Chicago Archbishop Condemns White House's 'Horrifying' Video On Iran War

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Huff Post

Mar 9, 2026, 03:20 PM EDT


Cardinal Blase J. Cupich has joined a growing chorus of Catholic leaders in speaking out against President Donald Trump’s foreign policy moves.

Cupich, who has served as archbishop of Chicago since 2014, blasted the Trump administration’s insensitive messaging around the Iran war after the White House posted a video featuring clips of “Gladiator” and “The Matrix” and other movies spliced with actual Iran strike footage to social media last week.

“A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game — it’s sickening,” he wrote in a statement titled “A Call to Conscience” Saturday. “Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day. Six U.S. soldiers have been killed. They are also dishonored by that social media post.”

“This horrifying portrayal demonstrates that we now live in an era when the distance between the battlefield and the living room has been drastically reduced,” he continued.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chicago-archbishop-blase-cupich-trump-iran-war-video_n_69aec4a6e4b0c722e1e6074b?origin=home-latest-news-unit

[Permanut]

1. Over half of Catholics voted for Trump..

Maybe you should send them a sternly worded letter.

[blue_jay]

2. Little known fact, there's more than one type of Catholic, possibly 7, I didn't research completely could be more

Did a little deep dive because I just love polls so much and wonder how they could possibly be "accurate" when clearly not everyone could be polled or be forced to disclose their religious beliefs and political choices. And I hate to throw any group under the bus since as with all groups and people, there are better and worse ones, if you choose to categorize things in the world that way.

I'm actually happy that the Cardinals are calling this administation out and standing up for something. Found this Pew research study about the Trump Harris election and saw that white Evangelical Presbytarians were the most pro Trump so Catholics weren't the worst....
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/09/white-protestants-and-catholics-support-trump-but-voters-in-other-us-religious-groups-prefer-harris/
I don't know how reliable their data is but thought it was interesting. Sadly Leonard Leo and his Opus Dei Catholicism connection have tainted the Supreme court and given all Catholics a bad rap. Apparently Opus Dei is only 0.2% of all Catholics. That said, regardless of the type, too many would vote for or did vote for Trump but then again, too many people in general would or did vote for Trump regardless of their religious or non-religous beliefs.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. I think during Pope Francis' term

he was very selective in his Cardinal selections in order to counter the Nazi Pope Benedict XVI's influences and that probably helped to bring forth a Pope Leo IV, who is so far more liberal, and can continue the trend.

In every religion, there are always break-off groups/sects.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. MaddowBlog-In second week of the Iran war, the White House emphasizes 'fun' and meme videos

The president and his team have embraced a cavalier, anti-humanist attitude to matters of life and death.

Team Trump thinks the way to make the war popular is through meme videos apparently made by over-caffeinated children.

Perhaps the best thing you can say for this PR campaign is that it accurately embodies the pointless, slapdash amorality of the military offensive it’s meant to bolster.

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-12T20:36:27.585Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/in-second-week-of-the-iran-war-the-white-house-emphasizes-fun-and-meme-videos

At his political rally in Kentucky, Donald Trump told a curious story about Iranian ships destroyed by the U.S. military in recent days. According to the president’s version of events, he grew angry with his military leaders, asking, “Why the hell did we kill them? Why didn’t we just capture them and use them in our navy?”

Eventually, according to Trump, a U.S. general told him, “Sir, it’s a lot more fun doing it this way.”

Trump: "They knocked out 54 ships in two days. I got mad at my people. I said, 'Why the hell did we kill them? Why didn't we just capture them and use them in our Navy?' They said they wouldn't have qualified for that. One of my generals said, 'Sir, it's a lot more fun doing it this way.'"

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-11T21:12:41.267Z

.....There are a variety of adjectives that a wartime American leader should use when talking about this avoidable crisis. “Fun” isn’t one of them.

But by all appearances, the White House has come to a very different conclusion. As The New York Times reported:

On Feb. 28, the Trump administration launched war on Iran. The following week, it drafted Iron Man, Walter White and SpongeBob.

These characters, and many more figures from movies, TV, sports, music and video game memes, appeared in a series of short, trolling videos from the White House, on platforms including TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter), that reduce the war’s carnage and upheaval to flippant, dystopian amusements......

The president and his team, however, appear eager, almost gleeful, to be cavalier about matters of life and death in ways that are fundamentally at odds with basic human decency.

It’s as if the White House saw the evidence of widespread public opposition to the war and concluded the way to turn things around is through juvenile taunts and jokes an adult should be embarrassed to make.

I don’t know what, if anything, could improve public support for this inexplicable war, but if the president and his team could try acting like grown-ups for a while, it’d be a step in the right direction.

Perhaps the best thing you can say for this particular public-relations effort is that at least it accurately embodies the pointless, slapdash amorality of the military offensive it’s meant to bolster.