Did Senator Lindey Graham post on X about President Trump being open to the possibility of becoming Pope? Yes, that's true: Even though there was doubt screenshots showing such a post were real, Graham did post it. The message included the slogan "Trump MMXXVIII" which stands for "Trump 2028" in Roman numerals.
Graham's post on X (archived here, here and here) appeared on April 29, 2025 and it read:
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!
The first Pope-U.S. President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke.... Trump MMXXVIII!
This is what the post looked like:
It contained an authentic Fox News video clip of Trump jokingly telling a reporter he wanted to be Pope before praising Cardinal Dolan from New York, as Fox News reported (archived here).
(unintelligible)... Pope? I'd like to be Pope! That would be my number one choice.
(garbled question from reporter)
No, I don't know, I have no preference. I must 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.
