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Right-wing radio host Ben Ferguson on Thursday questioned why Donald Trump wasn’t getting enough “credit” for his standard grade response to Pope Leo XIV becoming leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The president, in remarks outside the White House, called it a “great honor” for the pontiff to be the first ever born in the United States and later offered his congratulations on his Truth Social platform.
“I think that’s probably maybe a little different than what he would have said in 2016,” said Ferguson — co-host of the “Verdict” podcast with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — of the response in a CNN panel discussion on the new pope.
“You look at what he said, saying, ‘This is a great day.’ He actually took politics out of it as the president of the United States of America, which most people are wanting him to get involved politically,” he added.
Trump notably clashed with Pope Francis a number of times prior to his death, which he reacted to with a brief message on Truth Social.
Catholic leaders later slammed the president for sharing an AI-generated image of himself as the pope.
Bakari Sellers, a former South Carolina state representative also on the CNN panel, swiftly hit back at Ferguson’s take.
“That bar is extremely low and I think by setting the bar —,” Sellers, a Democrat, said.
“But can you give a little credit?” Ferguson interjected.
“No,” Sellers replied.
“So, in other words, even when Donald Trump does something right on the pope, you’re now saying, ‘I’m still going to criticize him’?” Ferguson replied.
“No, because, I mean, this is not an issue of politics. This is an issue of things like love and empathy and truth,” Sellers added.
“Then why don’t show some of that toward the president when he gets it right on a nonpartisan issue of the pope?” Ferguson said.
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“Because I’m not going to simply give you credit for coming out and doing something that you’re supposed to do,” Sellers stressed.
Ferguson: I think this is exactly why I think there's some people tonight that should give some credit to President Donald Trump for the way he responded…
Sellers: That bar is extremely low.. I’m not going to give you credit for doing something you’re supposed to do pic.twitter.com/sZwl3RZFhW
English (US) ·