Bill O'Reilly Blasts 'Dopey' Donald Trump Over AI-Generated Pope Picture

Bill O’Reilly went after Donald Trump after he posted an AI-generated image of himself as the pope, less than a week after Pope Francis passed away.

“That was just dopey,” O’Reilly told NewsNation on May 5. “There was no excuse for that… The guy just died, you know?”

While the popular conservative personality noted Trump “thought it was funny,” he felt otherwise, going as far as to call the move “beyond the pale.”

“Some people do think it’s funny, but he’s the president,” O’Reilly added. “I would’ve advised against it had I been consulted, which I was not. I didn’t think it was smart because it offended a lot of elderly Catholics who voted for him.”

When asked if Trump was flailing, O’Reilly admitted he seemed “tired.”

“That leads to statements that maybe you want to take back,” he elaborated, insisting Trump has “no strategy.”

“Donald Trump is not a calculated speaker,” O’Reilly continued. “He doesn’t sit around with his advisers saying, ‘What should I say?’ He says anything he wants to say. Rich guys say anything they want to say. And since he fits into the category, from the time he’s been 7 years old, he’s said whatever he wants to say.”

O’Reilly was not the only person to condemn Trump for sharing a picture of himself as the pope, as Republican strategist Karl Rove spoke out, too. “Tweeting out a picture of you as the pope is deeply offensive to a great many people," Rove said.

The New York State Catholic Conference also issued the following statement about Trump’s picture: “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”

Aside from posting a picture of him as the pope, Trump spoke out on Tuesday, April 29, to say he would like to be Francis’ replacement at the Vatican. “I’d like to be pope. That’d be my number one choice,” he told the press.

As the president continued, he endorsed Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan as the next Catholic leader. “No, I don’t know. I don’t have a preference. I might say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who is very good. So we’ll see what happens," he said.

While the masses don’t favor Trump as the next official pope, Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted his support for the president’s pontiff candidacy.

“I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope. This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility!” he exclaimed. “The first Pope-U.S. President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII!”