Fox News was halted for a breaking alert as anchor Bret Baier interviewed US vice president JD Vance, after Donald Trump caused controversy in a very public row with Pope Leo. The US president came under fire for posting an AI-generated image of himself depicted as Jesus, which he later claimed was supposed to show him as a doctor or a Red Cross worker. A “breaking tonight” banner was shown on the screen with the tagline: “Vatican feud – Trump takes jabs at Pope Leo amid Iran disagreement.”
Baier didn’t hold back when confronting Vance about the issues, beginning: “Pope Leo has expressed problems with the war in Iran, said that we should be peacemakers – he’s been very vocal. The president took to Truth Social, saying ‘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 because he was American, they thought he 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’.”
Baier went on: “Just wondering, as a Catholic, how do you consider this Truth Social post, and then the post of the picture which a lot of people took as the president posting a picture of himself as Jesus. He later said that he posted it as a doctor saving people.
“But it really caused a kerfuffle, Mr Vice President, and I’m just wondering what you make of all of this and whether it’s… what you think of this back and forth with the church?”
“I think the president of the United States likes to mix it up on social media, and I actually think that’s one of the good things about this president, is that he’s not filtered. He doesn’t send everything through a communications professional, he actually reaches out directly to the people.”
Vance continued: “When it comes to the disagreements with the Vatican, look, we’re going to have disagreements, Bret, from time to time.
“I think it’s a good thing, actually, that the Pope is advocating for the things he cares about, but we’re always going to have disagreements on matters of public policy. Or I should say, sometimes we’re going to have disagreements on matters of public policy.
“The Pope has been critical of our immigration policy, but ultimately the immigration policy of the United States is set by Donald Trump.”
Viewers couldn’t believe what they were hearing, with one tweeting in response: “It’s his worst look yet, let’s be honest.”
Another echoed: “The gaslighting is absolutely insane.” While a third said: “How uncomfortable is he saying this… You can see it in his eyes. WAKE UP!”
