MAGA pastor says Trump understands the Bible better than Pope Leo
Fox News pastor Robert Jeffress claimed Trump’s threats against Iran were more biblical than the pope's anti-war message
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During an interview on Fox News Sunday morning, MAGA pastor Robert Jeffress insisted that Donald Trump understands the Bible better than Pope Leo. All because Trump wants to murder innocent people in Iran after starting an unnecessary war there.
JEFFRESS: I think it’s commendable that the Trump administration is meeting with the pope, and trying to work with the pope. The pope is a good man. He’s sincere in his faith. But he is sincerely wrong when it comes to Iran.
The pope ought to know—and I think he does know—God created both the church and government for two distinct purposes. The role of the church is to point people to faith in Jesus Christ. But the role of government is to protect citizens from evildoers, according to Romans 13.
And, look, three days after this conflict began, I was in the Oval Office with President Trump and a few other faith leaders, and he told us that Iran was within weeks of getting a powerful weapon that would destroy Israel, much of the Middle East, it could bring great harm to America, and he had no choice but to act.
And I thanked him, then, for having the courage to fulfill his God-given responsibility to protect our nation. And, you know, the great irony is it looks like President Trump has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches about the role of government than the pope has.
And I’m glad the president hasn’t backed down at all.
You can’t get much more gullible than that.
Jeffress didn’t bother questioning Trump about his lie regarding Iran’s weapon capabilities—the same lie that Benjamin Netanyahu has been telling for decades now. He just accepted Trump’s statement as fact, thanked Trump for lying to him, then went on Fox News to amplify the same lie to viewers.
He also has his history wrong, since church/state separation isn’t meant to be interpreted through any kind of biblical lens. That’s kind of the whole point.
And it’s deeply ironic that Jeffress cited Romans 13 in defense of Trump’s war given that the same chapter says all the commandments can be summed up in the phrase “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
But that last part about how Trump apparently understands the Bible better than the pope, even if we’re just talking about the role of government, is laughable. Mostly because the only thing Trump knows about the Bible is that if you wave it in front of white evangelicals, they’ll let you get away with anything from financial corruption to trying to overthrow democracy to alleged child sexual abuse.
It’s not like Pope Leo was even chiming in on the role of government. A month ago, during his Easter message, the pontiff urged people to “abandon every desire for conflict, domination and power” before the world became “indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people” and the “hatred and division that conflicts sow.”
"Let those who have weapons lay them down," he said. "Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue!"
"We cannot continue to be indifferent," he continued. "And we cannot resign ourselves to evil."
After Trump lashed out against him, the pope doubled down on his own message of peace:
“I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone. The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” Leo said.
“I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel and inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges of peace and reconciliation, and looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.”
Speaking to other reporters, he added: “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for.’‘
Those were the supposedly controversial remarks that Jeffress insisted showed a lack of understanding of the Bible, which actually tells us a lot more about Jeffress’ own views than anything else. He constantly cherry picks Bible passages to affirm his own brand of conservative cruelty while happily ignoring everything to the contrary.
Even when Trump had his inauguration in 2025, and Right Rev. Mariann Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, asked Trump and JD Vance to use their powers for good, Jeffress chimed in to say that Budde “insulted rather than encouraged our great president.”
Jeffress has ignored the fact that Trump is the Two Corinthians guy. The guy who says he doesn’t need forgiveness. The guy who couldn’t name his favorite Bible verse. The guy who held up a Bible in front of a church after his team used tear gas to drive away peaceful protesters. The guy who sells a tacky Bible with sticky pages by plastering his name on it. The guy who posts AI slop depicting himself as Jesus. The guy who just unveiled a golden statue of himself despite the Bible having a famous story about not worshiping a Golden Calf.
As I’ve said before, not a single white evangelical church in America would ever allow Trump to be their pastor if they wanted to be taken seriously. And yet more than half of Republican voters (a good chunk of whom would describe themselves as conservative Christians) seriously believe Trump is a person of faith.
Meanwhile, the pope has a Master of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He might know a little something about the Bible.
As for the pope’s position on Iran, 48% of Americans are on his side compared to only 28% who support Trump and Vance. Incredibly, in that same YouGov/Economist poll, atheists and agnostics overwhelmingly support the pope (80%) compared to only 42% of Roman Catholics.
Do you know how awful someone has to be for the pope to be the voice of moral authority? I never could have guessed that, in the national divorce, atheists would get the Vatican.
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised at this point that MAGA Christians would easily choose Trump over the Bible. Hell, if they ever met brown-skinned Palestinian Jesus, they would try to deport him, not worship him. But that’s Christian Nationalism for you. There’s nothing Trump can do, an clearly unbiblical as it may be, that will cause bootlickers like Jeffress to admit they don’t actually give a damn about Christianity; all they care about is political power.
Pastor Jerkface shows it is he that doesn't understand the bible. He certainly doesn't follow Jesus' teachings.
Who knew that Jesus was actually the Prince of War and that the other title was actually woke bullshit.