If you’ve paid even a passing glance at social media this weekend, you already know the biggest scandal rocking the global stage.
It wasn’t economic turmoil.
It wasn’t war.
It wasn’t famine.
It wasn’t even the fresh allegations of election meddling or congressional buffoonery.
Nope. It was the color of Donald J. Trump’s suit.
You heard that right. The American media, the Twitter outrage mob, and the professional pearl-clutchers of the political left absolutely lost their collective minds over the fact that President Trump wore a blue suit to the funeral of Pope Francis.
Forget the solemnity of the occasion. Forget the spiritual leadership the Pope provided to over a billion people worldwide. Forget even the actual behavior of the dignitaries gathered from every corner of the globe. To the left, nothing mattered more than breathlessly circulating a zoomed-in photograph of President Trump seated beside First Lady Melania Trump — he in a blue suit, she in traditional black — surrounded by what appeared, at least in the carefully cropped frame, to be a sea of black.
"Look at how he disrespects the Vatican!" they wailed.
"Such a national embarrassment!" they screamed.
"He’s violating protocol and humiliating America!" they thundered.
You would have thought Trump walked into St. Peter’s Basilica in swim trunks and a MAGA visor the way they carried on.
Pundit after pundit tripped over themselves to deliver breathless analysis of just how inappropriate the former president’s fashion choice was. Think pieces were launched within hours. Cable news panels convened emergency roundtables. The blue suit was treated with more alarm than a five-alarm fire.
And yet — strangely — not one of those same media outlets saw fit to mention the back row antics of former President Joe Biden.
There he sat, far from the heads of state, laughing it up like he was at a Saturday night barbecue, snapping selfies with whomever happened to be sitting nearby. Apparently missing entirely the memo that this was, in fact, a funeral. A funeral for a head of the largest faith group on earth. A funeral that called for dignity, solemnity, and at least a hint of decorum.
Biden, as always, made it about himself. But no headlines screamed "Biden Embarrasses America!" No breathless think pieces appeared pondering the deeper meaning of presidential conduct. No late-night panel shows convened to debate the long-term consequences of inappropriate grins at sacred ceremonies.
Funny how that works, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, back on the leftist outrage farm, the Trump-bashers continued their feverish work. "Nobody else wore blue!" they cried. "Everyone else followed the rules!" they ranted. "This is why the world laughs at us!" they howled.
And for a moment — just a moment — even some well-meaning conservatives and Trump supporters paused and asked themselves: Could he really have made a protocol gaffe this glaring?
After all, funerals are serious. Protocol matters. Visuals matter even more in global diplomacy. Was this a rare, unforced error from the famously media-savvy Trump?
Was it possible?
For about 36 hours, the left was winning the narrative. The image had been planted. Trump the rogue. Trump the graceless. Trump the national embarrassment.
But then, something funny happened.
A wider shot of the event finally surfaced.
A real photo. One not carefully cropped by a partisan Twitter account or an "anonymous" journalist seeking a few thousand retweets.
And what did that actual photo show?
A sea of dignitaries... with roughly 45% of the men in attendance also wearing blue suits.
Not black.
Not charcoal.
Not midnight.
Good old-fashioned, perfectly acceptable blue.
The horror!
The scandal!
The "international embarrassment" was... entirely fabricated.
In reality, Trump’s attire was completely in line with nearly half of the global VIPs present. No protocol was breached. No Vatican rules were violated. No diplomatic incident occurred. No fiery statements were issued by the Holy See. And certainly no national reputation was marred — except, perhaps, for those members of the American media who once again sprinted toward the first shiny object without the slightest care for facts, context, or even common sense.
They didn’t care that Biden was behaving like an unruly teenager.
They didn’t care that decorum was actually being undermined by the man they still reflexively defend.
They didn’t care about truth at all.
All they cared about was finding a stick — any stick — to beat Trump with. Even if it meant turning the solemn funeral of a global religious leader into a pathetic, small-minded fashion critique.
In the end, the real embarrassment wasn’t President Trump’s suit.
It was theirs.