‘Do not mock us’: Trump sparks anger with AI pope image

An AI-generated picture of US President Donald Trump dressed as the pope, shared by the White House, has been blasted as “sacrilegious”.

An AI-generated picture of US President Donald Trump dressed as the pope, shared by official White House social media accounts, has been criticised by some Catholics.

The image, which was jokingly shared on the White House’s X account and the President’s Truth Social, has topped tens of millions of views.

The image shows Mr Trump holding up his index finger as if about to preach ex cathedra — clad in the traditional bright white Catholic vestments with gold lining.

The controversial AI image of Donald Trump as the pope.

Donald Trump has been accused of mocking the Catholic faith. Picture: AFP

The New York State Catholic Conference accused Mr Trump of mocking the faith. The post comes as Catholics mourn Pope Francis and prepared to choose the next pontiff.

Just days ago, Mr Trump joked to reporters: “I’d like to be Pope.”

“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President,” the Empire State Catholic Bishops blasted the president.

“We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St Peter. Do not mock us.”

Former vice president Mike Pence’s speechwriter, Joshua Charles, posted: “Mr. President (@realDonaldTrump) — please cease this offensive and sacrilegious behaviour.”

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TRUMP STRIPS HARVARD OF TAX PERK

US President Trump said he is stripping Harvard University of its tax-exempt status.

“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” he said in a Truth Social post.

The move comes just weeks after the Trump administration froze US$2.2 billion in multiyear federal grants over the elite Ivy League school’s refusal to help stamp out alleged antisemitism and hate on campus.

At the time, Mr Trump had floated the possibility of targeting the prestigious Cambridge, Massachusetts, university’s tax-exempt status if it continued to push “political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’” on its students.

“Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” he said.

Demonstrators gather on Cambridge Common to protest Harvard's stance on the war in Gaza and show support for the Palestinian people, outside Harvard University in Cambridge. Picture: AFP

Tax-exempt status, which is decided by the Internal Revenue Service, enables universities to receive hefty financial gifts from the country’s richest donors who want to decrease their tax burdens.

President Trump also signed an executive order terminating federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

NPR and PBS, which have long been targeted for cuts by conservatives, both receive partial funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which the US president argued is unnecessary in the current media environment.

“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” Mr Trump wrote in the order.

“The CPB Board shall cease direct funding to NPR and PBS, consistent with my Administration’s policy to ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage,” he added.

“The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding.”

Mr Trump had previously called for NPR and PBS to be defunded in a March Truth Social post.

“NPR and PBS, two horrible and completely biased platforms … should be DEFUNDED by Congress, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote on March 27.

In his late-night order, the president argued that “Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage.”

President Donald Trump arrives at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida., Thursday, May 1, 2025. Picture: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

“No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidise.”

A White House fact sheet on the order suggested that the left-leaning networks’ output acts as a “significant in-kind contributions to the Democrat party and its political cause,” therefore violating the CPB’s legal mandate to be “non-political [in] nature.”

According to the New York Post, Mr Trump also tasked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with determining whether PBS and NPR “are complying with the statutory mandate that ‘no person shall be subjected to discrimination in employment … on the grounds of race, colour, religion, national origin, or sex.’”

“In the event of a finding of noncompliance, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall take appropriate corrective action,” the order read.

TRUMP OFFERS BUDGET PREVIEW

President Trump unveiled his 2026 budget outline, proposing cuts totalling US$163 billion to education, foreign aid funding, energy and environmental protection — while boosting defence spending to over US$1 trillion.

The $163 billion cut in non-defence discretionary spending is 22.6 per cent below current levels, according to an outline of the budget released by the White House.

Meanwhile, the president proposed an increase of more than US$113 billion for the Pentagon from 2025 levels, bringing the total to $1.01 trillion. The administration is also calling for US$175 billion “to, at long last, finally secure our border.”

The defence budget calls for the elimination of “woke” and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs; a down-payment on a “Golden Dome for America” missile defence system; and additional funds for shipbuilding, US space exploration, and next-generation F-47 fighter jets as well as a 3.8 per cent pay rise for US troops.

As part of Trump’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, at least US$500 million will be handed to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “to tackle nutrition, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, over-reliance on medication and treatments, the effects of new technological habits, environmental impacts, and food and drug quality and safety across HHS.”

SHEIN AND TEMU ON NOTICE

Temu has responded to the latest development in the US-China trade war by listing swathes of their products as “out of stock” for US consumers.

The United States on Friday ended a tariff exemption for goods shipped from China worth less than A$1240, dealing a major blow to popular e-commerce sites such as Shein and Temu, whose cheap items consumers have come to rely on.

The decision was announced last month, with the White House calling it a “critical step in countering the ongoing health emergency posed by the illicit flow of synthetic opioids” from China to the United States.

Starting on Friday, goods shipped commercially will now be subject to new tariffs of 145 per cent – the current level of levies imposed on goods coming from China.

Bargain shoppers in the US could soon see the prices at cheap Chinese shopping sites surge. Picture: AFP

American visitors to the Temu site can currently only see products which have already hit US shores and are stocked in warehouses.

The company also confirmed they are actively recruiting American merchants to sell their products.

Items sent through the US Postal Service will be hit with duties of 120 per cent of their value.

The elimination of the ‘de minimis’ exemption now subjects even low-value imports to tariffs,” EY chief economist Gregory Daco wrote in a recent note to clients, adding it would squeeze “already-thin margins and driving up end prices.”

However, Chinese e-commerce sites listed on the New York Stock Exchange were largely in the green on Friday, most likely reflecting optimism about trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington, and the fact that many of these changes were already priced into the financial markets.

An employee sorts out garments for the online Chinese e-commerce company Temu at a clothing factory in Guangzhou, in southern China. Picture: AFP

PDD, owner of Temu, was up 3.7 per cent, while Alibaba was up around 4.0 per cent.

China’s Commerce Ministry appeared to have softened its stance to negotiations in a new statement on Friday.

“The US has recently sent multiple messages to China through relevant parties, hoping to start talks with China. China is currently evaluating this,” the statement reads.

“The tariff and trade war was unilaterally initiated by the US, and if it wants to negotiate, it must demonstrate genuine sincerity — that includes being prepared to correct its wrongdoings and cancel its unilateral tariff hikes.

“China’s position remains consistent: If it’s a fight, we will see it through to the end. If it’s talk, the door is open.”

‘IN TROUBLE WITH MELANIA’: TRUMP MOCKS TRANS ATHLETE

President Trump jokingly impersonated a transgender athlete while discussing the hot-button topic – while joking that it would get him “in trouble” with his wife, first lady Melania Trump.

Mr Trump addressed the controversy surrounding transgender athletes competing in women’s sports during his commencement ceremony speech at the University of Alabama on Thursday night.

“The greatest is like weightlifting, you ever see the weightlifting? Where they have a record that wasn’t broken in 18 years,” he said before asking if he should break out his impersonation of the athletes despite his wife’s warning.

President Donald Trump imitates transgender weightlifters as he gives a commencement address at the University of Alabama. Picture: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

“Should I imitate him? My wife gets very upset when I do this. She says, ‘Darling, it’s not presidential,’ I say, ‘Yeah, but people like it,’” Mr Trump added.

“All right, I’m in trouble when I get home, but that’s OK, what the hell. I’ve been in lots of trouble before,” he joked.

The 78-year-old president created a scenario about a female weightlifter at a competition having trouble lifting an “eighth of an ounce” of weight before a “transitioned person” follows up.

“Mom, I’m gonna do it,” Mr Trump said while making high-pitched noises and showing off a unique form to lift the barbell.

In the made-up scenario, the female failed to clear the lift.

“Then a guy comes along or a gal or whatever,” Trump said. “A transitioned person and he was a failed weightlifter as a male, but he comes along 206 pounds, they put the little thing on and just ‘boom, boom, boom.’”

Trump showed off the ease of the transgender competitor, adding the athlete would break the record by “119 pounds.”

“That’s not right,” he said.

– with AFP

Originally published as ‘Do not mock us’: Trump sparks anger with AI pope image