Libido Dominandi: The Great Blasphemer vs. the Augustinian Pope
How Augustine’s warning about the “lust for domination” makes Pope Leo Trump’s most formidable opponent
“And beyond question it is a happier thing to be the slave of a man than of a lust; for even this very lust of ruling, to mention no others, lays waste men’s hearts with the most ruthless dominion.”
—Augustine, City of God, Book XIX
Mourning Orbán
On Sunday, Donald Trump and the transnational network that supports him suffered a significant loss. Viktor Orbán, after 16 years of self-described “illiberal” rule, was trounced by his center-right opponent Péter Magyar, who not only won, but achieved a parliamentary supermajority—giving him the power to make structural changes. By Monday, several of Orbán’s ministers had disappeared from view, apparently fearing retribution.
Magyar will likely end the hospitable atmosphere in Hungary offered to the far-right that serves as a kind of forward base and meeting place for white nationalists in the West, the Trump clan, the PayPal Mafia, and Putin’s operatives.
Orbán’s loss comes after a full-court pressure campaign by the Trump regime to keep Orbán in power, including JD Vance traveling to Hungary to accuse Ukraine of interfering in Orbán’s campaign. Trump himself tried to bribe the Hungarian people with additional financial aid if they would just vote for his preferred authoritarian.
Major Injury
After Orbán conceded Sunday night, Trump tried to compensate in an hours-long manic episode by posting memes on his own social media website into the early morning.
Two of his posts illustrate his psychological state—in the most elementary visual terms. In one, dressed as Jesus, Trump performs miracles. In another, there is a new Trump Tower on the Moon. While one may be less offensive than the other, they both show precisely the same thing: a malignant narcissist who suffered a major injury to his ego compensating by symbolically dominating things he can’t control, from outer space to the Pope.
Trump’s self-depiction as Jesus is not his first frontal attack on Christianity or the Pope. Almost a year ago, Trump directly challenged the Pope’s authority. The meme is still up on the White House Twitter/X account.
Trump’s reaction is governed, as I put it, by the mathematics of Caligula:
It is not: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
It is: every action requires a bigger and more dominant reaction.
One formula leads to equilibrium, the other to infinite escalation—or total destruction.
Blasphemer-In-Chief
Trump’s post depicting himself as Jesus caused major pushback from his own base with numerous replies declaring blasphemy, questioning his sanity, and so on.
This elicited an unusual reaction from Trump himself. He deleted the post.
While you might normally assign some form of regret to that decision, not with Trump. He was asked about the post by a reporter.
REPORTER: Do you owe Pope Leo an apology? So, do you apologize?
TRUMP: No, I don’t because Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran. And you could not have a nuclear Iran Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result… And you know, his brother is a big MAGA person and he’s a great guy, Lewis. And I said, I like Lewis better than I like the Pope… So we believe strongly in law and order. And he seemed to have a problem with that. So there’s nothing to apologize for… Iran wants to be a nuclear nation so they can exterminate the world. Not gonna happen.
Trump’s deletion was not an indication of regret or self-reflection; it was a tell that he received a narcissistic wound that he could no longer sustain. Instead of indicating any kind of wrongdoing about it, he simply lied and said he thought he was “a doctor” in the meme. It is totally impossible for him to admit being wrong about anything—even in the face of visual evidence.
The Augustinian, the Visigoths, and the Vandals
Pope Leo responded to Trump’s provocations by declaring that he has “no fear”:
“I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do.
We are not politicians. We don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker.”
The Pope was on a plane to Algeria, a significant place for him, and, in this moment, for the papacy. Pope Leo is a member of the Order of St. Augustine, a small but influential order founded in the 13th century and shaped by the theology of Augustine of Hippo, who lived in what is now Algeria.
Born in North Africa in 354 AD, Augustine is known as one of the greatest thinkers in Christianity. One of his major works, City of God, was written in the wake of the Sack of Rome in 410 AD, when Visigoths looted Rome for three days, shattering the illusion of perpetual empire.
Libido Dominandi
Augustine used the trauma of the Sack of Rome as a lesson that empire and divinity are not the same thing. He persistently warned about libido dominandi, most closely translated as “lust for domination,” but also “lust for ruling,” and “lust for sovereignty.”
“This lust of sovereignty disturbs and consumes the human race with frightful ills.”—Augustine, City of God, Book III
Augustine felt that pride was the origin of sin—and that it was the urge to dominate others which was the foundation upon which evil built.
“All sin, then, is also pride.” —Augustine, On Nature and Grace
Augustine died during another conquest by a Germanic tribe on a Roman settlement, the Vandals, in 430 AD.
The core of Pope Leo’s faith is the Augustinian distrust in pride and unjust war. That is part of the reason he is in many ways an ideal counterweight to Donald Trump—who is the very epitome of libido dominandi.
Blockading His Failure
In his lust for domination, Donald Trump has repeatedly failed. He tried to dominate Minnesota with ICE, and lost. He tried to dominate Iran, and lost again. But it is the nature of his pathologies that he cannot see himself losing. He must find a way to declare victory at all costs.
That’s why when the Pope pushed back on his unjust war, Trump posted a picture of himself not as the Pontiff but as Jesus—going over Leo’s head entirely. Trump must always be seen as the dominant force. No exceptions—even for the Pope.
Trump is now attempting to fix the problem he caused when Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz by escalating to a blockade of Iran’s ports, ensuring that none of Iran’s oil or derivative products like fertilizer can get through. It is just a matter of time before this causes a global food crisis, in addition to fuel shortages and massive energy inflation across the world.
Unfortunately, none of these hardships will weigh on Trump’s conscience, because he doesn’t have one—and he’s no longer capable of even pretending he does. He gets comfort from sharing his sadism, his lack of empathy, and his contempt for the rule of law. He will see his own followers’ repudiation of his behavior and Iran’s intransigence as part of the same conspiracy as the “fake news” and the Pope.
He lives in an alternate reality, and he’s forcing the world to live in it with him. It’s up to the world to decide whether libido dominandi will be the new rule of law, or if we will heed Augustine’s words and eject this government of latter-day Visigoths and Vandals once and for all.
“The peace of all things is the tranquillity of order.”
—Augustine, City of God, Book XIX
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"He lives in an alternate reality, and he’s forcing the world to live in it with him. It’s up to the world to decide whether libido dominandi will be the new rule of law, or if we will heed Augustine’s words and eject this government of latter-day Visigoths and Vandals once and for all."
I blame Mark Rutte and all of the leaders of the nations that crawled to grovel at his feet. He used their need for dollars and for that they, we and their people are paying.
And I blame us, we the great consumer, for it is our consumption, our insatiable mouths and minds that empower Trump.
And I blame the financial system, because it is debt that drives our ability to consume.
I like this pope even more now, thank you!