I don’t know whether this was another 4D chess move on his part, but Trump sharing an AI-generated picture depicting him as Pope—not doing anything perverted or provocative, just sitting there, decked out in gold—thus sparking the next hysteria among Democrats and progressives on social media (still ongoing as I write this), puts in stark relief the reaction of Democrats and progressives to the opening ceremony at the 2025 Summer Olympics in Paris mocking Di Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” There, the performers did mock Christianity, indeed, they mocked Jesus himself, turning the eve of the crucifixion into a pagan bacchanal. None other than the Greek god of ecstasy and transgression himself, Dionysus, made the grand entrance. He was the main course. Replete with drag queens, trans women, and symbolic cannibalism, it was truly French.
When Christians complained, not so much about the lame attempt at irreligious comedy (the production was inane) but rather the way their religion was being subverted to advance what they see as sexual perversion in the service of a transgressive agenda (and they’re not wrong), they were first told that what they thought they saw they hadn’t. The mouth breathers didn’t get it, progressives ridiculed. Then when it became clear that observers saw what they saw, they were told it was no big deal—that they were bigots.
Democrats and progressives did the same thing when Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (the figure of the priest) mocked the Eucharist ceremony by feeding a podcaster (the congregant) a Dorito (the hosts or communion wafer). Nothing to see here. No big deal. Trump shares an AI image of Trump as Pope and the left loses their fucking minds.
It’s typical of the progressive style to deny something is what it is and, when they can no longer deny that, tell the offended that it’s no big deal and that the hobbits are overreacting. Such pompous posturing is an expression of the elitist mentally that infects the progressive mind. It’s the same mentality that infantilizes them when Trump shares a meme.
As for the Olympics—an event that let male athletes punch women in the face for the sake of social justice—all I heard from the left was that Christians are silly and reactionary for letting such a thing trigger them. But, again, Christians understood that the performance was not disconnected from the project to undermine the family and sexualize children. You don’t have to be a Christian to care about that.
The meme is humorous (and showcases how far artificial intelligence has come). The reaction of the left to the meme in the context of the ongoing mass hysteria over his presidency? Not at all. It embodies the progressive spirit—knee-jerk and cynical.
Moreover, the reaction comes with peril. This is a man who had two assassination attempts on his life, one that resulted to a bullet wound to his head and the murder of two members of the audience, because of over-the-top political rhetoric. Comparing the man to Hitler and warning that, if somebody doesn’t stop him we’ll live in a fascist society—literally the plot of Stephen King’s Dead Zone—was an invitation to members of the public to sign up for special duty in the fight to save democracy. Now add religious passions to the mix.
People certainly have the right to say that the meme is blasphemous and sacrilegious, just as Trump has the right to engage in irreligious comedy—even irreligious criticism, for that matter. But danger lurks in the first. Remember when Muslims said Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons mocking their prophet Muhammad were sacrilegious and deadly riots broke out across the Muslim world and cartoonists were assassinated by Islamic extremists? The zealots couldn’t take a joke. Their zealotry inspired violence.
The cartoons, published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten a decade earlier, didn’t cause the violence. The reaction to the cartoons did. What did progressives do then? They weren’t exactly out in the streets condemning Islam and the consequences of its backwards aniconism. What are progressives doing today? The same thing the Muslims did over the cartoons—taking a ride on the Outrage Express. Yet another manufactured moral panic to call the President into disrepute. (Have progressives ever condemned the antisemitic cartoons one easily finds across the Muslim world?)
If these people could only find a sense of humor—which, fully developed, would involve taking jokes they perceive to be at their own expense—then the world would be a much more civil place. But, deep down, the hysteria on X is not about lacking a sense of humor (although progressives are certainly lacking in this area). It’s about construction a new panic to add to the continual stream of daily and weekly moral panics. Trump simply pushed the button that makes the monkeys fly. He did this intentionally, to be sure (and also because a lot of conservatives wish he were Pope, or somebody of his character were, e.g., Steve Bannon, who is a Catholic), but it’s on progressives that they took flight. They’re so predictable.
Remember when Monty Python’s Life of Brian was called sacrilegious by members of the British clergy? Was the public supposed to say nothing critical about the zealotry? Worse, were they expected to side with the clergy who were indicting the comedy as blasphemous and sacrilegious? Or were we obligated to defend Monty Python’s brilliant comedy, not merely because of its brilliance (it is their best work), but because religious zealotry needed checking?
Irreligious comedy, like irreligious criticism more generally, is a necessary exercise in checking religion, which when too big for its britches determines our lives, which means our lives are much less self-determined. Lots of things must be kept in their place. Religion is arguably the paradigm.
Those who have little love for Catholicism took up the cause of Catholics who they supposed would—i.e., wanted to—be upset. The incessant posting chastises Christians for not condemning Trump’s blasphemy. “Aren’t you going to say something? What’s wrong with you? You’d say something if it were the other way around!” Ah yes, projection. The opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics wasn’t blasphemous?
Look, I’m not religious. During the controversy over the Paris Olympics, I posted this on this platform: “Mocking religion is fine. Free speech and all. We’re free to do that. I’m an atheist who has mocked religion many times. I have penned many essays on Freedom and Reason defending the ridiculing of religion.” This was in a context of a comprehensive analysis of the opening ceremony, titled “La Cène sur la scène sur la Seine” (translation: “The Last Supper on a scene on the Seine”) by its organizers. I didn’t condemn the Paris Olympics because they mocked God. Moreover, Trump isn’t mocking God. The image is aspirational.
Progressive hypocrisy is off the chart on this one. To note that left-wing criticism and mockery of Catholicism are robust undersells the profound anti-Christian sentiments on that side. It’s not as if the church isn’t in for some criticism, or that progressives don’t ever identify the things that need criticizing. Progressives view the Catholic Church as a conservative institution that upholds patriarchal structures and resists modern social reforms. They challenge the Church’s historical role in colonialism, its handling of sexual abuse scandals, and its influence on public policy, particularly in areas where Church doctrine shapes laws affecting reproductive rights and the queer people. There’s some stuff in here, for sure. (Yet they are at best silent on the prejudices and oppressions of Islamic doctrine and practice).
While some on the left support religious freedom (the support is highly selective), they argue, correctly (albeit not in good faith), that religious institutions, including the Catholic Church, should not impose doctrinal beliefs on secular governance or public life. So what explains the sudden allyship with the Catholic Church? I really don’t need to answer that questions, do I? We see this for what it is, don’t we?
freedom and reason 