0
Maggie Haberman sees through the White House's latest strategy
April 17, 2026
Posted 2 hours ago by
Trump administration officials are increasingly employing religious symbolism to justify the Iran war and other unpopular policies, according to New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman. President Donald Trump posted an image depicting himself as a Christlike healer, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has framed the conflict in explicitly religious terms and quoted Bible verses during press updates, though one quote was actually dialogue from a Quentin Tarantino film.
Pope Leo XIV condemned warmongers who manipulate religion to justify violence.Vice President JD Vance, a recent Catholic convert, responded by warning the pope to be careful with criticism. Haberman suggested Vance faces complications given his sincere Catholic faith and upcoming book on religion, noting the conflict with the pope is not a winning debate for the administration.This is unlike anything really that we have seen in, in ever in the last, at least in the last 80 years and possibly, you know, ever in decades upon decades, Haberman said, explaining it goes off the rails by framing warfare as a religious mission. Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
Raw Story
Coverage and analysis from United States of America. All insights are generated by our AI narrative analysis engine.