Donald Trump

Trump's Reaction to the Jesus Flap Compounds Concerns About His Mental Acuity

The president claims he was oblivious to the picture's blasphemous implications, which is troubling if true.

Jacob Sullum | 4.14.2026 6:55 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Mega/Newscom/MSAMS/Newscom)

Early Monday morning, President Donald Trump posted an image of himself as a robed, Jesus-like healer laying hands on a prone hospital patient. A bright golden light emanates from Trump's left hand and from the point of contact between his right hand and the patient's forehead. Several witnesses, including a nurse, a soldier, and a woman whose hands are tented in prayer, observe the scene with a combination of hope and awe.

After Christians objected to the blatant blasphemy, Trump insisted that he did not understand what all the fuss was about. "I thought it was me as a doctor," he told reporters, averring that complaints about the picture were based on an interpretation that "only the fake news could come up with." The picture made sense to him, he explained, because "it's supposed to be as a doctor making people better," and "I do make people better. I make people a lot better."

As is often the case with Trump, it is not clear whether he was lying or actually believed what he said—or which would be worse. Either way, the decision to post the picture, which Trump presented on Truth Social without commentary, seems like an egregious lapse of political judgment, as Trump implicitly acknowledged by deleting it—a striking retreat for a president who rarely acknowledges error or apologizes for anything. And if we charitably attribute that mistake to honest obliviousness rather than a narcissistic disregard for Americans' religious sensibilities, that explanation raises a familiar question: If Trump were senile, how would we know?

I have long been critical of attempts to portray Trump's longstanding character defects as symptoms of "mental illness." But that rhetorical trick, which gives a pseudoscientific, quasi-medical veneer to political criticism that can and should be assessed on its own merits, is distinct........

© Reason.com