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Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., said Tuesday that he wasn’t a fan of US President Donald Trump going after Pope Leo XIV.
“I mean, I didn’t love it,” McCormick said at Semafor World Economy in Washington, DC. “I wish he hadn’t done it. And the reason is I just think it’s distracting from this moment we’re in.”
McCormick cited the US war in Iran and other “great things” the administration is working on.
“This is an enormously consequential moment in terms of what’s happening in the Middle East,” he said. “I think the focus is ensuring the American people understand the significance of this and the reason it was necessary,” he added.
Over the previous two days, Trump escalated his attacks on the pope. He posted a lengthy message calling Leo “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” claiming that the pope was “hurting the Catholic Church.”
Trump also posted, and then following backlash, deleted an apparently AI-generated photo of himself as a Jesus-like figure.
Leo had urged Trump to find an off-ramp in Iran. He said after Trump’s broadside that he had “no fear of the Trump administration.”
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McCormick also said he disagreed with the Trump administration’s significant cuts to the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation in the White House’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.
“I think this is a moment to double down on spending for basic research. So I’m not in favor of any cuts to NIH,” the Republican said. “In fact, I’m in favor of increasing our spending in R&D — whether the NSF, whether it’s NIH.”
McCormick, who said he was very impressed with his recent two days of events with NIH’s director, added that he would be a “strong advocate” of opposing cuts to the agency.