Most of the time, when people say, “Just joking,” they’re not joking at all.
Often, we use “just joking” as a cover when we’ve trotted out ideas we know will be controversial or hurtful but we want to say them anyway.
What’s more troubling is when people make excuses for others who were not “just joking” by declaring, “Oh, he was only joking.”
When President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as pope, he was not joking. Even though he may say he was and even though his supporters certainly will excuse his behavior — once again — as “just joking.”
What the world sadly has learned about Trump is that he never is “just joking.” He’s as serious as a heart attack. And there’s nothing funny at all about his attacks on democracy and decency. The world is reeling because a slim majority of American voters put a megalomaniac in the White House.
There is an obsession on the right with “owning the libs.” This is a recurring mantra based in a kind of “just joking” cruelty. Trump and his allies can say or do the most outrageous things, and conservatives relish the joy of making liberals angry. It is making others uncomfortable that brings joy to such minds. And that in itself is sick.
By now, Trump imagining himself as pope is not the most outrageous thing he has said or done. There is zero chance he could become the real pope. And no doubt that fact will be used as evidence by his supporters to declare once again, “He’s just joking!”
Behind every joke lies some truth. And there is no doubt that Trump’s outrageous ego is so overblown that he would, in fact, love to control the Catholic Church.
Every Catholic the world over should be outraged by this blasphemy. But no doubt, many evangelicals will laugh at it because they have such low regard for Catholicism. Believe it or not, anti-Catholic sentiment is alive and well among evangelicals.
Ironically, Trump’s vision of himself as pontiff came in the same week he created a Religious Liberty Commission stacked with right-wing supporters. His view of religious liberty is not for all people but only for those who support him. Remember, with Trump everything is transactional. And he finds support mainly among Christians who believe in a transactional faith as well, not a living faith.
Trump’s supporters already have created images of him showing Jesus over his shoulder in the Oval Office and Jesus by his side as he sits accused in a courtroom. They have created flags that say, “Jesus is my king and Trump is my president,” equating the two as a matched set.
So we should not be surprised to see Trump projecting himself as pope. But we still should be outraged because of the blasphemy of the “joke” and the truth implied in it: Trump believes he has bought religion and is king of the world.
That’s no joke.
Mark Wingfield
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of five books, including Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves.
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