Trump posted an AI image of himself as Jesus. This time even his supporters are pushing back

The since-deleted post is drawing criticism from both opponents and longtime supporters.

[Images: realDonaldTrump/Truth Social, Adobe Stock]

On Sunday, April 12, President Trump took to Truth Social with a captionless piece of art. The now-deleted image, which appears to be AI-generated, shows Trump wearing a flowing white and red robe, holding his hand over the head of a dying man in an apparently healing gesture, and standing in the center of a backdrop of almost comically patriotic imagery. The implication of divine healing, paired with Trump’s tunic-like garb, makes a clear connection between the president and Jesus. 

The post came after Pope Leo XIV, a vocal critic of the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, spoke out against Trump’s threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization if Tehran did not agree to open the Strait of Hormuz. Leo’s rebuke of the war spurred a series of insults from Trump—as well as seemingly inspired the aforementioned Jesus-like image, which Trump posted just minutes after disparaging Leo on his official social media accounts.

In just a few hours, Trump’s post caused the term “Trump as Jesus” to shoot to the top of Google’s most-searched list in the U.S., inspiring hundreds of reactions on social media and sparking a rare wave of dissent from some of his most ardent supporters, many of whom view the image as sacrilege. 

Certainly, the image demonstrates a major overstep from a president who has repeatedly pushed the limits of democratic power. But this isn’t the first time that his administration’s social media accounts have featured problematic messaging: For months, the White House, Department of Labor, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been posting thinly veiled white supremacist rhetoric, often to little public outcry. Now that Trump’s posts have offended his own Christian supporters, though, the backlash is taking off—and it feels like far too little, far too late. 

Why did Trump post a picture of himself as Jesus?

The public back-and-forth between Trump and Leo started on Tuesday, April 7, when Leo told reporters that Trump’s threats against the Iranian civilization were “truly unacceptable.” 

He went on to call the president’s plan to destroy Iranian bridges and power plants a “sign of the hatred, the division, the destruction human beings are capable of, and we all want to work for peace.” Then, over the weekend, Leo added that the U.S. and Israel’s attack on Iran has been fueled by a “delusion of omnipotence.” 

Following that commentary, Trump issued a lengthy social media post on April 12 calling Leo “WEAK on crime and terrible for foreign policy” and adding that he should “stop catering to the Radical Left.” (Leo has since told reporters that he’s “not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.”)

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