Happy Birthday Mary!
Was Trump's birthday greetings for the Mother of God reverent, sincere or was he just being the usual pain in the ass?
Happy Birthday Mary!
Donald Trump did it again. And, of course, America fell for it again. Just like he did with his Happy Cinco de Mayo photo in 2016 with a Taco Bowl picture from a restaurant in Trump Tower.
This post is going to explore way more than Trump deserves but I want to provide some context as to why you saw so many Latinos light up on social media in reaction to it.
Trump posted the iconic photo of La Virgen de Guadalupe, the miraculous cloak of Juan Diego a peasant that Mary miraculously appeared to in December 1531. Juan Diego was an indigenous Nahua and Marian visionary “… Link to the full Wikipedia story here… but a quick excerpt should tell you enough. Juan Diego was a Nahua peasant and Marian visionary. He is said to have been granted apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe on four occasions in December 1531: three at the hill of Tepeyac and a fourth before don Juan de Zumárraga, then bishop of Mexico. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located at the foot of Tepeyac, houses the cloak (tilmahtli) that is traditionally said to be Juan Diego's, and upon which the image of the Virgin is said to have been miraculously impressed as proof of the authenticity of the apparitions”
Lest we forget that sometimes American politicians aren’t fully versed on the importance of the miraculous cloth that the Virgin Mary appeared on after Juan Diego returned to his Church at Mary;s direction, Hillary Clinton once famously showed that this lack of awareness is bi-partisan.
According to The Catholic News Agency in 2009, Hillary Clinton visited the Basilica as an appeal to Latino voters in her run-up to her Presidential campaign. Msgr. Monroy took Mrs. Clinton to the famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which had been previously lowered from its usual altar for the occasion.
After observing it for a while, Mrs. Clinton asked "who painted it?" to which Msgr. Monroy responded "God!"
By total coincidence, my co-host of The Latino Vote Podcast Chuck Rocha just happened to be at one of the most visited shrines in Christendom The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on the exact same day as Trump posted his Happy Birthday Greetings. I’m not saying he coordinated with Trump on the visit but I’m not saying he didn’t either.
Nice toothpick Chuck.
La Virgen de Guadalupe is such a symbol of Mexican and Latin American nationalism that I felt an explanation of Latino identity wouldn’t be complete with recognizing her in my book “The Latino Century”. La Virgen de Guadalupe is so central to Mexican identity specifically that you can not understand Mexican culture without a keen understanding of her maternal role in Mexican Catholicism, the revolution and national identity without understanding her influence weaving through all of it. To be certain, La Virgen de Guadalupe holds a special place throughout Latin America but nowhere more pronounced than in Mexico.
To be sure, the Mother of God holds a special place in Catholicism, to the great consternation of our Protestant brothers and sisters. But Mary has a special pace in Latin America in large part because of the maternal focus of indigenous culture which has persisted throughout the generations to this day. As such, the special focus of so many Latin American countries place on their own “Mary” is a defining part of the nationalities within Latino culture.
If you’re still here stay with me this gets more interesting (if you’re into this kinda thing)….
Trumps post set off a whirlwind of attacks because Latinos of every country of origin hold her and the feast day for her with different imagery.
A lot of Cubans and Central Americans pushed back because of their own reverence to their national and historical perspectives of who Mary is on this day. Many social media posts assumed Trump erred by posting the “Mexican” imagery of Mary on a feast day they have come to recognize with the image of Mary from their own diaspora.
My friend and political consultant and activist in Florida Evelyn Perez-Verdia correctly pointed out that Cubans hold a special place in their hearts for La Virgen de Caridad del Cobre whose Basilica remains in Cuba. Evelyn wrote a remarkable thread on the moment - please giver her a follow on X at @evelynpr
September 8th is recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as the birthday of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Like Jesus’ birthday, Christmas, it’s an arbitrary day and it’s meant to celebrate one of the most holy lives in Christendom.
As the reverent spiritual soul that he is, Donald Trump used the joyous Catholic occasion to post a particularly revered image in Latino culture of Mary (La Virgen de Guadalupe) with the birthday greeting: Happy Birthday Mary!
Of course, uproar ensued because that was precisely the point of Trump posting it. Insult was added to injury when the NYT/Siena poll came out not long after showing Trump holding onto a stubbornly high 41% level of Latino support.
As with the Taco Bowl photo, Trump is keenly aware that the response by his critics will be that he’s racist and insensitive to Latino culture (he is) but he also has a unique knack for baiting his enemies. Like his inability to not take the bait, Trump knows his haters in the media and among Latino political and cultural leadership (as they exist), also cannot help themselves from weighing in against his invectives.
Religious iconography being used for partisan advantage is vulgar. Of course, his presentation gives him deniability as to the intent, again, part of the ruse. It should go without saying but Catholics don’t have a habit of saying “Happy Birthday” to the revered Saints of the Church on their birthdays.
That’s not to say it isn’t sometimes used endearingly but if you buy that as Trumps intent I have a pair of MAGA tennis shoes to sell you as a sound portion of your retirement investment portfolio.
For non-Catholics I’ll use the opportunity to share some key dates and differing imagery that came about as part of this Mary imbroglio.
Three key dates for Catholics you should know about Mary:
September 8 - A little more about September 8th or ‘Marymas’. Yes there’s a term for the dates of feast day celebrations that often were shortened from “Mary’s Mass”, or “Michaels mass” for Saint Michael - it’s coming soon so stock up for your fall celebration - or even “Christs mass” to Marymas, Michalemas and Christmas. Mary was one of very few in Christianity who was uniquely holy in their lives and purpose that they had neither typical human conceptions nor death. You can read more about it here.
December 8 - The Feast Day of The Immaculate Conception is recognized on December 8th. What is the “Immaculate conception” you ask? Well it is exactly nine months prior to September 8th when Mary was born so I’m glad you did because I absolutely love this about Catholicism. See I’m very culturally Catholic, not so much theologically Catholic, but the debate about Mary’s conception is exactly the type of dispute I love about the religion. I love me some Vatican palace intrigue, Papal history complete with human fallibility and corruption and religious history. In medieval times there was a centuries long dispute as to how Mary was conceived (yes, really). Ultimately, like all good theological debates it was decided by a Council that Mary had indeed by conceived immaculately and her origin was devoid of original sin. Pretty cool huh? if you’re dying to go further down the rabbit hole I would strongly encourage you to do so here.
December 12 is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is a distinct day for Mary as she appeared to Juan Diego in December 1531 as the peasant made his way to mass and three times thereafter. Yes, it may be the same Mary as the Mother of God but this distinct appearance in the hills of Mexico was found to be deserving of this specific apparition of Mary. There’s more here but if you’re confused by all of this welcome to Catholicism, especially to the Latin American variety of Catholicism.
To be clear no one is suggesting Trump had any of this background in his head when he posted today on Truth Social. It was simply Trump trolling everyone on something he knew would focus attention on him in the “rapists and drug dealers” or “Black jobs” genre he’s so good at doing. He does it because we take the bait - like him we cant help it. So Happy Birthday Mary!
And an early Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Is Trump crazy like a fox, albeit going on instinct with his natural talent to pander to fame/infamy, or is there someone behind him encouraging such a post? I agree that it is bait.
When I first saw your repost of this on Twitter, my first thought was that this was maybe more than Trump trolling to get media attention. I thought it might be more strategic, intended to garner support from the Latino community. After reading your post here, I can see that my assessment is likely incorrect. But still, I wonder… How far does his post propagate? Does it penetrate down the sought after young Latinos on TokTok? How will they react? I’m not being rhetorical. I was raised Catholic, but I’m an old white guy. I honestly want to know. Regardless of whether or not it moves the needle, how will these voters react, if they even see it?