Crazy madman or inventor of a new language of politics which, however absurd, is only a reflection of the times? What is hidden behind the latest positions taken by Donald Trumpin particular the one against Leo XIV? Is there something pathological/psychiatric or are they the epiphenomena of a communicative (as well as political) strategy that is difficult to understand?

Is the new world of communication that Trump is bringing forward a combined cause or effect of the rebellion against the trappings of “political correctness” and the unexpressed anger of the social media population? America and the world are questioning themselves, and while the US president is collapsing in internal polls and alienating even his faithful allies (see Giorgia Meloni), we just have to remember that the attacks on the Pope are only the latest episode of a character who has always been outside the box, who has made provocation and even insult his distinctive feature (and in some cases also a clever political negotiation strategy). Here is a quick overview of the many possible of his most famous and discussed utterances.

April 2020 – Disinfectant injections

“To fight the Coronavirus, disinfectant injections are enough.” We were in the middle of the pandemic and Donald Trump revealed his recipe for curing the virus during a briefing at the White House. “Disinfectants can be drunk or injected into a vein. This way the lungs would be cleaned and the invisible enemy would be eliminated.” The scientific community immediately expressed very strong reservations towards the president’s words, who in fact shortly afterwards said that they were “sarcastic” statements. The damage, however, was enormous, because many people took those words to be true, or at least understood the message of distrust sent towards the scientific community.

March 2025 – The sights on Greenland

Immediately after his arrival in the White House for his second term, Trump raised his voice about Greenland. “We want it, one way or another. We need it,” he tells Congress in March 2025. A crescendo of threats that continues for a long time, and which regains strength in January of this year. Then news leaks of a negotiation for the expansion of American bases. Beyond the verbal excesses, many analysts have read in Trump’s words the intention to put a stop to Chinese (and Russian) expansionism on the Arctic routes. In February 2026 he says he wants to send “a hospital ship to Greenland to assist people who have no assistance there”.

September 2025 – The smell of deportations

“I like the smell of deportations in the morning,” Trump wrote on his social network Truth, commenting on the new migration policies he intends to implement, also posting a photo taken with AI which portrays him in the pose of Apocalypse Now (from which the quote is taken). Trump made deportations one of the strong points of his mandate, never trying to mask even the crudest aspects, such as the choice to show immigrants in chains being loaded onto military planes.

December 2025 – The “retarded” governor

During an interview with journalists aboard his Air Force One, the president explains that Minesota governor Tim Walz “is mentally retarded”, trying to further demolish him with other insults. The same thing will happen a few months later with the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, defined as “dyslexic”. A long series of insults, which Trump did not spare even towards journalists, especially women, or other politicians. Just think about what he said about Joe Biden (“sleepy”, i.e. asleep) and Kamala Harris (“she is a mentally disabled, murderer and drug trafficker”).

January 2026 – The missed Nobel

“Since your country thought not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize, I now don’t feel obliged to maintain peace”. These are in short the president’s words to the Norwegian prime minister, after the Academy had decided not to award him the prestigious award that the tycoon was very keen on (which went to the Venezuelan Maria Corina Machado). “If I were not given the Nobel Peace Prize – he had stated some time before – it would be a great insult to America, because in just a few months I have solved eight wars”.

January 2026 – Those cowardly allies

Indignation and disbelief arouse Trump’s words on the behavior of allies during the campaign in Afghanistan. “They always remained in the rear, far from the front. We never needed them, we didn’t ask them for anything.” A blatant lie, given the contribution of blood that the Alliance countries have shed for the war against international terrorism. In fact, 2,461 American soldiers fell in Afghanistan compared to 3,486 in other countries in the twenty years of confrontation, many including Italians. The Italian government also raised its voice to reaffirm the historical truth and distance itself from the White House.

January 2026 – The Europeans? Stupid

When at the Davos summit many European managers and insiders raised heavy criticism of the US president, defining his approach as “offensive and rude” for his continuous attacks on European institutions, Trump reacted by explaining that “Europeans are stupid. They are parasites who wouldn’t get anywhere without the United States”. A similar statement “Europeans are lazy and stupid” had been uttered a month earlier, and the entire first part of this second presidency was spent attacking Europe with vulgar words and crude expressions.

March 2026 – The terminally ill deputy

In March 2026, Donald Trump revealed the very serious health conditions of a Republican congressman, Neal Dunn, 73 years old. “He should die by June,” the tycoon said during a public event. “I spoke to the doctors because I like Neal but above all because I needed his vote,” Trump added. The words about Dunn came shortly after those pronounced on the health conditions of one of his direct collaborators, the very powerful and highly esteemed White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, 67 years old. “Susie has early breast cancer, although it won’t stop her work.”

April 2026 – Iran to be destroyed

“We will annihilate Iran in one night,” and “nothing will remain of Iranian civilization.” This is one of the latest threats made by Trump to Iran, with a clear reference to the use of the atomic bomb. They were the words that most alarmed the whole world, and those that also aroused the indignation of the Pope, who defined them as “not acceptable”. And more generally the US offensive against Iran has been accompanied by saloon language. “Crazy bastards, open the straits,” was one of the kindest expressions.

April 2026 – The enemy Leo

The latest example of outbursts are the attacks against his compatriot Robert Prevost, defined as “weak in foreign policy”, someone who “without me wouldn’t be Pope”. The choice to publish a photo of himself in the guise of a healing Christ is singular, a post that brings to mind that of last year when during the conclave, which would have elected Leo XIV, Trump published a photo of himself dressed in the pontifical tiara.

Read editorials and interviews by Pierfrancesco De Robertis