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THE WORLD IS still facing the devastating and unpredictable consequences of Operation Epic Fiasco, Trump’s impulsive, foolish and brutal war against Iran.
His threat to obliterate a “whole civilisation”, a threat that he has not withdrawn, was profoundly wicked.
It was also ironic because it is the civilisation of the United States itself that he has brought right to the brink. It is increasingly self-evident that he is a malign actor in our troubled world.
Pope Leo’s forceful condemnation on Saturday of Trump’s barbarous war and of “the delusion of omnipotence” was welcome and timely. Even if he didn’t mention the US President by name, his message and its principal target were clear. It was a reminder that today’s world is facing a choice not only between madness and common sense, but between good and evil. The Iranian regime, with the brutal repression of its own people, shares in that evil.
Importantly, the Pope alluded to the fact that Trump and many of those around him purport to be Christians when he said that, “even in the Name of God”, God is being dragged into “discourses of death”. Some US evangelicals grotesquely compare Trump to Jesus. Pete Hegseth, who espouses a weird “Christian” sect, has described the attack on Iran as a holy war carried out “in the name of Jesus Christ”. Trump has, typically, responded to the Pope’s criticism with an unhinged rant against him.
Trump doesn’t stand alone, indicted by world opinion for his evildoing, nor will he face judgment alone before the court of history. There are at least five further levels at which responsibility is necessarily shared.
First, most obviously, there are those who have abandoned their consciences on the altar of self-advancement to work for Trump. Vice President JD Vance is the most senior of the many culprits in that regard. Again, last week Vance attacked the European Union, largely because its democracy and fundamental decency are an affront to him. But Trump has many other enablers right across his administration who demean themselves every day with their sycophancy, their banality and their nodding heads.
At a second level, responsibility is shared by those who offer public support to Trump. Amongst the populists who seek advancement by making the world a darker place, Trump cheerleaders are many, and his critics are few. In the US itself, his enablers range from pusillanimous Republican politicians to shallow tech bros who mistake making money with making a principled contribution to society.
Some of his former propagandists, such as Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene, must forever bear the shame of having created the monster they now belatedly condemn.
Abroad, any leader who courts popularity by appealing to people’s baser instincts is a natural Trump ally. While his implied threats of genocide in Iran have begun to prove too much for many far right parties in Europe, they cannot escape responsibility for having given Trump valuable public support and oxygen over the years. As the tide of European opinion turns further against Trump, Vance’s improper and highly publicised support for Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán almost certainly contributed significantly to the scale of Orbán’s defeat in Sunday’s election.
Third, those who voted for Trump cannot be exonerated from blame. In voting, they were, of course, exercising their democratic rights, something that Trump is not keen on his opponents doing. However, exercising democratic rights does not absolve voters from exercising democratic responsibility. Trump’s impulsiveness, xenophobia and disdain for decency in all its forms have been very clear from the outset of his political career.
Fourth, specific mention must be made of the responsibility of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for systematically planning, instigating and stoking Trump’s war against Iran, for extending it in Lebanon, for joining in the war crimes, and for seeking to prolong it.
The targeting of civilian infrastructure, journalists and medical facilities by Israel over recent weeks follows on from its assault on the civilian population of Gaza and from its ongoing onslaught on the rights and aspirations of the Palestinians, as if they were an inferior people. His behaviour may win Netanyahu a domestic election, one of his goals, but it has destroyed Israel’s moral standing and reputation.
Fifth, Putin’s Russia also bears a significant measure of blame for emboldening Trump with its brutal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine. It has shown the way for Trump with its utter disregard for international law, its daily targeting of civilian infrastructure and its naked philosophy that might is right.
Returning to Pope Leo’s message of peace, I puzzle about one thing. The Pope has taken a powerful stand. Large parts of the Catholic Church in America are brave and admirable.
But there is a serious question specifically for some Catholics. How can it be that many of Trump’s closest allies and strongest supporters, including after his unprecedented personal broadside against the Pope, can claim to be Catholics?
Trump’s Press Secretary, Caroline Leavitt, the most loyal of acolytes who daily defends his behaviour to the world, including his threat to obliterate a civilisation, is reportedly a Catholic. Vice President Vance is a recent convert to Catholicism and has recently written a book about it. There are many others.
What do their local clergy say to them when they attend church? Do the clergy pray for peace in the world? Do they pretend that warmongering is compatible with prayers for peace? Do they remain silent when they should preach the gospel?
Do they wash their hands and turn away? Vance said recently that he was praying that the “United States is on God’s side”. Does his local priest challenge such blasphemous nonsense?
Bobby McDonagh is a former Irish Ambassador to the EU, UK and Italy. He is an executive coach and commentator on subjects around the EU and Brexit.
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