Dem
47
GOP
53
On Friday, Donald Trump said he would pick Brian Burch to be ambassador to the Vatican. Burch runs the right-wing group "Catholic Vote" and is a persistent critic of Pope Francis. Burch and Francis should get along just dandy.
What Burch did to get this job was attempt to round up Catholics to vote for Trump. For Trump, this was just as valuable as a big donor. After all, a big donor helps only indirectly, providing money for ads, GOTV, etc., whereas Burch went after the voters directly. He did a good job; Trump won the Catholic vote nationally 56% to 41%. In 2020, Trump beat Joe Biden among Catholics, but only 52% to 47%. It is conceivable that the emergence of abortion in 2024 was part of Trump's improved standing with Catholics, but Burch was one of the people who kept reminding Catholics about Kamala Harris' views on the subject. That said, the exit polls showed Catholics' views on abortion aren't all that different from those of the country at large. Trump may not know that, though, and Burch may not have told him. Of course, the fact that Biden is a Catholic himself may also have helped in 2020.
Another factor that may have helped Trump with Catholics is that J.D. Vance is currently Catholic, although his wife is a Hindu. In the end, Burch might just have told Trump that he [Burch] did a great job of mobilizing Catholics for Trump and Trump simply believed him.
One potential downside of this appointment, which will sail through the Senate easily, is that if Francis and Burch get into a squabble, it will get a lot of attention. Burch thinks he has a direct pipeline to American Catholics, but so does the other guy. We tend to think that one of them is right, and it's the one with the little hat with the antenna and the fancy slippers. (V)