J.D. (Justa Dumbass) Vance personally extended an invitation to Pope Leo to come to town to take part in the ghastly/tacky spectacle Trump is planning for the 4th of July. It will after all be our 250th anniversary of Independence. Well, the Pope turned him down flat. In fact, his plans are to spend the day on an island in the Med that directly counters Trumpty’s rejection of immigrants!
You can read about the whole thing in this piece from The Irish Star. It’s easy to imagine Trump looking at how the Pope has challenged him on immigration policy and thinking having Pope Leo in town might wind up dumping some rain on his parade. That’s what makes this such an enjoyable thing to highlight. Imagine Vance telling his boss “Don’t worry, I’ve got this. I’m Catholic and the Pope won’t say no to me!” Except Vance (and Trump) have again been reminded Pope Leo doesn’t answer to them. AND that he’s not about to get used as one of their political props.
As I’ve said, a formal invite was given. By Vance, on Trump’s behalf. The Pope didn’t just rebuff it, he did so in style. Pope Leo was born and raised in Chicago and educated here in the U.S. He made a point of politically slapping Trumpty-Dumpty (and Vance) across the face by announcing he’ll spend the day taking part in an event in the Mediterranean. On the (Italian) island of Lampedusa – known for being a migrant gateway in the Med. That’s about as ‘in your face” as it gets! And embarrassing as hell for Team Trump, and especially Vance:
“JD Vance personally invited Pope Leo to take part in the anniversary celebrations. Many assumed Trump and Vance would welcome the first American pope with open arms during this historic jubilee. But Pope Leo never accepted the offer,” Hale reports.
It comes hot on the heels of the Vatican also turning down an invitation to join President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. Additionally, the Vatican has discreetly confirmed the Pope has no intentions to visit the United States whatsoever in 2026.
“Instead, on the very day of America’s 250th, [the Pope] will kneel on a rocky outcrop closer to Tunisia than to Washington, bearing witness to those dying in desperate search of freedom,” Hale stated. “The contrast could not be sharper.
Trump I’m sure didn’t take this well. J.D. can expect to find himself on the receiving end of an Oval Office tantrum. He should spend the rest of the weekend practicing dodging bottles of ketchup. The ravings from Trump will be batshit insane and nonsensical. All centered around the theme of ‘YOU said he’d come! You’re CATHOLIC!. And my VP. Doesn’t Leo know you OUTRANK him?’ I’d pay to watch that little sh*t-show. In the meantime Trump is on quite the losing streak and every day trying to throw out distractions from Epstein. Could we see a middle of the night tweetstorm on Truth Social attacking the Pope?
Here’s a bigger question. Tuesday is when Trump’s going to deliver his State of the Union speech/word salad. Last year he started off on the teleprompter but then went off on a rambling ‘discussion’ that was the longest in history. There is speculation already about how with Trump under so much pressure and on so many fronts he’ll wander away from prepared remarks and go on the attack. He’ll have foreign dignitaries so count on him to rant about not having a Nobel Peace Prize. Plus attack them/their countries for resisting him on economic and security matters.
The Joint Chiefs will be there and he will likely both praise them and attack, or at least threaten them. Think about that. A President standing there and threatening our nation’s top military leaders that they’d by god better do what he says and without question. I sure hope Senator Kelly is there and gets himself a seat down front and center so Trump can’t miss him! SCOTUS always has people attend as well. It wouldn’t be the first time a President has criticized the Court during a SOTU but this year could be epic given the losses Trump has been taking in lower courts. But then SCOTUS smacking down (as they damn well should have) his tariffs. We know he considers six of them “his” Justices and I for one don’t think he’ll be able to control himself.
Still, he will try to say what he thinks are positive things including about our 250th anniversary as a nation. He’ll brag about all the tacky-assed sh*t-show he’s going to put on (if there’s a god a hurricane like Isabel would come up Chesapeake Bay and wash it all out) and all the important people who will travel from their countries to ‘honor’ us by which he’ll mean (and maybe even say) him. And THAT might get him to thinking of Pope Leo’s snub. Imagine Trump losing his sh*t and teeing off on the Pope with the country and world watching! It could happen.
Don’t think it won’t be rattling around amongst the toxic rocks in his head because he will be reminded again and again NOT to attack the Pope, either on immigration or the July 4 snub. If anything, that kind of sound advice will be what gets him to do exactly that – go on a tirade against the Pope. Even good ole boy apologist White Nationalist Evangelical leaders would wince.
For tonight I’ll be content to think about Vance having to think about the ass-chewing he’s going to get. He’s like a kid from when I was a kid (I’m in my late sixties) who got in trouble during the day and mom tells them to go out in the yard and find a good ‘switch’ – a thin shoot that might one day become a tree limb. So dad could use it for their whipping when he got home. I never went through that but knew kids who did and the waiting was worse than the whipping.
So Vance is NOT having fun this weekend. I wonder if he will show up at Mass? We are after all at the beginning of Lent and the Pope of course presided over Ash Wednesday. His remarks included a lament that “ashes of international law and justice” that have been left by today’s wars and conflicts. Let’s be clear about Pope Leo sending an unmistakable message of criticism of Trump and his policies:
Pope Leo XIV’s decision not to participate in President Trump’s 250th anniversary celebration or his Board of Peace “is not a snub for snub’s sake. It is a conscious moral stance.
“The 70-year-old pontiff has made clear that true greatness is measured by our treatment of the least among us, not the size of our parades,” reports Hale.
“He has repeatedly condemned what he calls the ‘inhuman’ persecution of immigrant families, aligning the Church firmly against the mass deportations and border cruelty of the Trump era.”
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huh, i would have bet that leo, the pope, was a massive ufc aficianado.