What really happened with Trump at the Pope’s funeral
We have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Trump climb downs, missteps, felonies, indignities, lies, errors, calumnies and screw ups, so we don’t need to go making them up. The funeral of Pope Francis didn’t go well for Trump, but not in the way many people think.
For example, there’s a meme floating around the internet that reads, “Biden and Obama first row at the Pope’s funeral … Mango Mussolini in third. Snicker snort.” While that would have been schadenfreude-ally delicious, that’s not actually what happened.
President Biden was four rows behind Trump. Trump was supposed to sit in row three, but he sat in the first row, front and centre. The reason he was originally assigned row three was because that is, according to Vatican protocol, where presidents of the United States are supposed to sit. Heads of state are seated in alphabetical order (according to the French language). How Trump’s rump managed a front row seat I don’t know.
Maybe JD Vance arranged it? After all, in his last visit to the Vatican, just last week as it happened, he ordered that the Coliseum be closed and cleared of all tourists so he could tour it with his family alone and free of commoners. Then in typical Vance arrogance he didn’t even bother showing up.
Anyway, what was perfectly lovely instead was the subtle ways Trump was put down. I happened to catch one of the ways in the very brief time I spent watching the ceremony. The BBC reporter, while showing Trump on the screen, said that all heads of state were invited no matter how … boisterous. He then mentioned an instance when notorious Zimbabwe criminal Robert Mugabe was spotted at John Paul II’s funeral chatting up the Prince of Wales.
When Trump first appeared in St Peter’s Square, which was broadcast throughout the Vatican on huge TV screens, he was greeted with … silence. That was quickly followed by the appearance of Ukrainian President and hero Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was greeted with cheering and applause.
Little wonder. His Late Holiness was a champion of the cause of Ukraine and opposed to Trump’s open and treasonous support of Russia. He was also an outspoken critic of Trump’s cruel treatment of foreigners.
So there were snubs to Trump at the Pope’s funeral, just not what many people think. In a world where we are constantly lied about by MAGA, it really is important that we get these things right. Otherwise it’s just one more tu quoque fallacy they can throw at us. Besides, we’re on the side of truth, not the side that’s easy or feels good. With so many real Trump crimes and ignominies from which to choose, it really is silly for us to invent them.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.