Maybe like me you missed this zinger back in April.
Amid the dispute between the White House and the Vatican, Vice President JD Vance posted on X April 18: “Pope Leo preaches the gospel, as he should, and that will inevitably mean he offers his opinions on the moral issues of the day. The President – and the entire administration – work to apply those moral principles in a messy world. He will be in our prayers, and I hope that we’ll be in his.”
Mark Wingfield
It is only in the twisted minds of American evangelicalism and TradCaths that the Trump administration works to apply Catholic — or Protestant — moral teachings on any day much less every day.
Meanwhile, this week President Donald Trump continued to blast the pope in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt: “I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But I guess it’s up to the pope. He thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
As usual, Trump is lying boldly. Pope Leo never said he thinks Iran should have a nuclear weapon. What he said is the United States wrongly waged war on Iran — in violation of Just War theories that are central to Christian teaching on war.
And how is Pope Leo “endangering” Catholics? By not going along with Trump, of course.
Vance has shown himself to be a bad student of theology, but his claim that the Trump administration is seeking to apply Christian moral principles is a new level of crazy. This administration is the most immoral of any in history and keeps claiming to reverse “anti-Christian bias” while doing very un-Christian things.
“His claim that the Trump administration is seeking to apply Christian moral principles is a new level of crazy.”
Consider, for example:
Lying constantly. Trump’s penchant for lying about everything has spread throughout his administration to the point of being an epidemic. He has created a culture where lies are standard procedure.
Killing U.S. citizens. Remember Alex Pretti and Renee Good? And the other people whose names we don’t remember who were murdered by Trump’s ICE goons?
Supporting genocide. The Trump administration has empowered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who clearly should be tried for genocide against the Palestinian people.
Engaging in blasphemy. It’s hard to keep track now of the many times Trump or those in his thrall have compared him to Jesus or declared him to be better than Jesus.
Promoting white supremacy. The entire premise of this administration’s immigration policies and its campaign against DEI is predicated on white supremacy. It’s not even hidden anymore.
Sending immigrations to torture and death. The Trump administration has deported thousands of individuals with no criminal record to prisons in other countries where they are tortured. Along with sending other immigrants — including Christians — back to home countries where they face death on arrival.
Blowing up boats without evidence of a crime. Remember those alleged Venezuelan gang members and drug traffickers who were killed with U.S. bombs with no evidence of actual wrongdoing?
Separating families again. The Trump administration eliminated the task force intended to reunite families separated during the first term and launched new operations that have resulted in deportation letters to U.S. citizens and the detention of children in private facilities.
Killing U.S. aid to other countries. With the sudden dismantling of USAID, the Trump administration not only created bad will in the international community but sent tens of thousands of people to their deaths through hunger and lack of clean water and lack of access to basic medications.
Cutting U.S. aid to families in need. This administration enacted the largest rollbacks of federal assistance in U.S. history. That included kicking millions of Americans off food aid, cutting Medicaid and ACA health care access, taking away housing for the homeless, and reducing access to school lunches for children.
Weaponizing the federal government for retaliation. Trump has used the Justice Department and other agencies to take legal action and persecute his perceived enemies over and over and over.
This is just a small sample of what this administration has done in a year and a half. And there is nothing Christian about it.
JD Vance has become Trump’s lapdog, and he makes Marco Rubio look good by comparison. There is no way in which the Trump administration seeks to apply Christian moral principles. And we must keep saying this over and over and over — lest we all lose our moorings and forget what real Christian teaching is about.
Vance not only is wrong; he has learned from Trump how to lie with a straight face and not feel any guilt. That’s not a Christian virtue either.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global.