SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to KBN Democracy News on the State Your Peace channel with Chris and Buzz. I'm Chris. Hi, I'm Buzz. And today we're going to be talking about Trump's escalating power grab. Now he's not just satisfied with the physical corporeal realm, right? We talked in episode two, I believe, about him taking over the leg the taking over the executive branch, taking over the legislative branch, uh, with having control over these uh senators and US representatives of the Republican Party and criticizing the judicial branch, anyone who judge who rules against him as lunatic left and so forth. But that wasn't good enough, was it, for Donald Trump. Now he's spreading his tendrils and web into the incorporeal metaphysical spiritual realm. He reminds me of like a giant spider. And these webs of his are just going everywhere. Not just the branches of government, but now his webs are spreading into this spiritual realm. And that takes us to this AI image posted by Trump where he appears to actually depict himself as Jesus Christ. I don't even like to say that. But this was posted April 12th, Sunday, by him on his and I don't even want to say truth social because this is like a red line for me, because it's not the truth. It's like some kind of Orwellian doublespee. War is peace, freedom is slavery, truth social is untruth. So I'm gonna call it probably from now on truthless social or Trump's untruth social or a various synonym. I just can't say it anymore. Because we get kind of affected by these things without realizing it, right? Kind of at a subliminal level, like advertising does. And by having to say that this is truth, it can just have really negative effects. All right. So today we're gonna talk about that image. We have interviews coming up for you with Leon Panetta, shared via Instagram, the former defense secretary and the former CIA director. Also, three men at a gas station and their reaction to these image, images, this image, I'm sorry. Also, Jon Stewart from the Daily Show is gonna weigh in, as well as Reverend and U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, Democrat from Georgia. Also later in the show, I'm gonna be making some comparisons with Trump involving Nietzsche, the German philosopher, and this idea of the will to power, the motivating force that guides some people, and his notion of this uh idea of someone being beyond good and evil. We're gonna talk about that later. I'm trying to figure out what Trump might be doing, whether he knows it or not. And this is just a theory of mine. I'm gonna pause it later in the show. But now let's look at this AI image that Trump posted April 12th on Truthless Social. And I'm looking at it now, and we have a large image of Trump in the center wearing a white long-sleeved tunic with wide sleeves, and then top that's topped with a red tunic or cloak draped over both shoulders, which is a common depiction of Jesus in Western art. Now, here we have, if we look at the image, this glowing yellowish white light that's radiating from one of Trump's palms. His other hand or palm is resting upon a prone man's forehead who is laying in a bed with his eyes closed. We see more glowing white light that's emanating from this touch of Trump's to the prone ill man's forehead. The light from Trump's touch radiates in all directions. And lots of symbols in here. Uh right, light, as we know, is a huge one associated with truth and good and God and Jesus. Behind the Trump figure and looking up at Trump, and that's important to show power, we have a woman whose hands appear to be clasped in prayer, looking up at Trump. Three other people in this image appear also to be looking up at Trump. Again, that angle, the power that's implied by that, right? And they seem to be looking up in quiet awe or reverence one at Trump. One appears to be a nurse, and there's also two military soldiers. Now, if you haven't seen this image in a while, or if you haven't seen it yet, in the upper left background, and we're going to get into more symbols here, is a huge American flag with an eagle flying in front of it. And the upper right background are several what appear to be fighter jets or military planes. Another eagle, and below this, what appears to be fireworks, uh maybe bombs, I'm not sure. You'll have to look at it yourself. And the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial. Now, in terms of symbols, right, we see lots of nationalist symbols here. Christ is a global figure, but we see it narrowed down to America here with the American flag and the eagles and uh so forth, right? Statue of Liberty. And then in the upper center, amidst the clouds in a faint white light, appear to be four to five small gray, faint human figures. Are these ghosts of dead soldiers floating in the clouds and sky? Is this supposed to be heaven? The center figure appears to have wings sprouting from its back. Now there's so much there. I just almost don't have the words to describe this. This power grab of Trump now actually spreading into the spiritual realm, the incorporeal realm. Power on earth was not good enough for him. Like this giant spider just spinning and sending his webs in all these directions. And when I saw this image, my initial reaction, I just froze. And I could actually feel in my upper arms a chill. And then my skin, I guess you would call it, got kind of goosebumpy. And sometimes it's good to listen to these non-verbal instinctual cues that we have to warn us of something like you know, don't open that door in that scary, haunted house. You might get chills. But that was my reaction, and I don't even like really talking about this. It's so blasphemous and so beyond the pale. It's just hard for me people to even have words. Now I'm gonna turn to Buzz and ask him, Buzz, what was your reaction when you first saw this eye image posted by Trump on Truthless Social April 12th? He left it up for about 13 hours before he took it down.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

Yeah, Chris. Um you did a great job describing the image, by the way. Um I I didn't really know what to think at first. Um we know that Trump uh likes attention, and I wasn't sure if it was it another just another attempt at some attention, but at a at a much more uh heartstopping scale.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

Um but you know I I I I was just kind of taken aback, honestly. Uh, you know, you look at something like that, uh, you we've seen so many other uh images, other AI images that he has um presented to the public, and then you see this, and you you just wonder um where is it going to end? Uh this was this was to say the least extreme. Um I think anyone that uh has a has a Christian mindset or just understands the the whole idea of uh minimizing um or or or taking um slight at uh religious figures and and religious uh religion in general, um it's got to bother you, uh whether whether you're a strong um believer or not. Um so I just you know I just I see this image, I I don't know what it's trying to say, honestly. It's just it's such a hodgepodge of information. Um you know, it's there's there's you know, you're in he's invoking military um elements. There's there's an attempt to invoke um medical, like medicine, you know, at the same time. So I'm not sure what he's what he's trying to to actually do there, Chris. It's it's it's yeah, yeah. I mean, it's it's like is he is the he's trying to portray, I guess, himself as certainly some sort of um higher figure, but and and and being able to heal, yeah. What were you gonna say? Yes. Power. Yeah, power. Um, certainly, you know, depicting some sense of power. But you know, there's a com again a combination of things. You're when you throw in the patriotism, the nationalistic element with the flag, you know, with the flag and the and the and the and the and the again the military components. But then you look down, and then there's again the the the the uh the healing side of it, both as what he's portraying, that he's trying to do to the prone figure, but you see also healers. You know, you see you see a nurse there, um, as if she's assisting this uh the uh Trump as a as this Christ-like figure. Um I think that I think that it's it's something that we are it's it's hard, it's almost difficult to say, but we're almost getting a nerd in some ways to this this outland these outlandish AIs that he's putting out there. And that's terrible, and that's bad. If if we get to to the point where we start accepting these things and say, oh, it's just Trump being Trump again, right? I you know, that's that's yes, that's true. It's Trump being Trump again, but it's just things that we at this level. Right, right. And and um, you know, I just I just have to shake my head. I have to um, you know, just part of me's not surprised, but it's like what's gonna be next, you know, what what what comes next after this?

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Right.

SPEAKER_04 13:26

What can we expect? And I know that you're gonna get into um some other uh aspects of this later um in this in this episode. But um, yeah, I just I just really hope that people, the right people, or not even the right people, people were offended by this. That they they haven't become so numb or so enamored with Trump to the point that his the the cult element to his his his presidency um is is is that so strong that people that of strong faith just try to rationalize it off because they're looking at oh the greater good that this man is doing potentially for them if they really believe it or not. And I I think that's that's that's very um uh I don't want to say scary, but it's scary. Yeah, it gives you it gives you pause and and that people just can't look at what they're seeing for what it is. Right. Not not just just pass it off again because it's it's the uh it's it's it's choosing between their cult leader or the other side, another party that's out there, other parties that are out there, mainly, of course, we always hear the the the Democratic left, but it's right they'd rather just accept this uh in some cases um and it and and everything that entails that that Trump um represents as as the Republican Party now.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Right, and I don't even want to say any more uh uh on that. And you know, when I after I froze, Buzzy Buzz, after I froze first seeing this image, it didn't take long for me just to feel anger. How dare you! Christ suffered so terribly, the pain and the agony of being nailed to a piece of wood, you know, or two pieces of wood, the cross, the pain and the anguish he felt and his mother felt, Mary, watching him go through that. How dare you portray yourself as that when you've had a silver spoon in your mouth your whole life, wealth. How dare you portray yourself as Jesus Christ? And like you said, how much further can this man go? Now, y'all, I'm going to uh basically introduce some more reactions to this AI uh post of Trump. And well, first we're gonna hear from Leon Panetta and get his reaction, the former director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense shared via Instagram. And he's speechless, and it takes him a few seconds when he's asked, what was your reaction to this AI image of Trump depicting himself as Jesus Christ? We talk about unhinged and unbridled ego. Let's get Leon Panetta's reaction now. Here we go.

SPEAKER_05 17:10

In the middle of this actual war, of the president has gotten into a verbal war with the Pope. Um he suggested that we always weak on crime, that he's terrible on foreign policy, that um he wouldn't be Pope without campaigning Donald Trump. And then he posted this photo, AI, depicting himself as a price-like figure healing the sick. I have to ask a poor White House Chief of Staff with multiple popes. What is your take on all of that?

SPEAKER_07 17:43

I 50 years over 50 years of public life, I've never seen anything like this. This is strange beyond belief to have a president of the United States uh criticizing a Pope and then doing the kind of uh paintings that he did uh portraying himself uh as Christ-like. This is unheard of. And you know, I'm a Catholic. Uh I'm very offended that the president uh would openly criticize the Pope. But more importantly, I think people of faith believe that religion is deeply private and deeply personal, and should not be political, and should not be used as an excuse for war. And behaving that way, I believe sends a message to the world that the United States and particularly the president are really not very credible in terms of what they're saying. And if you lose credibility as a president, you've lost the ability to lead this country.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

And that was Chris Jensing on MS Now interviewing Leon Panetta for his reaction to that AI post. I agree when he said, you know, strange beyond belief Trump posting this. And trying to he mentions using it as an excuse for war. Trying perhaps to co-op or exploit Jesus' image for war. That Jesus is on the side of war, and we're gonna talk later about uh the Pope and his view on this and the supposed feud between him and Trump. But I thought that was a very good interview. What about you, Betz?

SPEAKER_04 20:00

Yeah, I I I agree with everything he said. Um I think it was interesting that he he it took him a little bit to get started. I think even though he knew he was going to be asked that question, I'm assuming when he was asked to appear on that uh episode with Chris Jansen, um, you know, it took him a little bit to actually think about it because I I really believe he probably is still, as he's as he's trying to explain how he feels about it, just with the impact it had on him, it it just it took him a little bit to get going. Did you notice that?

SPEAKER_00 20:32

I noticed that too. He was like shocked and and and hard for him to get the words because he was speechless, as a lot of us then.

SPEAKER_04 20:41

Well, and I mean I think because he's he comes from times being involved in government where there was some sanity, there was there was some reason, there was some uh uh pragmatism that existed. This administration doesn't have any of that. They're on their own course. Uh uh they have some other uh means to an end kind of uh uh approach to things like that. Right, like a Machiavellian kind of view. Exactly. And I think he just it just that as an underlying thing, it's just really hard to even grasp that that you would have to even talk about this. That our people in our government and never um never never mind that it's the president, it's just that that his his people just just don't don't don't activate, don't point out or don't there's no filters, is what I'm trying to say. There's no one filtering anything.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

They're afraid to contradict him or you know suggest more sane kind of approaches to things. Yeah, they're afraid of him.

SPEAKER_04 21:51

Yeah, yeah. Um, I you know, I I I I really was, you know, I think that was a good piece he did, but um did um what

SPEAKER_00 22:00

anything were there wasn't was there anyone notes that you were gonna add that i would uh like now uh for us to also hear some interviews with three men at a gas station oh that should be interesting yeah their reaction to this ai post and this is shared uh via ms now and three of these men I think one or two of them they're identify themselves as Christians and one as uh a Trump voter who voted for him and how he felt about this and he looked kind of pained and disappointed and this is a Trump supporter okay so why don't we hear these three men at the gas station who are gonna be asked the reaction to Trump's AI post on uh Truthless Social.

SPEAKER_06 22:56

What do you make of this? Uh firstly it's disgusting I talked to my wife about it earlier. I mean I Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior and that right there is I mean that's I I I don't really have words for that. That's disgusting.

SPEAKER_04 23:09

I have a question how do you feel like stuff and a little bit a little bit I thought those interviews were interesting didn't you buzz I did I did I think though they those people spoke from from their hearts from the heart I really you know anyway I go ahead get go ahead would you think about them first and I'll go ahead and chime in in a second.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Right this was on Saki's show for her segment titled Immaculate Deception and the three men who spoke the last man you know he said it stung yeah a little and then the two men that identified themselves as Christians at one was wearing a black tank top and he looked disappointed and ashamed that he had voted for for Donald Trump. But Trump doesn't care if he hurts people's feelings or he has such an unbridled ego and I remember Buzz once you told me that his ego can't contain him anymore. He's spreading his tendrils like a spider spider's web not only into the physical realm of earth this corporeal realm but into the incorporeal realm now trying to think or portray himself as Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

I can't believe I'm even saying your reaction well I mean we're we're we're talking about what we're what we're hearing and what we're witnessing witnessing yep we're witnessing history people yes I mean it's it's uh I just I just have to sometimes just um wonder if I'm waking up in in in in a in a real world here it's so surreal at times surreal surprise but um but going back to the the the the interviews um you know at you know they were these were I these from what I noticed they looked very spontaneous. The reporter was just reaching out think at a gas station yeah exactly and I don't think it was I don't think there was any really prep and I I now you know it'd be interesting to to know um if if there were any interviews conducted with some other folks um that maybe didn't see a problem with it because again going back to what I said earlier there are people whether it's they're being hypocrites or whatever whatever it is that they're gonna they're going to stick with their cult leader. I mean yeah and and I think I think Chris we talked about that um later later in the future we we we do want to do a show uh an episode on on the the the the issue that this is a cult and I think we'll I think we'll we'll we'll determine that it's by definition that that we're so what we're seeing is a cult. So you know does that make it excusable? No but you know people people find a way to rationalize rationalize things and I I I I yeah I've got to really hand it to these guys these these excuse me these folks that that were interviewed it on camera and um they they spoke honestly from honestly on on on how they felt about it's nice to have some honesty yes and you could see the pained looks in their faces and I felt bad for them.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Yeah I you know because they were let down and and did and disappointed right right you know um so thank you for your reactions um there buzz it it's just hard to believe we're in this situation in 2026. Now the White House response to this present um Trump's response to this he took the post down about 13 hours later and his explanation when asked about the Trump uh Jesus post was that he thought the AI image was him quote unquote as a doctor now let's get uh buzz on this um buzz uh what did you think of Donald Trump's reaction saying he thought it was depicting him as a doctor oh uh I just I guffod I guess it was it that was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 27:35

I think by then he'd already already heard enough criticism about it and he was trying to smooth it over uh I saw the inter the quick little interview the reporter asked him about it and when he said that he thought it he always thought it was a doctor uh he was being a doctor in that uh in that uh AI image and I just was like yeah you're just trying to to to smooth it over it because you you I'm in my head I'm thinking he knows what he was trying to say there right and and you told me once before Buzz that a lot goes into making an AI image I always thought it was like I don't know much about AI like Photoshop where you move this over here and added this from a list over here but there's more to it than that right well you know and I'm certainly not an AI aficionado um but from what I understand and what little I've used of it say chat GPT um and there's a couple other ones I tried you basically depending on how much detail you ask AI um you give it information it will generate uh images it'll it'll generate and and and it and it what you can do is you can build off even those images so if Trump got if he asked something very basic like hey um you know uh depict the President Donald Trump as as as Jesus Christ um and if he if he said something about and uh as it as it applies it to to patriotism and nationalism with with uh military components if he said something like that it may have generated a picture like that.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Interesting so it you have to be very detailed to ask it questions to get it to produce an AI image right well the more detailed you are the the the the closer it's gonna create an image that you're that it thinks you want. Have you ever had a doctor appear in anything like uh Trump in this AI image with uh light emanating from the the doctor's hand or anything like that or wearing a robe no no of course not so you know okay i think I think we all know what um he was he was trying to do there yeah exactly now I'm gonna read a few of um U.S. Senator responses uh to this image uh these are Republicans and some of these are lukewarm and and some are stronger Senator Josh Hawley Republican from Missouri expressed quote there's only one Jesus close quote and suggested Trump should stick to that Senator Josh Curtis Republican Utah stated he found the image quote unquote offensive as a Christian and expressed hope that the post was removed and Senator Cynthia Loomis a Republican Wyoming Wyoming from Wyoming merely described the image as quote unquote ill-advised now Senator Tom Tillis Republican North Carolina spoke to this explanation of Trump intending to be depicted as a doctor and he said he took Trump's explanation being a doctor that it was meant to that he took it in quote unquote space that okay but implied quote it never should have been posted close quote okay so that's some feedback we get from the Republicans in the Senate. What I want to do now is play an audio clip of Jon Stewart from the Daily Show reacting to this that was shared via YouTube and let's go ahead and hear that now and he's gonna bring up this idea of Trump telling us that it was meant to depict him as a doctor and it also includes an interview with Trump when a reporter asks him about that Jesus AI image. Okay? Here we go.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

Not everyone in the Christian community took too kindly to Trump portraying himself this way and the backlash was bad enough that Trump was forced to come up with his own incredibly plausible cover story.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Mr President did you post that picture of yourself depicted as Jesus Christ well it wasn't a picture it was me I've I did post it and then I thought it was me as a doctor you got like do you even care about mind dumps anymore?

SPEAKER_03 32:54

Is it over is this relationship gone still? Your moms used to have a real spot deleting the cats and dogs Venezuela stole the 2020 election and now the best you've got is I'm a doctor you need to find your happy place and fast.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

We expect better lives sir and can I just remind you Mr.

SPEAKER_03 33:25

President we're in the middle of a grinding war with Iran can you just address that in a straightforward way with the American people without all this other weird shit going on? Can you just do that once?

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Okay thank you John Stewart from the Daily Show. I got a kick out of that hopefully some of y'all uh did too and let's go to the mailbag and our email address is uh Buzzy you want to take that uh stateyourpiece channel at gmail.com all small letters and this is from Bobby from Danville Virginia and he entitles it um AI Messiah Reaction quote I think it's pretty clear that he was trying to cast himself as a messianic figure he is obviously delusional enough to believe that his base would respond well to that which they fortunately have not I was immediately sickened by the image and reminded that there is apparently no depth to which he will not go to make himself feel important and significant while devastating the world around him he makes a mockery of every sacred institution in this country from religion to the rule of law interesting comments insightful thank you Bobby from Danville Virginia okay and now we're gonna look at two polls that were taken recently and this kind of speaks to what our letter writer Bobby from Danville Virginia was saying that Trump is obviously delusional enough to believe that his face would respond uh well to that but fortunately they have not this AI image depicting him as this messianic figure depicting him as uh Jesus now the two polls these are Washington Post ABC News Ipsos polls from April 24th up to 28 and a plus or minus two percentage uh points we don't know uh we don't know uh in terms of uh the population uh the numbers that were given here uh the survey population uh poll one asks uh Trump hosting an image appearing to depict himself as Jesus do you have a positive or negative reaction negative 87% positive nine percent that's interesting and uh this one I think is even more interesting the second poll asked the same question of people but this was asked only among 2024 uh Trump voters and again we don't know the uh sample size but so same question Trump posting an image appearing to depict himself as Jesus do you have a positive or negative reaction among 2024 Trump voters those having a negative reaction eighty percent those having a positive reaction sixteen percent and that's kind of interesting how could sixteen percent of Trump voters have a positive reaction to depicting himself as Jesus and a friend told me that she's had fellow Christians tell her that they believe Trump some of them that Trump is the savior I just this is so hard to believe that that's gross. Okay and our last interview for today people this is an audio clip shared via Instagram and it's from U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock Democrat Georgia who is also a reverend and he's gonna speak about the importance of not staying silent on this Christians and other people with morals and ethics who believe in the truth and why don't we go ahead and hear him and then we'll make a couple of comments on the other side. Okay? Here we go.

SPEAKER_08 38:15

So I want to speak directly to Christian leaders who have been carrying water for Donald Trump. Why do you sit silent while he makes a mockery of the faith? While in recent days he blasphemes the faith even depicting himself as Jesus Christ represents the opposite of everything Jesus Jesus said as much as you religion using religion to comp for compassion for love of labor for justice for truth telling and if you sit silently while this continues when does your silence become complicity yes uh Reverend Warnott makes an interesting point by staying silent when does silence become complicity that that was very interesting.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Okay now moving on here uh people I have to bring up uh Trump and Pope Leo's alleged feud over the US Israel war on Iran now on May 7th um a couple few days ago Secretary of State Rubio visited the Vatican to meet with the Pope maybe to manage tensions we're not sure and also gave him some kind of glass or crystal was it a football baseball something uh like that but he headed over there and they spoke for about 45 uh minutes um a couple of days ago on May the 7th now just to refresh our memory memories remember on Trump's truthless social post of April 7th we've dealt with episode one of that where Trump threatened quote a war a whole civilization will die tonight well Pope Leo's response he declared Trump's threat as quote unquote truly unacceptable close quote and quote a moral question close quote rather than just a political one and this angered Trump leave leading Trump to verbally attack the Pope now on this and Trump's response to this from Trump's truthless social post he said a few things on this and he says quote and this is uh coming from his April 12th truthless social posts I'm just gonna read pieces of it Pope Leo is weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy he talks about quote unquote fear of the Trump administration and a little further down I like his brother Lewis much better than I like him because Lewis is all MAGA. He gets it and Leo doesn't exclamation point a little further down Leo should be thankful because as everyone knows he was a shocking surprise he wasn't on any list to be Pope and was put there by the church because he was an American and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump if I wasn't in the White House Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican and then he continues on a little bit saying Leo's weak on crime weak on nuclear weapons and then near the end Leo should get his act together as Pope use common sense stop catering to the radical left now we know you know popes are supposed to be against war and violence and supposed to be pro-peace now on April eighteenth Saturday Pope Leo was asked what he thought about Trump's comments in Trump's truthless social post and the Pope said quote that it was quote not in my interest at all close quote to debate Trump and he added he had no quote no fear of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of The gospel. Okay, and I I want to get a quick reaction from Buzz on that. What'd you what how did you take Pope Leo's response or this whole perceived, you know, kind of argument?

SPEAKER_04 44:14

I I think really the Pope was being very cautious. Uh, we've seen that you you can't have a sane debate or discussion with Donald Trump. Yeah. I I don't think that no matter what the Pope would have said or tried to uh defend himself or or counterpoint to what Trump had said, uh it would it would have just continued on. Trump would not have let it drop, and it would have made uh Pope Leo seem more vulnerable, uh maybe more superficial, uh more reactionary. He he had this he had to stick to his his uh position in terms of there's there is a certain level of of uh strength and uh he he puts out he has to create a a very strong uh impression and and and persona. And uh by if he would have by potentially going back and forth with Trump on such idiotic statements that Trump had made that you just read, Chris, uh it it would have gotten nowhere. So I think he did the right thing. I think he tried to just make a few statements.

SPEAKER_00 45:34

The Pope did the right thing?

SPEAKER_04 45:35

Yes, yes, exactly. I think he I think he he needed to not drag this out and just let it rest because we know Trump moves on to the next thing that irritates him and he forgets very quickly until he circles back around. And so we may see him circle back around and go after the Pope again, but for the most part, uh I I I agree with what the Pope did.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Okay, thank you for that those uh reactions, Buzz. I myself was felt a little differently when all this was going on. I I was really and I I was upsetting, and uh I woke up and I checked the news on my phone, and it said something to the effect on CNN. Um Pope Leo steps into the ring uh with Donald Trump, and I felt glad, I felt relieved, it's like good, uh, some kind of religious leader, you know, is gonna put this guy in his place. Right now, because we don't want this to be, I, you know, and there's a big debate here, oh, during World War II, during the Nazi regime, Pope Urban the Twelve I'm sorry, Pope Pius XII, he decided to stay neutral. Um, did not want to go against Hitler because he felt he could help more people by not having the wrath of Hitler come down on him and shutting him down. And there's a big debate on that. Should, you know, the should Pope Pius have, you know, done more uh to help the Jews during that time? And I don't know, that that's a big question. There's a lot of uh debate um on that. Okay, now one other thing I wanted to ask is taken together this attack on the Pope and the AI image of Trump as Christ, do you think Trump believes in anything? Does he have any heartfelt moral, ethical, religious, honest beliefs, ideals, values, you know, that one would make sacrifices for because one truly believes in something? What do you think?

SPEAKER_04 47:59

Oh, I can I can only go on what I've seen. I I don't I've not seen any indication that he has any real faith. I think he um he has a belief and faith in wealth and money and power. Um I I think those those though that's what makes him who he is. That's that's what he's about. Now, we never can get into a person's head and and we can't, it's hard to question their overall faith in anything, but I just I really don't I really have not seen any indication of it since he's become a political figure for the last 10 years, you know, back when he uh ran uh ran and won his first term. I've not seen anything indicated. There's there have been little uh attempts maybe when it when it made sense to try to appeal to the evangelical base, maybe, or that he you know, that he does get a lot of support from and just key times, but I think those were all just um instrumental uh uh ploys to to uh garner um um uh support.

SPEAKER_00 49:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 49:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

Okay, yeah, interesting. And on that note, something that occurred in January that that stuck out to me at the time was this New York Times interview, a rare interview with Trump, where he was basically asked what was the only thing that could stop him? Was there something that could constrain his power as commander in chief? And on topic after topic, Trump made clear that he would that he would be the arbiter of any limits to his authorities, not international law, not treaties. The headline of the article was Trump lays out a vision of power restrained, quote, only by my own reality. I'm sorry, only by my own morality. And this is chilling to me, because if only your own morality is gonna constrain you. And the whole quote was when when he was Trump was asked this in the New York Times, if there were any limits on his global powers. Mr. Trump said, quote, yeah, there is one thing, my own morality, my own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me. Wow. He added, I don't need international law. Okay? Yeah. Now that's just so chilling. And this takes us back to what I mentioned in the first part of the show. This Friedrich Nietzsche idea, the 19th-century German philosopher who talked about and wrote about this will to power that he believed all humans had. It was this drive for power and more and more power, and believed Christianity held people back and considered it quote unquote slave morality. And he believed that there was this thing called the Ubermensch. Ubermensch. And translated from the German, it means Uber, like the car, over, above, a super, beyond. And this idea of living beyond good and evil. So Ubermensch, this supernatural man, this superman. Now, not like you know, this the comic book character, DC with Superman flying around in his blue outfit and red cape, helping others because he's a good guy.

SPEAKER_04 52:02

Superhero, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:03

Right, not a superhero. But this Ubermensch, it's scary to me because you're anyone who who follows, like to him, and there's lots of different ways to interpret Nietzsche on this Ubermensch idea. But for Trump, I don't know if he's ever read Nietzsche at all, but he seems to have this kind of Superman ideal about idea of himself, being above everyone else, being superior to everyone else. His arrogance, his power grab, his greed, wealth, affluenza, egotistical, all of this. And to him, people who follow morality are suckers, and it's easy to take advantage of these rubs. That's how much of an inflated ego, megalomiacal, one could say, that Trump seems to believe that he is better than everyone else. Now, during Hitler's time, the Nazis warped Nietzsche's interpretation of the Superman, the Ubermensch. And for Hitler and the Nazis, it was like plural ubermenschets, the Aryan race. They were superior, you know, to all other races. In this case, I think unhinged Trump looks at himself as superior to everybody, to morals, to laws, to other individuals. And he looks at it, how can I take advantage of them? And I want to end today with this notion of the Ubermensch, with the Leopold and Loeb case. It was a murder case that happened in 1924 in Chicago, in which two prodigies, brilliant, Leopold could speak five languages. They were the youngest, some among the youngest graduates at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan, wealthy teenagers, 18 and 19 years old, very intelligent. And they decided just for thrills that they were going to commit the perfect murder because they were bored. So basically they drove around, they bought the materials, and they were looking for a kid who wouldn't be too hard to handle. And at random they came across 14-year-old Bobby Franks, their victim, lured him into their car, their rented car under an assumed name, with the promise of looking at a tennis racket. Within a minute of when he got in the car and they turned that corner, they murdered him with a chisel. Why? Why? What is the point of that? And these were early kind of sociopaths. They never expressed remorse for their crime. They were cold. They didn't care. They thought of themselves as this Ubermansch, this superman above morality, above good and evil. All those quaint little concepts. That's how arrogant they were. And I think that's very scary with all their wealth, everything they had, they just did it for thrills. These this was an early thrill killing. Now, not all sociopaths are murderers, we know that. Because they're above all that. They're superior. Ubermensches, and they don't care. And this just struck me as a possible parallel with Trump, whether he's read Nietzsche or not. And it just gave me pause to think. Okay, and I believe that brings us to a close for this episode. Did you have anything you wanted to add, Buzz?

SPEAKER_04 56:42

No, I I think uh I think we covered quite a bit in this program. Um, and uh hope it gives people some food for thought. I also recommend looking up some of the uh information you provided, Chris. Uh let our our listeners can can can look up some of this information and and and gather, get more out, get more information.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

Uh oh, on that note, I I forgot to mention um y'all, on this Leopold and Loeb Superman kind of situation, Alfred Hitchcock's movie Roke also uh covers this. Two bright, bright, rich young men who just decide, you know, to kill someone for the thrill of it to see if they can get away with it. Because they're beyond good and evil in their minds.

SPEAKER_04 57:29

That's an ex that's an excellent movie. That's a that's a great example.

SPEAKER_00 57:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:34

I think we would recommend everyone try to see that uh uh at this point.

SPEAKER_00 57:37

I'm gonna watch it again. It's been a while.

SPEAKER_04 57:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

Okay, well, that um concludes our episode today. Um, you guys on Trump's escalating power grab and Christ. And it's hard to believe that we're here, and we were even talking about these things in 2026, and it sounds like old Roman emperors, as Buzzy talked about in a in a previous episode. And, you know, like another thing real quick, he's gonna have his face appear on the passport.

SPEAKER_04 58:11

Yeah, well that's that's that's a whole nother discussion now.

SPEAKER_00 58:17

So why don't we just end it there? And I hope everybody has a good week. Please feel free to write to us at StateYourPeace channel at gmail.com, all small letters. Share your ideas for future shows, what you thought of the show, and um state your piece. And we appreciate you listening to us here at KBN Democracy News.

SPEAKER_04 58:44

And please, um, when you choose your podcast source uh where you're gonna listen to us, please try to follow us so you'll be able to know when episodes are available to be listened to.

SPEAKER_00 58:58

Yes, that will be helpful, and we're planning uh for the next episode to drop in a in a couple weeks.

SPEAKER_04 59:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 59:05

Okay. Well, thank you so much, uh, listeners, and I hope everyone has a wonderful uh week. Thank you, Buzz.

SPEAKER_04 59:13

Thank you. Thank you, Chris.