The Japan Times - McDonald's, Iran, and the pope: Trump's bizarre press conference

The 79-year-old, a well-known fast food fan, emerged from the heart of the White House to take possession of two bags of burgers from a DoorDash employee.

"I have a DoorDash order for you Mr President," said delivery worker Sharon Simmons, wearing a red t-shirt with her company's logo, as she handed him the paper bags.

"This doesn't look staged does it?" Trump asked reporters after receiving the delivery from Simmons, whom the company described as a grandmother of ten from Arkansas.

The event was designed to highlight billionaire Republican Trump's "no tax on tips" policy, which he said had resulted in an $11,000 rebate for Simmons this year.

But as ever with the oldest elected president in US history it quickly swerved into surreal territory, on the biggest possible topics.

"Mr President, did you post that picture of yourself depicted as Jesus Christ?" asked a reporter.

Trump had come under fire after a now-deleted, AI-generated image appeared on his Truth Social account on Sunday night showing him as Jesus, shortly after he criticized Pope Leo XIV over his stance on Iran.

The president was having none of it.

"I did post it -- and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do (with the) Red Cross," Trump replied.

"And I do make people better. I make people a lot better."

The questions then turned to the Iran war, a conflict that has sent oil prices soaring and raised questions about the US economy ahead of crucial midterm elections in November.

Trump's self-imposed blockade on Iranian ports took effect just over two hours before the press conference, following the failure of talks in Pakistan at the weekend.

Insisting that Iranian representatives had called Washington since, Trump said Iran "very badly" wants to make a deal, which he said had to include stopping Tehran from ever getting a nuclear weapon.

- 'Good tippers' -

With the bemused delivery worker still at his side, Trump then also made it clear he was not going to be apologizing any time soon to the first US-born head of the Roman Catholic Church.

"There's nothing to apologize for. He's wrong," Trump told reporters, a day after another Truth Social Post and comments to reporters slamming Pope Leo over his opposition to the Iran war.

"Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran," said Trump, adding that Leo was "very weak on crime and other things."

Trump then veered onto one of his favorite topics -- his administration's ban on transgender people in women's sports -- and asked Sharon Simmons what she thought.

"I really don’t have an opinion on that," she told the president of the United States. "I'm here about no tax on tips."

Another question for the DoorDash employee came from reporters.

"Are the White House good tippers?" she was asked.

"Um..." she said with a shrug.

"Wait," said Trump, before reaching into his trouser pocket, pulling out what appeared to be a folded $100 bill and handing it to Simmons.

"Thank you," the grinning president said to the reporter. "You reminded me!"

Y.Ishikawa--JT