MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2026
Nothing to look at, Smerconish says: "And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen..."
With apologies, we're quoting from the early Bob Dylan. That said:
What we awoke to this morning was this report from Mediaite. We apologize for that site's devotion to eye-catching language in the apparent search for clicks:
Trump Goes On a Jaw-Dropping Tirade Against Pope Leo: ‘I Don’t Want a Pope Who Criticizes the President of the United States!’
President Donald Trump went absolutely scorched earth on Pope Leo XIV in a Sunday night social media post, slamming the pontiff for his recent criticism of the Iran war and on a number of topics spanning from crime to COVID-19.
Trump—in a lengthy post on Truth Social—told the pope he’s had enough of his denunciations.
The president said Pope Leo had “terrible” thoughts on foreign policy and was “WEAK” on both crime and nuclear weapons. He also took credit for the Chicago-born pope becoming the first American pontiff last year.
The report continues from there. As could have been foreseen, the president now made his apparent state of disorder extremely hard to miss:
Trump Posts Jesus-Like Picture of Himself Performing Miracle on Sick Man, Minutes After Ramping Up Feud With Pope Leo
President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself seemingly in the role of Jesus Christ on Sunday night, complete with the robe-donning president reinvigorating a sick man with his healing hand while a nurse looked on and an American Eagle soared above.
The bizarre—and some would probably argue sacrilegious—post was made about 40 minutes after the president went off on Pope Leo XIV in a blistering social media rant. More on that below.
Trump’s picture had a lot going on in it. Beyond the aforementioned details, a praying woman and a man wearing what looks to be some sort of ICE uniform look on pensively as Trump works his miracle.
The president’s hand is lit up in a holy manner, and behind him is the American flag and the Statue of Liberty; fighter jets and what appears to be soldiers who have become angels are also seen above Trump; an American soldier is also seen watching Trump as he cures the man in a hospital bed.
And so on, bizarrely, from there.
We Americans have been exposed to this type of apparent madness again and again and again. That said, we've also been exposed to the madness displayed, in the most recent instance, by CNN's Michael Smerconish.
CNN’s Smerconish Hits at Remove Trump Crowd in Lengthy Defense: ‘Madness IS the Method’
CNN host Michael Smerconish defended President Donald Trump against those calling for his removal from office via the 25th Amendment, arguing Trump’s critics don’t understand he plays the “madman card in public” to keep foreign enemies on their toes, when in reality he is making rational decisions behind closed doors.
Smerconish made his case on the latest episode of his namesake show on Saturday.
You'll have to read the full report yourself. That said:
The president isn't really "a madman," Smerconish insisted. According to Smerconish, the president has merely been playing "a madman" on Truth Social, and on TV.
For the record, Smerconish is perfectly intelligent. He has tended to cast himself in the role of "sensible centrist" throughout a lengthy career.
Routinely, his work has been perfectly sensible. But in this latest attempt to deny the possibility of what seems to be sitting right there before him, Smerconish has taken the mainstream press by the scruff of the neck and has dragged it with him over the edge of the world.
Last week, as we struggled with our own recent malady out of the blue (These pharmaceuticals today!), we highlighted some obvious questions concerning President Trump's recent very strange Truth Social posts.
As you will recall, The New Yorker's David Remnick asked this question about the president's spate of posts concerning Iran:
Who talks like that?
It was an obvious question, with a blindingly obvious possible answer. At the same time, Megyn Kelly had asked such questions as these:
Can’t he just behave like a normal human? What does that say about him?
Once again, those were excellent questions. One possible answer is obvious—but people like Remnick, Kelly and Smerconish have sworn a blood oath, within the guild, that they will never consider it.
In this way, the madness of the sitting president meets the madness of the upper-end press corps (and the broader commentariat). But, cast in the role of a modern Cassandra, the president's niece, a doctorate-holding clinical therapist, had recently offered a pair of possible answers to those obvious questions:
ERIN BURNETT (2/26/26): You've known him your whole life. Do you actually see a [cognitive] decline?
MARY L. TRUMP: I do, but I think it's important to remember that Donald has never been fit in any capacity. Obviously, what we're dealing with now are age-related cognitive declines. We're dealing with physical issues that the White House tries to cover over.
But this is somebody who for decades now has had serious, undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric disorders, which are only going to worsen, especially given the pressure he's under and given the cognitive and physical declines.
Who talks like that, Remnick had asked. Mary Trump offered two possible answers:
1) A person afflicted by an obvious cognitive decline.
2) A person afflicted by an obvious cognitive decline layered atop decades of "serious, undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric disorders."
Her uncle is "mentally ill," the president's niece had plainly said. If we believe in modern medical science that's an obvious possible answer to the questions which were later asked.
That said, madmen like Remnick, Kelly and Smerconish have sworn an oath to the gods. They've sworn that question of "mental illness"—even of something as common as "age-related cognitive decline"—must never be raised with respect to someone like President Trump, who is now attacking the pope and portraying himself as a version of Jesus Christ.
This is madness encountering madness. We'll explore this moral and intellectual disaster all this week.
At this site, we're struggling to return to full functioning in the wake of last week's walk on the wild side.
That said, Mary Trump has offered a clearcut medical diagnosis with respect to her famous uncle. In part, she has diagnosed some form of "mental illness"—but what kind of diagnosis is that?
