On Tuesday’s Late Show, Stephen Colbert diagnosed President Donald Trump with a case of approval-rating envy. The host spent much of his monologue dissecting why Trump is at odds with the Pope and that he may be facing difficulties in his own political environment.
The internet exploded after Trump shared an AI photo of himself that appeared to be him as Lord Jesus. Even MAGA supporters started bringing up serious religious issues about their president as the pushback was evidently bipartisan. Eventually, Trump deleted the post and told reporters that he thought the image portrayed him as a doctor and not the Messiah.
Colbert did not buy this version of events, and stated: “Given the fact that he either posted a picture of himself as Jesus or he doesn’t know what doctors look like, it’s not surprising that even former allies and advisers are describing him as ‘a lunatic’ and ‘clearly insane.'” He then said, “Then again, it’s possible he’s not insane. He might just be the antichrist.”
In just 18 months, Colbert claimed, a right-wing podcaster had gone from “hesitantly voting for Trump” to believing there was “a decent chance he’s the antichrist.” He even mentioned that the Knights Templar called for a public apology on the post. “We’re trapped in a Dan Brown movie,” he continued. “Quick, somebody find Tom Hanks and give him a terrible haircut.”
Despite this, Colbert was intrigued by the papal aspect. Trump also wrote a lengthy post criticizing Pope Leo XIV, as if portraying himself as the Son of God was not enough. According to the late-night host, the reason for this was pure jealousy.
“According to a recent NBC poll, Pope Leo leads everyone in America in approval ratings,” Colbert noted. “It’s got to [upset Trump] to learn that the most popular guy on the planet lives in a palace dripping with gold and wears an insane hat — and it’s not him.” Trump now stands behind the pope, who doesn’t take part in politics despite having everything Trump wants in one way or another.
Colbert then shared what he described as a “fun fact”: according to the same NBC survey, he was the second-most popular American. “It gives me no pleasure to say Colbert trailed only Pope Leo in favorability,” he added.
“Forgive me, I lied. I actually found that quite pleasurable,” he laughed. Also, Colbert went off topic to touch on Greg Phillips, a FEMA worker who claims to have been transported to a Waffle House, but that’s a story for another day.
Colbert also noted the strangeness of C-SPAN having to air a report about a president who used DoorDash to get some McDonald’s, answered questions about a Jesus meme, and denied having an idea of what a doctor looks like. “If you just woke up from a coma and that was the first thing you saw,” he told the audience, “you’d ask Jesus to put you back in.”
At this point in the Trump era, does the Pope find any of this funny?