From the Pope to Netanyahu: Trump’s insults directed at world leaders

20 January 2026. Macron declines the invitation to join the Board of Peace. Trump: ‘Nobody wants him because he’ll soon be out of office.’

17 June 2025. After leaving the G7, Trump rants on Truth: ‘Whether intentional or not, Emmanuel is always wrong. Stay tuned!’. Elsewhere in the post, he writes: “French President Emmanuel Macron, always seeking publicity, has wrongly claimed that I left the G7 summit in Canada to return to Washington and work on a ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Iran. Wrong! He has no idea why I’m heading to Washington now, but it certainly has nothing to do with a ceasefire. It’s about something much bigger.”

9 April 2026. Commenting on the war with Iran, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claims that Tehran is ‘humiliating’ Washington at the negotiating table. Trump responds on Truth, accusing him: ‘He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!’

19 March 2026. “Why did the United States give no warning to its allies, including Japan, regarding the joint attack with Israel on Iran?” a Japanese journalist asked Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Trump replied that he wanted “the element of surprise”, quipping: “Who knows more about surprises than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me anything about Pearl Harbor?” Causing considerable embarrassment, Trump referred to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military port in Hawaii, launched by surprise by the Japanese Empire against the United States on 7 December 1941. Not only did the event mark the United States’ entry into the Second World War, but it also resulted in more than 2,000 American deaths.

21 January 2026. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump addressed the Canadians: ‘I saw your Prime Minister yesterday. He didn’t seem very grateful; Canada should, in fact, be grateful to the United States. Canada exists thanks to the United States.’

9 February 2026. Trump comments on Truth: ‘Prime Minister Carney wants to strike a deal with China, which will devour Canada alive. We’ll be left with nothing but the scraps!’

10 March 2026. On Truth, Trump referred to the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, as ‘Governor Carney’, alluding to his well-known desire to annex Canada and incorporate it as the 51st state of the United States.

25 May 2018. Even during his first term, there was no shortage of attacks on Canada, represented at the time by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Trump and Trudeau spoke on the phone about potential US tariffs. Making an incorrect reference to the War of 1812, Trump asked Trudeau: ‘Wasn’t it you who burnt down the White House?’ In reality, it was British troops who set fire to the White House after the Americans had attacked York, in Ontario, which was a British colony at the time.

23 May 2018. Trump on Truth, speaking about negotiations on tariffs, criticising Trudeau: “It’s been very difficult to negotiate with Canada… they’re really spoilt”

15 March 2018. Trump recounts, in a dismissive tone, a conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The US President had claimed that Canada had a trade surplus with the United States, even though he did not know whether the figures were correct. Admitting that he had contradicted Trudeau without checking the figures, he said: ‘I had no idea; I simply told him he was wrong.’ The comment was interpreted as a mockery of the Canadian leader.

1 June 2026. During a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which took place following attacks between Israel and Iran, Trump lost his temper and went so far as to say to him: ‘You’re completely mad. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your arse. Now everyone hates you. Everyone hates Israel because of this.’ At one point, he is also reported to have shouted: ‘What the fuck are you doing?’

13 April 2026. Not even the Pope escaped Trump’s attention. The president wrote on his social media platform Truth that Pope Leo XIV is ‘WEAK on Crime’ – that is, lenient towards criminals – and ‘terrible at foreign policy’. In early May, he also said, whilst appearing on a radio programme, that the Pope ‘puts many Catholics at risk’ because ‘he thinks Iran might have nuclear weapons’.

These attacks stem from the fact that the Pope has always opposed war. However, rather than supporting Iran’s nuclear programme, the Pope has reiterated that ‘the Church’s mission is to proclaim the Gospel and to proclaim peace. If anyone wishes to criticise me for proclaiming the Gospel... I only hope to be heard for the sake of the word of God’.