On April 13 President Donald Trump posted an AI image portraying himself as Jesus healing an older man on his deathbed, with multiple American allegories surrounding him on Truth Social. The post came shortly after he said Pope Leo XIV was weak because he did not agree with Trump’s policies.
The post was later deleted because of the backlash it received, and Trump eventually told a reporter he thought he was a doctor in the generated image, but it still circulated on the internet.
“Kind of shook that he did that because that is one of his bigger voter bases,” Catholic WSC student Hannah Strizek said. “The fact that he posted about Leo and posted that he’s weak on this and that, I was very surprised.”
According to Pew Research, 29% of people who voted for Trump in the 2024 election were White evangelical Protestant voters, 18% were White non-Hispanic Catholics, and 15% of were nonevangelical protestants.
Cumulatively, around three-quarters of Trump voters in 2024 were Christians. These numbers consistently got lower across the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections. This decline in support shows that Christian backlash had been building long before Trump posted the AI-generated image to his social media.
Political parties using the Bible as a selling point for voters isn’t new, but Trump posting a picture that portrayed himself as Jesus raised some questions about his understanding of theology.
“Yeah, there’s kind of this thing called blasphemy. You know, there is this thing called heresies. This could be considered one of those,” Christian WSC student Caleb Huet said.
Huet was not the only person to see the post as an affront to the faith.
“That is basically putting himself in the same position as God, which no human is supposed to, you know,” Strizek said. “As a Catholic, you know God is his own thing, and you’re not supposed to say you are a god. For him to claim that he is a Christian and then to post something like that, it was almost like you don’t believe certain things about the Catholic faith.”
The Bible itself warns against individuals who claim to be Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 24, the Bible warns against individuals who claim to be the messiah, as they will deceive many. While the exact wording varies depending on the version of the Bible being read, the sentiment stays the same.
“You don’t have to agree with someone on a stance in order to at least have some human decency and respect. Agreement on different political stances is not a requirement of that,” Christian WSC student Kennedy Wobker said.
