And unfortunately he beat Journalism.
“Trump is acting like a king because he’s too weak to govern like a president”
– Ezra Klein
It was kinda fun hearing the winning jockey praise his homeland - Venezuela! 
ICE will pick him up tonight. Welcome to El Salvador.
Which one will they disappear? The jockey or the horse? Both? Both jockeys? Both horses?
Considering how he hates to be denied the horses will definitely go away once Trump hears that they said “Nay”.
Not to mention they’re better equipped than he. But he outdoes them by far in one thing: production of horseshit.
I was raised catholic but am now a non-believer in any god, so I’m not offended by Trumps post portraying him as the head of the catholic church. In any case, if he must see himself in that role, I propose that he be known as “Dope Donald”. Kind of has a bad ring to it.
I’m not offended out of some belief Trump was being sacrilegious. I’m offended because I expect more out of the office of the President of the United States. Although I admit, on a scale of 1 to Trump, this one doesn’t really upset me all that much. It’s just another day in Trump Land.
ISTM some folks are missing a salient point here. Not only is the Pope the head of the Roman Catholic Church, he’s the head of state of a sovereign nation. That post is inappropriate for that reason. One does not have to bring religious view into the equation.
And now imagine the reaction from Trump and his supporters if Putin were to have made a post on January 20, 2025 of himself photoshopped into the US presidential swearing in ceremony with the caption The President of the United States.
Come to think of it, I wish I had made that post back then.
This 100%. How dare he defile the highest office in the USA with such in-fucking-sane ideas. Article 25 NOW. The man is clearly off his rocker.
I thought about asking my MAGA mom to dress as the Pope and put it on Facebook. Of course she’d say no, and I’d ask her why. Whatever she replied, I’d want to know why it’s not a problem for the POTUS to do such a thing.
I have to quit thinking about deprogramming her.
Remember when conservatives had a problem with the idea of a Catholic President (JFK)? Neither do they.
Scientist who was part of covid treatment controversy returns to HHS
Steven Hatfill promoted hydroxychloroquine during the pandemic. Decades earlier he was wrongly connected with the anthrax attacks that killed five people.
Steven J. Hatfill, a virologist and White House adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term who pushed hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus despite what most researchers said was a lack of scientific evidence, has joined the second Trump administration in a senior role at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Hatfill will begin his second week Monday as special adviser in the director’s office at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, a small agency responsible for preparing the U.S. for disasters such as pandemics and biological and chemical attacks.
An Army biodefense researcher, Hatfill was investigated for years by the Justice Department as a “person of interest” in the 2001 mailing of letters that contained anthrax spores, which killed five people and sickened 17. Hatfill was formally exonerated in 2008, the same year the government paid him $4.6 million to settle his lawsuit in the case.
Hatfill has worked with trade adviser Peter Navarro, who held the same role in Trump’s first term. Navarro joined forces with Hatfill and the president to promote hydroxychloroquine and a related drug, chloroquine, as treatments for the disease caused by the coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic, when the country was desperate for potential cures.
…
In a phone interview Saturday, Hatfill said he will “help get us ready for the next pandemic” in his new role. He said he would work side by side with scientists at the preparedness agency gathering “complete awareness of the scientific literature, not just for influenza, bird flu or covid but other global diseases that could represent a threat to the U.S.”
…
On Saturday, Hatfill repeated his claims that hydroxychloroquine is safe and effective against the coronavirus, contending there are “5,000 controlled, randomized studies” that were peer-reviewed. He said that research has shown the drug reduces mortality rates if given early in the course of the disease.“They gave the drug to the president,” Hatfill said, referring to Trump’s two-week treatment with it when he contracted the virus in late 2020. “There is no ambiguity there. It is a safe drug.”
“…not just for influenza, bird flu or covid but other global diseases that could represent a threat to the U.S.”
Um…you might want to look at measles.
I’m curious how Hatfill passed the background check for a security clearance at USAMRIID.
Hatfill was enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army from 1975 to 1977.[12] (In 1999, during an interview with a journalist, he claimed to have been a “captain in the U.S. Special Forces”, but a subsequent investigation revealed that, according to the Army, he had never served with the Special Forces.[13])
…
In 1978, Hatfill settled in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and entered the Godfrey Huggins Medical School[14] at the University of Rhodesia in Salisbury (now Harare). (His claimed military associations during this period included assistance as a medic with the Selous Scouts and membership in the Rhodesian SAS, but according to one journalist[15] the regimental association of the latter is “adamant Hatfill never belonged to the unit”.)
…
Hatfill also conducted research toward a Ph.D. between 1992 and 1995—under the supervision of microbiology professor Ralph Kirby at Rhodes University—on the treatment of leukemia with thalidomide.[15]Hatfill submitted his Ph.D. thesis for examination to Rhodes University in January 1995, but it was failed in November.[15] Hatfill later claimed to have completed a Ph.D. degree in “molecular cell biology” at Rhodes, as well as a post-doctoral fellowship (1994–95) at the University of Oxford in England and three master’s degrees (in microbial genetics, medical biochemistry, and experimental pathology), respectively. Some of these credentials have been seriously questioned or disputed. During a later investigation, officials at Rhodes maintained that their institution had never awarded him a Ph.D.[16] In 2007, Hatfill’s lawyer Tom Connolly[17] – in his lawsuit against former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and the FBI – admitted that his client had “[p]uffed on his resume,” falsely claiming he had earned a PhD and had “[f]orged a diploma” for the PhD.[18]
I’ve never applied for a security clearance, but I’m pretty sure misrepresenting/lying about your background/personal history is a no-no.
Maybe he came clean on the application, but having these issues in your past seems like a red flag.
ETA: I’m thinking that RFK, Jr. and people like Hatfill are going to cause more than the five deaths that the anthrax attacks did. What’s the current measles outbreak death count up to?
“The president tried to get a laugh by posting an image of himself as the pope!”
“And this offends you as a Catholic?”
“No, it offends me as a comedian!”
Serious question for the Catholics:
How offensive is it for any random person to photoshop himself as Pope? I mean, if I photoshopped myself as a member of The Beatles, or King of Peru, I don’t think anyone would be all that offended. It would just be a silly joke. I know Father Guido Sarducci got occasional pushback, but most Catholics I knew took him in good humor.
So recognizing that, as a religious office the Pope might be different, is it really offensive, or is there some recreational outrage here?
(As always, not defending Trump; I look forward to any and all criticism, but let’s be honest, people ARE looking for reasons to hate on him)
He’s treating the office of Pope as a joke. It’s offensive in that he (a thrice-divorced, non-Catholic world leader) is treating the seat of St. Peter so disrespectfully and mocking the office in an attempt at trolling people. Plus this type of bullshit is just beneath the office of president.
I’m not a Catholic (divide my church-going between a Reformed church and an Episcopal one), but that’s what I find offensive about it.
*twice-divorced, thrice-married
Wisconsin’s governor was threatened with arrest for sending out a message to state employees informing them that they can get legal representation if they feel they were wrongly terminated.
My prediction for next on the chopping block: the Miranda warning.