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“The last 10 years of Donald Trump worming his way into our brains have been weird,” said Stephen Colbert on Tuesday evening. “But yesterday might have been the weirdest weird that ever weirded. And I’ll just let this actual 100% real, we did not make this up or change this footage in any way, CSpan report sum up the times we’re living in.”

Colbert then played a clip of CSpan reporting that Trump took questions outside the White House after having McDonald’s delivered via the food delivery app DoorDash. Trump talked about a number of topics, including the war in Iran and a controversial AI-generated image he posted to Truth Social that depicted him as Jesus.

“Even CSpan can’t make that sound normal,” the Late Show host said. “If you just woke up from a coma and that report was the first thing you saw, you’d ask the doctor to put you back in.”

In a rare move, Trump has since deleted the image, but “the damage has been done”, with even some staunch supporters now wondering if he’s the Antichrist, at least according to a report from Wired. “It’s an interesting theological question,” said Colbert. “Who are any of us to judge whether – yes, yes he is.”

Over the weekend, Trump also posted a long message on Truth Social criticizing Pope Leo XIV, calling him “weak” and a “loser”.

“Why would you start a beef with the pope?” Colbert wondered, as according to a new NBC poll, Pope Leo leads most public figures in the US in approval ratings. “It’s gotta piss Trump off to learn that the most popular guy on the planet lives in a palace dripping with gold and wears an insane hat and it’s not him.”

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[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 116 points 1 month ago

Gonna really miss Colbert.

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 month ago

Ridiculing Trump is pretty low hanging fruit in comedy.

[-] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 104 points 1 month ago

But getting people to broadcast it into the mainstream media is not.

[-] neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works 46 points 1 month ago

That also doesn't mean it should ever stop happening.

Idk, maybe if we joked less about it politicians would get more serious about removing him from power. I used to love Colbert and Stewart but after 20 years of hearing the same jokes and shit just gets worse i cant watch it anymore. Trump rapes children, there's nothing funny about that. He blows up innocent people around the world to create distractions from his investigations. And he has widespread support from people who do not give a fuck about ruining the country as long as they make a profit this quarter. There's nothing funny about that. And it clearly doesn't hurt trump at all, he's still president still raping children and stealing billions in taxpayer money in the open.

[-] neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 month ago

That's a fair criticism, so I'll only say that before there was a Colbert or Stewart, there were stupid fucking loons who went all dictator on their people and a population that supported their idiocy and cheered them on.

Mussolini was famously a fucking idiot who could barely tie his shoes if they weren't done for him. Same with Hitler.

So not having satire ripping them a new one every week didn't stop them from happening, or what came after. It won't here either, but at least it can entertain some people and reach some people with humor that seriousness couldn't.

If people want serious, mainstream news, well, that's still there, maybe just not in the US though.

Yeah im not saying Colbert should stop what he's doing, i think for young people it's very educational. He's doing a great thing.

But as grown ass adults we need to stop looking to comedians for leadership. We shouldn't sit at home and bitching at the TV while watching Colbert or Kimmel or Stewart. We need to be taking action, showing up to town halls, or more generally engaging in civics.

[-] neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Absolutely agreed with that. The satire shows should be a treat, not the main course of political discourse/learning.

[-] yucandu@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

I think you're right. Satire is for when there's a subsurface level of corruption that needs to be brought to light in an entertaining way.

These times are not for satire. These times are for protests.

[-] zbyte64@awful.systems 1 points 1 month ago

Exhibit A on gallows humor that works in this situation: https://youtu.be/m1r9VtdIMDM

I agree I don't care much for the jokes from Colbert and Stewart, but I wouldn't say comedy is the problem. These c9medians seem to think making jokes about hypocrisy is pushing the envelope when its not even the minimum.

[-] Alandrus_Sun@ttrpg.network 32 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Nah, he breaks comedy. He is easy to make jokes that are "Can you believe this guy?" He makes it impossible to pitch hypothetical scenarios because he is bat shit insane.

Seriously. The white house twitter account is posting MLG era meme edits of bombs dropping on Iran. That's not a comedy sketch. That's just real. The president said "Praise be to Allah" and posted an image of himself as Jesus which he said was a doctor in a fucking week.

He breaks comedy because nothing is more preposterous than his real actions.

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 34 points 1 month ago

Pope Leo leads most public figures in the US in approval ratings.

In theory, could the Pope run for president (given that he’s a U.S. citizen by birth, etc.)?

[-] tal@lemmy.today 29 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States

Eligibility

Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for holding the presidency. To serve as president, one must:

  • be a natural-born citizen of the United States;
  • be at least 35 years old;
  • be a resident in the United States for at least 14 years.[126]

A person who meets the above qualifications would still be disqualified from holding the office of president under any of the following conditions:

  • Under Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, having been impeached, convicted and disqualified from holding further public office, although there is some legal debate as to whether the disqualification clause also includes the presidential office: the only previous persons disqualified under this clause were three federal judges.[127][128]
  • Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, no person who swore an oath to support the Constitution, and later rebelled against the United States, is eligible to hold any office. However, this disqualification can be lifted by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress.[129] There is, again, some debate as to whether the clause as written allows disqualification from the presidential position, or whether it would first require litigation outside of Congress, although there is precedent for use of this amendment outside of the original intended purpose of excluding Confederates from public office after the Civil War.[130]
  • Under the Twenty-second Amendment, no person can be elected president more than twice. The amendment also specifies that if any eligible person serves as president or acting president for more than two years of a term for which some other eligible person was elected president, the former can only be elected president once.[131][132]

So, going down the list:

  • Pope Leo XIV was apparently born in Chicago, so he meets the natural-born citizen requirement.

  • Pope Leo XIV was born in 1955, so he's 70 and meets the 35 years of age requirement.

  • It looks like, checking other sources, that the 14 year resident is just a requirement for cumulative residency over one's life. Unless he has other things he did that Wikipedia doesn't mention, he was in the US until he joined a mission to Peru in 1981, so he should meet the residency requirement.

  • He has not been impeached and convicted, so he meets that requirement.

  • He has not rebelled against the US, so he meets that requirement..

  • He has not yet been elected to be President more than twice, so he meets that requirement.

According to WP, he's still a US citizen.

So I expect that he could. There are no restrictions on also being a foreign citizen (he is a citizen of Peru and Vatican City as well) or of not also being concurrently a foreign head of government.

[-] ceenote@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

He doesn't give off enough pedo energy to simultaneously be a priest and the US president.

[-] OwOarchist@pawb.social 2 points 1 month ago

Maybe he just hides it better than most?

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago

The issue with the majority of the Catholic Church wasn’t that they were pedos, it was that they weren’t willing to do anything about those within the church that were pedos. It’s not even limited to pedophilia, even; they turn a blind eye to many things that would cast the church in a bad light. Better to keep it in house and sweep it under the rug. I had an (adult) family member who was sexually harassed by the principal of the school she worked at. They sent everyone to sexual harassment training, including her, rather than deal with it appropriately. He was not fired.

[-] ceenote@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Possibly. I guess my standards have been affected by how poorly the current pedo in chief hides it.

[-] saimen@feddit.org 1 points 1 month ago

I guess there are restrictions from the catholic church though

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[-] Alandrus_Sun@ttrpg.network 17 points 1 month ago

"Maybe we can combat MAGA by creating Catholic theocracy."

Absolutely would be eligible

[-] Windex007@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

It's a rare but not unheard of scenario for a US citizen to serve as a foreign head of state. A brief read makes it sound like a thorny issue. The US could theoretically attempt to strip his citizenship. Sounds like there was a Supreme Court decision in 1980 that would make that difficult... but there is a new Supreme Court.

[-] CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

The... the.. the PoPresident?

[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I think that would probably fall flat on both sides, because the Pope is not supposed to meddle directly in human affairs just the spiritual, or something loosely to that effect.

However, it is an interesting thought experiment.

[-] OwOarchist@pawb.social 20 points 1 month ago

the Pope is not supposed to meddle directly in human affairs

*looks at the entire history of the Papacy*

ಠ_ಠ

[-] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

He could, yes. But let's remember america flipped its shit when a catholic simply won the office. It was claimed JFK would put the Vatican interests ahead of the country, and he took deliberate steps to distance himself. I couldn't begin to imagine what the response would be if Leo tried it.

Biden is Catholic too

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

Probably, but I would think as leader of the Holy See he has more power than any individual nation leader does ... so why change?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_See

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[-] moxymarauder@thelemmy.club 29 points 1 month ago

I'd just about given up on my conservative Catholic family.... defending Trump through and through.... did not have "beef with the pope" on my bingo card, but in the words of my uncle, "I think he's getting a little too big for his own britches."...

[-] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 8 points 1 month ago

I'd still be pissed off at them....

Of all the actual harm he has caused to god knows how many people, from the welching on debts, starting an insurrection and raping women, him insulting god is what actually gives them pause.....

[-] FaygoRedPop@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

A lot of Popes probably would have seen eye to eye with Trump on a lot of things. Things like raping children.

[-] Noam_Calhoun@lemmy.today 20 points 1 month ago

Why would you start a beef with the pope FOR MERELY SAYING THE MOST UNCONTROVERSIAL POPE TYPE STATEMENT EVER?!

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[-] theuniqueone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 month ago

I mean this isn't a good reason but there are plenty of reasons to beef with the papacy.

[-] JusticeForPorygon 23 points 1 month ago

Never thought I'd see the day where I was compelled to side with the Catholic Church in any kind of conflict.

[-] Traister101@lemmy.today 4 points 1 month ago

The wope (woke Pope) seems alright. Better than the last one at least and that guy was pretty good too

[-] Paddzr@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Outside that one german pope... i think we have fairly good streak going of "not a complete asshole".

Being open to lgbt is the most anti catholic thing to do yet they're shifting the needle.

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[-] plyth@feddit.org 9 points 1 month ago

Why would you start a beef with the pope?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_the_zone

[-] Paddzr@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Anyone still believing in religion has this coming.

Religion has no place in politics, but US is so fucking behind, it's their one defining factor. God this, god that...

[-] dellish@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

It's almost like the US needs some sort of underlying principle like, just spitballing here, "separation of religion and government", or "separation of church and stateliness" or something. Nah, that'll never catch on.

[-] liuther9@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

*in world. Spirituality is fine though

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[-] thefluffiest@feddit.nl 8 points 1 month ago

To distract from the Epstein files

[-] MartianRecon@lemmus.org 7 points 1 month ago

Conservatives cannot receive any criticisms, ever. That's the entire issue here. They believe their views are irrefutable, and as such, any challenge to their views is a hostile act.

That's really what this boils down to. That and a complete lack of nuance.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

So, what you're saying they're saying is: The Pope Stated it!!!!!!!

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[-] frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io 5 points 1 month ago

Especially because he sucks off murderous authoritarian dictators like sucking dick is going out of style.

[-] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago

Because trump wants to be pope

[-] krigo666@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Because Trump is an imbecile.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 1 month ago

colbert you should already know hes distracting from the files.

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this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2026
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