MM#478--Trump, Reagan and Two Popes

Trump And Pope Leo Clash

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to the Theory to Action Podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.

Reagan And John Paul’s Shared Mission

Media Incentives And Leadership Ego

China, The Vatican Pact, And Silence

Naming Evil And The 1989 Proof

A Direct Challenge And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. This is a video and audio podcast. President Trump just called Pope Leo XIV weak on crime, terrible for foreign policy, and told him to stop being a politician and be a great Pope. Leo fired back from the papal plane, I have no fear of the Trump administration. And the most regrettable one, contact your senators and representatives today. Welcome to 2026, folks. Trump's true social blast came right after Leo's pleas for a ceasefire in Iran and his digs at the US for neocolonial wars. And then Trump layers it with a deleted AI Christ-like image. Yep, you heard that right. AI Jesus with Trump's face. Only in our day and age. I can't make this up. But here's the real question. When the Pope and the President are at each other's throats, who is winning? Is it the guy with the memes or the guy with the mitre? It's an unpopular take, but I say no one. No one is winning. The Pope or the US President. They're both losing in the exchange. Only the mainstream press wants this to keep going. They want to get the clicks. They want the division. Division creates news. So today I want to contrast this current mess, dumpster fire, if you will, of the last week with a time when two giants, two real leaders, Ronald Reagan and John Paul II, actually teamed up to topple an empire. Because looking at how they handled the Soviets versus how we're handling China today, not Iran, China, it's a masterclass in what we are missing. We're talking about China again, not Iran in this video. Now Ronald Reagan and John Paul II didn't just tolerate each other. As Paul Kangor writes in his masterful book, A Pope and a President, they were kindred souls, kindred spirits, really thought alike, even religiously thought alike, even prayed together. That's a Protestant and a Catholic. Think about that. They didn't just have a meeting, they had a mission. And in 1981, both men were shot, assassination attempts within weeks of each other. When they finally met in 1982, Reagan told the Pope that both were spared by Providence for the same fight, the fight against communism. Picture that. Two guys who took bullets now working together to end Eastern European communism. Just gives me chills. Contrast that today, and we have both leaders who are distracted. Trump calls Leo weak. Leo calls out Trump's delusion of omnipotence. There's no prayer there. They're just back and forth post. China's puppet state is Iran. Trump doesn't seem to want to know this or doesn't want to confront knowing this. Contrast all of that with Reagan and the Pope who saw communism as the real spiritual poison. Again, going back to our author Paul Kengore, he captures the clarity they both had when he writes this. The truth is that communism and atheism are intrinsically related, and that one cannot be a good communist without being an atheist. And every atheist is a potential communist. And here's another great quote. Both men came perilously close to death. Both believed that they had saved, they had been saved by divine providence, so that they could accomplish a sacred mission, the defeat of atheistic communism. Now, this quote really hits home on the heart of Paul Kangor's book. It shows that Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan didn't just see their survival as luck, they truly believe God had a divine plan for them to team up and to pull the Soviet system apart piece by piece. Two great leaders on the world stage actually seeing eye to eye on one of the major evils of their day. You see, first principles are at work here. No temper tantrum, no running to the microphone at every chance, at every press gaggle, just to get the reporters ginned up. The legacy press wants both men to be fighting Pope Leo and Donald Trump. Sadly, the Pope and the President are feeding in to that very media frenzy. Now, if you're enjoying this deep dive into history and leadership, do me a favor. Hit that subscribe button. It helps out our small channel. We're building an academy here for people who want to understand the why behind the news headlines and all the context and history behind today's news. And then want to go beyond that for the deeper dive. That's what this YouTube channel is all about. Going behind the headlines with the great books of our day. Now, leadership multiplies and is compounded when a U.S. president and a pope can align on truth instead of canceling each other out. Both Reagan and Pope St. John Paul II and their partnership crushed atheistic communism. But look at China today. This is where Leo and Trump are repeating the exact mistakes that Reagan and John Paul II avoided. Since 2018, the Vatican has had this secret pact with Beijing. Beijing picks the bishops. Rome just nods. Underground Catholics, the ones loyal to the Pope and Holy Mother Church for many, many decades, they're now being pressured to join this state church and are being thrown under the bus. Heroes like Jimmy Lai are rotting in jail. Jimmy Lai has been in a Hong Kong cell since 2020 for the crime of running a newspaper. Where's the outrage? The Vatican continually says no comment. Critics call it a betrayal. Whispering deals while people are disappearing. That's not diplomacy. That's surrender. And Trump? Trump, he talks tough on trade and tech, sure. But where's the Reagan style moral call out from that US president? Where's the focus on the religious prisoners? He tweets about everything. And even he has two prominent Catholics in his cabinet, and no one can focus this US president to say anything about China. Why? Because we gotta make a deal. Making a deal is what we're all consumed about. Here's the deal. The deal is communism and socialism have killed more people in the history of the world than any other grotesque ideology. Let's call evil for evil. That's the deal. Reagan and John Paul II named the evil. Reagan funneled the cash, John Paul II preached the fire, and they did it without needing a spotlight. Going back to the book, philosophically, this is Kengore's book, philosophically, the two leaders shared an understanding of the reinforcing relationship of faith and freedom, the importance of ordered liberty, and the evil of atheistic, totalitarian communism. What a great quote. The U.S. and the Vatican have a great deal in common on many issues. They have a shared conviction that human liberty is a blessing from God, and that the communist system's desire to crush religion and the human soul was and is an inherent evil. Now Ken Gore notes in his great book that Ronald Reagan kept a sign on his desk that read, There's no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit. Reagan didn't need the credit. He just needed a conscience and direction, and John Paul II gave him that exact advice. Today we've got too much ego and not enough conscience, and certainly not enough humility. Now, this isn't just a theory. We know this in fact works. Why? Because we saw the results in 1989. When Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate and shouted Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall, most in the State Department elite thought, whoa, he's being too aggressive. They wanted a nuance in the speech, you know, just nibble around the edges. Don't offend anyone, certainly don't do that. Don't confront anyone by all means. But Reagan had the Pope in his corner, and John Paul II had already ignited the fire in Poland with his solidarity movement back in nineteen seventy nine. Pope Saint John Paul II told his people then be not afraid. You've got the leader of the free world providing the funding and the pressure, and the vicar of Christ providing the moral courage and the boots on the ground. It was a pincer movement on that Soviet soul. Together, they didn't just manage communism. They ended it. They broke the back of the Eastern European tyrannies and the Soviet puppet states. And when that wall came down, it wasn't a fluke of history. It was the final act of a partnership built on absolute clarity. As Paul Kengore finalizes in this wonderful book, quote, they believed their lives had been spared for a special purpose, which they translated into a joint effort to take down atheistic Soviet communism. And their dagger to make that happen would be Poland, the wedge that both men believed could pierce and ultimately split the Soviet Empire. That quote captures the actual strategic mission between both great leaders, illustrating how they viewed the Holy Father's homeland of Poland and its solidarity movement, and the ultimate vulnerability that would unravel that entire communistic bloc. That's the secret in our title for today. They didn't compromise with evil, they outcompeted it, and they certainly outprayed it. Today we got a president posting AI Jesuses and a Pope whispering secret deals with Beijing. We're missing the blueprint of Reagan and John Paul II and what they left us. That blueprint works. They showed us that when the church and the state align on a certain issue, the side of human dignity and freedom walls actually fall. Empires actually crumble. When you have a Pope and a president aligned on the moral evils of the day, real leadership emerges. So here's my question for President Trump and Pope Leo. Are you willing to put the egos aside and fight together for the faithful in China? Ten billion Catholics? Or are we just going to watch those people be sold out? Both men need to praise each other for the good that both men have done. Trump now has a ceasefire with Iran. Great. Leo can thank the president. Likewise, even more importantly, President Trump can thank the Holy Father for his steadfast views on the pro life movement, on human solidarity and his wonderful service to the church and the poor over as many years. All good things. There's no need to pick fights between leaders. If either of them has a beef, take it up in private. That's what ambassadors are for. That's what diplomats have done since the beginning of time. Not everyone needs to see the dirty laundry. Disagreements can remain in private. John Paul II and Ronald Reagan had disagreements, and yet both men were real leaders, giants during their day and age. We need to see that same real leadership, not temper tantrums. Now I know this is an unpopular opinion, but what say you? Let me know in the comments. Now, as for this book by Paul Kengore, a Pope and a President, it's fantastic. I cannot recommend it more highly. Now, if you want to go deeper into the minds that shaped Western civilization, you need to look at a Catholic man, Fulton J. Sheen, who will be declared blessed this coming September, and check out this video where I outlined my favorite three Fulton Sheen books. I will see you over there, and as always, keep fighting the good fight.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademy.com, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo up.