In April 2026, a screenshot of a purported X post by U.S. President Donald Trump spread across the internet, alleging he called former President Barack Obama a "liberal dog" and ordered an investigation into the Catholic Church. The screenshot spread after Trump made a Truth Social post criticizing Pope Leo XIV over comments condemning the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
According to posts on Facebook, X and Threads, Trump allegedly wrote the following on X on April 15:
It is no coincidence that this Pope is from the same city as that liberal dog Obama. He wants to do is humiliate Trump when the only reason he has the job is because I gave it to him. Wish he would take his little biscuits or Wafers or whatever the hell it is you people eat and go somewhere else. JD Vance has it right the Pope needs to stick his finger somewhere besides America. Ordering Todd Blanche to investigate the Catholic Church immediately I'm sure he can find something.
(Facebook user Karl E. Rominger)
Trump did not make the above post on X. We found no evidence of such a post on his official social media pages or that he posted and deleted such a message. As such, we rate the screenshot as a fake.
There was also no such statement on Trump's X or Truth Social accounts. Snopes also looked at Trump's Truth, a website that makes it easier to find the president's Truth Social posts — including deleted ones. There was also no evidence on Roll Call's archive of Trump's social media, which included his X and Truth Social accounts.
Additionally, searches of sections of the quote on Google (archived), Bing (archived) and DuckDuckGo (archived) found no evidence that Trump made such a statement. News organizations would have covered the alleged post by Trump if it were authentic; this was not the case.
However, Trump did make a Truth Social post in April 2026 criticizing Leo and taking credit for his appointment to the papacy:
Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn't on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican. Unfortunately, Leo's Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It's hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic Church!
Snopes has previously covered rumored responses to Trump's attacks on the pope from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.