Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed as Jesus Christ on Sunday night, then deleted it after an avalanche of criticism, including from his own supporters. When asked about it on Monday, he insisted it was never meant to depict Jesus at all.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said, “I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross,” adding, “only the fake news could come up with that one.” Variety reported that Trump told reporters he thought he was depicted as a doctor in the image after it was deleted from his Truth Social account.
The image showed Trump in a white robe with a glowing hand placed on the forehead of a man lying in a hospital bed. Surrounding him were a nurse, soldiers, a praying woman, the American flag, bald eagles, the Statue of Liberty, and fighter jets. No caption accompanied the post.
The post came after a Pope Leo XIV attack
Trump uploaded the image roughly 40 minutes after publishing a lengthy attack on Pope Leo XIV on Truth Social. In that post, he called the first American-born pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” said he preferred Leo’s brother because “Louis is all MAGA,” and claimed the Catholic Church chose an American pope specifically to deal with him. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump wrote.
The feud between the two has been building for months. Reports say Pope Leo has repeatedly condemned the US war on Iran as unjust, criticized the administration’s immigration raids as “inhuman,” and declined an invitation to join Trump’s Gaza “Board of Peace.” On Monday, the pope responded from his flight to Algeria, saying, “I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel.” On the Truth Social post itself, Leo said: “It’s ironic, the name of the site itself. Say no more.”
Even Trump allies called it blasphemy
The backlash from within Trump’s own base was unusually sharp. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X that Trump “attacked the Pope because the Pope is rightly against Trump’s war in Iran and then he posted this picture of himself as if he is replacing Jesus.” In a second post, she added, “It’s more than blasphemy. It’s an Antichrist spirit.”
Conservative influencer Riley Gaines wrote, “Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this. Either way, two things are true. 1) a little humility would serve him well 2) God shall not be mocked.” Michael Knowles of The Daily Wire said on X that it “behooves the President both spiritually and politically to delete the picture, no matter the intent.”
The White House chief photographer, Daniel Torok, tried to push back on the Jesus comparison, saying there were “no halos, no thorns, no nail marks, no angels… no long curly hair” in the image.
Not the first time Trump has compared himself to Christ
This is not the first time the president has drawn parallels between himself and Jesus. Earlier this year at an Easter luncheon, Trump said, “On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem as crowds welcomed him with praise, honoring him as king. They call me king now. Can you believe it?” That video was later removed from the White House YouTube page.
The incident lands in a tense week for Trump and religion. His newly formed Religious Liberty Commission was scheduled to meet Monday, and Bishop Robert Barron, one of Trump’s own appointees to the commission, called Trump’s statements about Pope Leo “entirely inappropriate and disrespectful” and said the president “owes the Pope an apology.”
Trump’s broader Iran policy has been a flashpoint with religious leaders. Senator Tim Kaine called Trump’s Iran deal exit one of the worst decisions ever made, while Trump himself has argued that the threat of force brought Iran to the negotiating table on nuclear weapons.
