Much of it was controversy over his Catholicism which as a 12 yo I didn't understand and frankly still don't.
He was Irish Catholic. This goes back to the discussion of Irish immigrants and how they were treated no different than Mexicans are today. By the time JFK came of age, the Irish had integrated into society and had been "accepted". The fear of Catholics again goes back to the colonial days. The colonies were almost exclusively protestant. When the US became a nation, there was a fear of Catholics because they did not want the US being run by the Pope. Irish Catholics were at the center of that fear...because they were hated because they were Irish, and their Catholicism was feared because they were mirgrating to the US in large numbers. This fear of the Pope running the country lasted until JFK became President
Obama was greatly admired even by me because I had such high hopes for him, and I had a hard time letting go of that until Black Lives Matter was allowed to run rampant and Cops were assassinated daily. He would probably like to think he was almost sanctified but to quote Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Obama is "no Jack Kennedy". The only ones whimpering over him are the stupid and the ignorant.
Sorry, but that's just ridiculous.
Lloyd Benson said that to Dan Quayle because Quayle was constantly comparing himself to JFK, due to his young age and inexperience. Benson obviously had that line ready to go and when Quayle invoked JFK in the debate, he unleashed it. The full quote is, "Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. You are no Jack Kennedy." It embarressed Quayle and his only reply was to say that the comment was uncalled for...but after that, Quayle comparing himself to JFK had little positive affect.
I do not recall Obama ever comparing himself to JFK. If something like that was said to Obama, IMO, he would probably say he was honored that you felt it fitting to be making the comparison in the first place.
True leaders do not "need" followers. They go where they go regardless of who is with them. People follow true leaders not out of a "loyalty pledge" but because they believe in the person, they are inspired by that person, they want to go where that person is going. That is the difference between Obama's leadership and Trump and his "loyalty pledge" and his paranoia of people not believing in him enough to follow him. Trump is not even close to Obama, Clinton, Reagan, or JFK. His is more akin to Nixon, who had the same type of paranoia...and the same type of zombie like followers.
I don't think anybody visualizes Trump in any kind of religious context. I think most of us see him as somebody who can cut through the political bullshit and get the this country out of this liberal miasma we've sunken into.
Except that is not Trump. He doesn't cut through politics AT ALL. DACA and heath care are two examples where politics are always at the forefront and Trump does not understand how to navigate through it, or around it. He sorta just "wings it", not knowing what he is doing and hoping for the best.
I doubt anybody views Trump in a religious way. It's more like a cultish way. You do and believe whatever he says with loyalty and devotion. it's a way to praise for Trump. His words supercede all else, even the Constitution and long term principles on how the government functions. He writes his own rules, even if he is just making it up as he goes along, and you blindly follow, because it's "Trump". That's not leadership, that's blind faith in a deeply flawed person who has convinced you to agree to be "loyal".
