IT IS probably unprecedented in American electoral history for the world’s most influential religious leader and the world’s most powerful political leader to both criticise, in the same week, a presidential candidate. On February 17th President Barack Obama said at a press conference in California that he continues to believe that Donald Trump would not become president, because it’s “a serious job”, not a bit like hosting a talk or reality show. And on February 18th, Pope Francis, on his way back from a six-day visit to Mexico, said in reply to a question about how voters should react to Mr Trumps’ plans to expel undocumented immigrants and to fortify America’s southern border with a wall, that “a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian”.
Have the pope and Mr Obama, who have maintained a cordial relationship since the pontiff helped to bring about talks between the American and Cuban government, hurt Mr Trump’s presidential ambition with their remarks? Or have they inadvertently done him a favour? Mr Trump thrives on confrontation. Shortly after...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1Kwzn0p
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