Trump has posted a lot of objectionable and offensive crap on Truth Social, which serves as the primary channel for his all-caps-littered rants and ramblings. Be it insults directed at the recently deceased, a video of him dropping poop on protesters, an image of him as the Pope, or a video of a woman being killed, there just doesn’t seem to be any bottom to his social media depravity.
Some of his Truth Social activity has even approached the realm of blasphemy, which should be alarming for the many Christians who make up his base. But this weekend, Trump decided to go “full blasphemer” and posted an AI-generated image of him as a distinctly Christ-like figure.
Trump’s hands are suffused with golden light in the image, and one of them is placed on the forehead of a hospital patient. That’s right, Donald Trump is using his “divine” power to heal a man. Various individuals surround Trump and gaze at him in adoration, including a soldier, a nurse, and a woman who is literally praying to him. Meanwhile, all manner of patriotic imagery looms behind the white-and-scarlet-garbed Trump, including bald eagles, the American flag, the Statue of Liberty, fireworks, fighter jets, and soldiers emerging from a heavenly light in the sky.
It’d be bad enough if some random MAGA had posted the image, but the fact that it was posted by Donald Trump himself — a man with a well-documented lust for power and a long history of low morals — only adds to the insult, as does the fawning and preening that the image received in the comments. (Some might insist on the possibility that a Trump staffer posted the image. Even if that were the case, which strikes me as highly unlikely given the other posts surrounding it — including an unhinged broadside against Pope Leo XIV that Trump posted less than an hour beforehand — it’s still Trump’s account and he’s responsible for what’s posted on it.)
While some do criticize the image as a bad look for Trump, the vast majority of commenters fall all over themselves in a rush to see who can be the most obsequious and sycophantic. There are images of Trump being embraced by Christ or depicted as an angel, posts drawing parallels between Trump and Christ, and more than a few images depicting Trump as a bad-ass. And of course, there are those who claim the image was just another example of Trump owning the humorless libs.
I have always tried to avoid making totalizing statements about Trump supporters because I know there are a host of reasons why people might have voted for the man. I probably don’t agree with many of those reasons, but I understand and respect that people do have them. That said, if you’re a Christian supporter of Trump, and this image doesn’t at least make you a little twitchy, then I urge you to ask yourself why that’s the case. Why doesn’t this blatant and jingoistic usurpation of Christianity in the service of one man’s ego bother you? And more pointedly, is there anything that Trump could do that would bother and offend you?
If your answer to that is “Nothing,” then now might be a good time to consider who you actually worship.
Update #1 (4/13): When asked by a reporter, Trump confirmed that he posted the image. However, he claims to have thought it was an image of him as a doctor. (Because we all know that doctors wear long, flowing robes and have glowing hands.) Of course, he blamed the “fake news” for the whole brouhaha while failing to mention his own supporters who thought the image was in poor taste. In any case, the image has been removed from Truth Social, though I doubt we’ll see any sort of apology or mea culpa for posting it in the first place.