Madden Mischief

In this matter between the pope and the president, it might help if everyone understood that often force prevents evil from exploding into something far worse, like nuclear bombs.

Okay, that dubiously divine picture that went holy cow viral, didn’t look to me like a doctor prescribing medicine!  Since there are quite a few Catholics disapproving, should President Trump now have to go to political confession?  I don’t think so.  It was taken down.

Still, when criticizing the sacred leader of over 14 billion baptized Catholics worldwide, as a PR guy I would counsel the president if he were my client that a tad more tact and holy diplomacy wouldn’t be wholly out of order instead of slamming Pope Leo’s Iran war criticism.

Can sometimes a sense of humor go too far out of orbit, and land in unfriendly territory?  I think so.  And mixed with a touch of anger it can sound like a moonshot to planet mind your own business yet preserving God’s love, peace and joy is rightfully the pope’s business.

So, does Trump need to go to political confession for his sins?  Does the president need to apologize to the pontiff and to the Nation, send the Pope a billion-dollar donation?  It wouldn’t hurt, but I don’t think it’s necessary, although from a publicist’s POV, it certainly could be a soul-serving, vote-saving act. 

But here’s the other side of the political spectrum, a more complex side.

One can only imagine the many rivers of thought raging through President Trump’s mind during these tricky tumultuous times and all the strategies he has percolating to keep making America greater and safer.  When only a small percentage of them backfire, like that picture he probably thought was harmless fun suddenly capsize, must priestly lifeguards have to dive in?  BTW, I was once a lifeguard in Atlantic City, NJ.  Now in public relations, instead of saving bathers from drowning, I’m rescuing reputationscaughtupit rip tides, sometimes self-inflicted.

What I’m pointing out here is that our president’s mind is into a phantasmagoria of things, but his heart is into sparing the world from nut jobs with nuclear bombs! 

I’m a pope-loving, God-fearing Catholic who believes what Pope Leo is proposing is diplomacy over warfare, and who wouldn’t prefer that route instead of missiles and mayhem?

But the problem is that it takes two not to just tango but to sit down and talk face to face.  Sometimes it takes bombing and blockades before you can get radicals to kneel or stoop to that level! 

So, I just feel mistakes and inappropriate pictures must be seen in proper perspective like coming at a time when America is not just fighting an unruly and hostile adversary, but one with an evil mindset determined to go nuclear. And if that were to happen all hell would break out with Israel this ruthless regime’s primary target, then eventually us!  No, radicals are like children who mustn’t play with matches, which are the missiles and drones they like to fire, but who do they kill, real children who sadly suffer the most.

So, the bottom line here is while we all pray for peace, let’s give our President some wiggle room to operate as sometimes his threats and blockades can make a world of difference and even our meanest adversaries fold.  Please God, may there always be cease fires!

Tom Madden prefers dealmaking over warfare, which he writes about in his many books and hundreds of articles and blogs he keeps churning out like there’s no tomorrow. When not doing that, he’s running TransMedia Group alongside his daughter Adrienne Mazzone, the PR firm’s productive president, serving clients worldwide.