Less than 24 hours after it was posted, former and current U.S. President Donald Trump took down an AI-generated image shared to his Truth Social platform that drew widespread condemnation from religious leaders for its blatant blasphemous framing of Trump as Jesus Christ. The controversial graphic, which went viral shortly after being published late Sunday, depicted Trump clad in flowing red and white robes, with a glowing aura emanating from his hand and head as he touched the forehead of a figure that appeared to be ill. In the background, an American flag billowed in the wind, while a crowd of onlookers stared up at Trump in an attitude of reverent worship.
When pressed by reporters about the inflammatory post, Trump pushed back against claims that he intended to portray himself as Jesus. He claimed the image was meant to cast him as a doctor working with the Red Cross, saying, “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
Despite this explanation, the post sparked immediate outrage, even among prominent conservative Christian figures who count themselves among Trump’s most loyal core supporters. Conservative political journalist and commentator Megan Basham condemned the graphic in a sharp post on X, writing, “I don’t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he is under the influence of some substance or what possible explanation he could have for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy.” She demanded that Trump remove the post immediately, issue a public apology to the American people, and seek forgiveness from God.
This is not the first time Trump has leaned on religious imagery to frame his political identity. During his 2023 New York bank fraud trial, he shared a supporter-created sketch that depicted him sitting alongside Jesus inside the courtroom. His closest spiritual and political advisors have also repeatedly drawn parallels between Trump and Jesus to bolster his messianic political brand. Earlier this month, at an Easter luncheon hosted at the White House, long-time Trump spiritual advisor and televangelist Paula White-Cain openly compared the president to Christ, saying, “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us.”
Following the failed 2024 assassination attempt against Trump, the president has doubled down on embracing the narrative that he has a divinely ordained messianic mission to save the United States. In his victory speech after winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump told supporters, “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason, and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.”
Matthew Taylor, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice who specializes in research on Christian nationalism, told AFP that the controversial post comes at a fragile time for Trump’s political base, where existing rifts have already opened over his handling of the ongoing Middle East conflict. Taylor noted that many Catholic supporters have already been alienated by Trump’s very public feud with Pope Leo, who has openly criticized U.S. bombing operations in Iran. “A lot of right-wing supporters were already pushing back against the war in Iran. The rift was already emerging for a lot of his Catholic base, and with the denunciations of Pope Leo this does threaten to alienate that crowd,” Taylor explained.
However, Kristin du Mez, a historian at Calvin University who studies American evangelical politics, argues that the backlash is unlikely to erode support among Trump’s most die-hard conservative Christian backers. While many of these supporters acknowledge that the image crosses a line into blasphemy, du Mez said their commitment to Trump remains unshaken. “They are keeping their distance from what would clearly count as blasphemy,” du Mez told AFP. “But I also see a lot of dodging. Yes, blasphemy is bad, this is inappropriate, he should take this down. What I’m not seeing is in any way suggesting that they’re not going to continue supporting the man.”