.)
4. Pope Leo is winning a lot of fans standing up to Trump. I got home last night and my wife asked me if I wanted to attend the White Sox game where the team will be giving away Pope hats[5]. (I married well.) Now, note that she never makes an effort to go see the Sox (our physical local community encompasses the Cubs' Wrigley Field and surrounding neighborhood), and I was a bit surprised that she brought up the Pope Hat Game before I could.
5. A big "Congratulations!" is due to the Hungarians who ousted Victor Orbán yesterday (and extended J.D. Vance's losing streak). I'm looking forward to thinking of Hungary as the nation that gave us "The Martians"[6], and less a haven for right-wing grifters seeking to avoid being convicted of FARA violations.[7]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind
[2] https://aeon.co/essays/why-main-character-syndrome-is-philosophically-dangerous
[3] https://futurism.com/elon-musk-interviewer-npc
[4] https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming/elon-musk-cheating-gaming-diablo-iv-1235234041/
[5] https://www.mlb.com/news/chicago-white-sox-pope-hat-giveaway-to-fans-faq
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists)
[7] https://english.atlatszo.hu/2024/10/23/hungarian-government-proxy-is-spending-a-fortune-to-influence-public-opinion-in-the-us/
The American people aren't on board because Trump/et al didn't bother getting us on board. We are not prepared for the shortages and economic costs - both domestic and globally - nor for the new age of war with FPV drone footage of attacks on soldiers (as seen in Ukraine).
I don't disagree that the only way to avoid a loss is to mire ourselves even deeper in this war. Unfortunately, we have Trump and Hegseth at the helm - a loss seems likely.
Oh, and 20 days left on the counter.