The Great Unraveling: An Update
(Part 2)
Welcome back to Porcupine Press. This is the second installment of our report on the Great Unraveling, and how it is speeding along at the midpoint of 2026 – this semiquincentennial year of the nation’s founding. In our last dispatch, we discussed how the U.S., for no logical reason, started a war against Iran that is horrific, immoral, illegal, and just plain stupid.
After launching his war, President Donald Trump sent out to the world an AI-generated portrait that depicted him as being Jesus Christ. This was a new and daring move for our president. In the religious pictures Trump has previously shared with his followers on social media, Jesus is depicted as his BFF. Usually, Jesus is hovering over Trump, or standing next to him and giving him a reassuring pat on the back. Depending on the context, Jesus’ facial expression can indicate proud, almost paternal approval of Trump and his accomplishments. Or pained concern, indicating Jesus knows that Trump is being persecuted even more severely and unjustly than He, himself, was persecuted back in the day.
Now, however, it appears Trump has decided to edge Jesus out of the picture entirely – by taking his place.
Supposedly, one of the big differences between Iran and the U.S. centers on the role religion plays in government. In Iran, Islam is the official religion and the clerical authorities play a formal, constitutional role in running the state. Only a qualified Shiite Islamic jurist can serve as Iran’s supreme leader. In contrast, the U.S. was founded as a constitutionally secular republic that is strongly committed to religious freedom. The First Amendment provides that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
But now that the President of the United States has morphed into Jesus Christ, things have changed. All of Trump’s followers, including the entire Republican Party, no longer believe in the separation of church and state. It seems to me that everyone in the MAGAverse would really be more happy and comfortable living in Iran, rather than in the U.S. All they need to do when they get there is swap out the official state religion for Christianity. That makes this war seem all the more pointless.
OK, let’s continue looking at the factors behind this “only in America” shitstorm.
3) The Feud Between the White House and the Vatican. As many readers are aware, a major diplomatic crisis has broken out between the United States and the Holy See. Thankfully, most analysts think it is unlikely hostilities will escalate to the point of armed conflict. Nonetheless, millions of Americans in the MAGAverse are deeply offended by Pope Leo XIV and the way he has been conducting himself – and especially by his disrespectful attitude towards President Trump.
This is an ironic turn of events. The Holy See and the Republican Party have historically been natural allies due to their strong opposition to Marxist-Leninist communism, which of course is an atheistic ideology. For years, they have also shared conservative positions on numerous social issues, such as abortion, sexuality, and school prayer. However, that Republican Party is now a thing of the past. It no longer exists. It entered its death throes after the presidency of George W. Bush (2001 - 2009) – the last (real) Republican to occupy the White House.
Today, Republicans are happy to work with, and support, communists, fascists, and dictators – so long as the countries they rule don’t interfere with American capitalism and kleptocracy. Trump despises democracy and is transforming America into an autocracy. He is not anti-communist; he is Vladimir Putin’s sock puppet. He envies Vlad’s manly, murderous ways, and idolizes him like a pre-teen girl gushes over a pop star.
It now seems quaint that schoolchildren in the United States used to be taught that the president of their nation was “leader of the free world.” Trump doesn’t care about freedom for anybody but himself, and he doesn’t give a shit that Russia invaded Ukraine. The first thing he did upon hearing that Ukraine had been invaded was to tell the press that Putin’s move was “genius.” Trump and the Republicans tacitly support Putin’s war crimes, which include the kidnapping and forcible assimilation of some 20,000 Ukrainian children.
All of which is to say that it’s no surprise Trump has trashed a diplomatic relationship that likely was at its closest, most harmonious state during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Of course, the Trump administration blames Pope Leo for starting this fight. He started it by making offensive, provocative pronouncements, such as the following:
“Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace. Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue. . . . Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood. . . . Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters!”
The Pope said all of this after February 28, which was the day the U.S. began bombing Iran. On that first day, we struck over 1,000 targets and killed more than 200 people. Unfortunately, the great majority of those dead Iranians were children who had been sitting in their classrooms. This is regrettable, but war is inherently a messy thing. What’s important is that we were able to assassinate 20 or more high-ranking government officials, including Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
When the Pope talks about Jesus and war, he is at least usually careful to avoid mentioning the names of President Trump and our other war leaders, like Vice President JD Vance and the high minister of war, Pete Hegseth. Still, it is hard to miss the Pope’s underlying message. He is critical of American leadership, and he doubts Operation Epic Fuck-Up is a righteous crusade. Sometimes it seems this first-ever American pope doesn’t even believe God is on America’s side. That he doesn’t realize God is rooting for us to win this war!
The Pope and America’s Right to Kill for Jesus
The Pope’s most incendiary and insulting remarks were those implying that God refuses to listen to Americans when they pray for victory. This was a deliberate slap in the face of Pete Hegseth. As everyone knows, Mr. Hegseth is highly motivated to kill Iranians, and gets very excited doing so. He is driven by the revelation that America’s killing spree is divinely sanctioned by God. There is another major benefit of the war that motivates Hegseth: This war is reconnecting America to its Christian roots.
In March, Mr. Hegseth beseeched all Americans to take part in the war:
“And I say the same to every American who wants peace through strength. May almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight. And again to the American people, please pray for them. Every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.”
The leadership of the U.S. military has historically taken an ecumenical approach to religion. For example, some 5,000 to 6,000 U.S. service members currently identify as being Muslim. The U.S. military employs imams so that we have chaplains who are qualified to perform Islamic religious services and rites. However, Mr. Hegseth is unique in rejecting this tradition. He is the first military leader to mandate monthly, voluntary Christian worship services at the Pentagon. Presumably, this is a plus mark for Pete as far as the Pope is concerned.
At one of these recent services, held while our nation was at war, Mr. Hegseth led his congregation through the following, rather gruesome prayer:
“Almighty God who trains our hands for war and our fingers for battle. You who stirred the nations from the north against Babylon of old, making her land a desolation where none dwell. Behold now the wicked who rise against your justice and the peace of the righteous. Snap the rod of the oppressor. Frustrate the wicked plans and break the teeth of the ungodly. By the blast of your anger, let the evil perish. Let their bones go down to slaughter, for their day has come, the time of their punishment. Pour out your wrath upon those who plot vain things and blow them away like chaff before the wind.
Grant this task force clear and righteous targets for violence. Surround them as a shield. Protect the innocent and blameless in their midst. Make their arrows like those of a skilled warrior who returned not empty-handed. Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy. Preserve their lives, sharpen their resolve, and let justice be executed swiftly and without remorse that evil may be driven back and wicked souls delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them. For the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. We ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ, king over all kings. Amen.”
Now in the spirit of fair and balanced journalism, we must acknowledge that even though Pete Hegseth is Christian, he is not a perfect person. Like other members of the Trump administration, he has been dogged by accusations that he sexually assaults women, and that he is a violent, falling down drunk alcoholic. Still, the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate carefully weighed these alleged shortcomings during the confirmation hearings, and they decided to give Mr. Hegseth the benefit of the doubt.
Mr. Hegseth was confirmed despite the fact that, while being questioned, he refused to deny under oath that he had been seen in public, on multiple occasions, either visibly intoxicated or passed out. He was confirmed even though his former sister-in-law submitted a sworn affidavit stating she had repeatedly seen him violently drunk when he was married to his second wife, Samantha. (The affidavit also says Samantha once hid in her closet because she feared for her safety. And that she established a “safe word” she could use to phone friends, in her husband’s presence, and alert them she was in danger of physical harm.) Pete Hegseth was confirmed even though an email emerged in which Hegseth’s mother, Penny, accused him of being “an abuser of women” and “a man who belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego.” Finally – there’s plenty more, but I don’t want to risk boring you – Mr. Hegseth was confirmed despite admitting to senators that he paid a woman a $50,000 legal settlement so she wouldn’t talk about how he raped her at a hotel in Monterey, California in 2017. (He was married at the time, and he fathered a child with another woman that same year.)
Some people may feel these allegations raise doubts about Mr. Hegseth’s Christian bona fides, not to mention his fitness to serve as our high chieftain of war. But again, the Republicans strongly believe it is worth the risk. Trump ordered them to hire Pete despite their misgivings. Also, Hegseth told them he was committed to restoring the famous American “warrior ethos,” which had apparently gone missing, and to running the military as a “meritocracy” (i.e., no more “woke” bullshit, and no more women and Blacks in leadership positions). It also didn’t hurt that Hegseth personally promised several senators he would not drink on the job, like he did when he worked at Fox News, or at Concerned Veterans for America. (However, under questioning by Senator Mazie Hirono, Hegseth refused to say he would resign if he got caught breaking this pledge.)
The Holy Manchild vs. the Holy Father
Trump’s problems with Pope Leo started before the Pope’s spat with Pete Hegseth, and before his opposition to our idiotic, unjustified war. About two months earlier, on January 3, 2026, the U.S. military invaded Caracas, Venezuela, and killed about 75 people (Venezuelan and Cuban military personnel) in the course of seizing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The very next day, the Pope was at the window of his papal studio, overlooking St. Peter’s Square, to tell a crowd, “The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration.” The Pope then went on to strongly imply the U.S. had violated international law by invading a sovereign nation and abducting its president. And that this was a bad thing!
By April 12, after the Pope had piled on with his remarks about Iran, President Trump just couldn’t take it any more. He lashed out on his social media platform, Truth Social:
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. . . . I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History. . . . Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”
In the subsequent days, Trump elaborated on his social media post while speaking with reporters:
“We don’t like a pope that’s going to say that it’s okay to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a pope that says crime is okay in our cities. I don’t like it. I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime. He’s a man that doesn’t think that we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world. I’m not, I’m not a fan of Pope Leo. . . . I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But I guess if it’s up to the Pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Readers may be forgiven if they didn’t know urban crime fighting was among the Pope’s responsibilities. But here I must don my journalist’s hat and note that according to police statistics, it appears that Pope Leo is actually the superior crime fighter. This is especially the case when it comes to violent crime, which is extremely rare in Vatican City. If we give the president a break and only hold him accountable for protecting the city where he lives, there have already been 34 homicides recorded in Washington, DC during 2026. In stark contrast, the last time there was a murder in Vatican City – a murder anywhere within the entire country – was 28 years ago! (It was a double murder-suicide committed by a member of the Swiss Guard.)
I also conducted some research on this business about nuclear weapons. You may be surprised to learn that not once has Pope Leo ever indicated he wants Iran to possess nuclear weapons. In fact, according to the Vatican, the Pope doesn’t want any nation to have nuclear weapons! Go figure.
I suspect the real reason Trump and his followers regard Pope Leo and the Vatican as enemies is not so much differences of opinion on U.S. foreign policy, but rather the Pope’s condescending attitude towards our president. Pope Leo needs to publicly acknowledge that when it comes to matters of religious authority and morality, Trump is his peer, if not his superior. After all, Trump was Deity of the MAGAverse for years before Pope Leo was elected. Just this past Easter, the White House held a beatification ceremony to consecrate the president’s holy status. As sanctified by a highly respected, nationally-known preacher, Donald J. Trump is now indisputably the living embodiment of Jesus Christ on earth. His glory and his divine status is a result of the ordeals he has experienced at the hands of Democrats – a glory equal to Jesus in terms of suffering, persecution, lawfare, and even resurrection.
But what really pisses Trump off most of all is that Pope Leo wouldn’t even be the pope if it wasn’t for him. Not once has the Pope ever thanked the president or acknowledged his debt of gratitude! As the president said on April 12 in that lengthy Truth Social post:
“Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican. . . . I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!”
Who does this Pope think he is anyway? Just because he is fluent in five spoken languages, and can also read German and Latin, doesn’t make him any smarter than the president. As far as the MAGAverse is concerned, this new pope is just a schlub named Robert F. Prevost who was born in Chicago, and raised nearby in the suburb of Dolton, Illinois. Economically and socially, the Pope’s family background is strictly lower-middle to middle-class. His father was a public school teacher, and his mother was a school librarian. The man never had a real job or profession in the secular world. He just went straight from university into the cloistered world of professional religion.
Trump is obviously just as qualified to be pope as Mr. Prevost. The president made this point abundantly clear in early May, 2025, right after he returned to Washington from Pope Francis’s funeral. Yes, if you didn’t know already, perhaps you guessed it. Trump posted on social media an AI-generated image that depicts him as the pope. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can easily find it on the Web. Trump is wearing a white cassock and pointed mitre. There is a large cross around his neck, and he is holding one finger up with a solemn facial expression.
According to mainstream Catholic teaching, the faithful are not supposed to worship the pope. They should honor and venerate him, and they can pray to him to intercede with God on their behalf. But worship is owed to God alone: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, religious faith operates by different rules in the MAGAverse. There, worshiping Trump (aka The Donald, aka Agent Orange, aka The Orange One) is not only permissible, but strongly encouraged.
As the evangelical television preacher Hank Kunneman has said regarding Trump and the millions of Americans who follow him:
“This is really a battle between good and evil. There’s something on President Trump that the enemy fears: It’s called the anointing.”
Trump knows what it is like to be loved, feared, and worshiped on a massive, historic scale. It gives him tremendous pleasure. He has come to expect it, and he knows he deserves it – just as much as Jesus Christ.