President Donald Trump has offered a bizarre explanation for a blasphemous post depicting him as Jesus.
“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better,” the president said of the now-deleted social media post.
The head-scratching excuse came after the president faced a backlash, including within his own MAGA base, by sharing the AI-generated image.
In it, Trump appears with divine light emanating from his hands as he heals a stricken man in a hospital bed against a backdrop of American imagery such as the U.S. flag and bald eagles.
A demon from hell floats in the background, while the president is surrounded by other figures, including a nurse, a soldier, and a praying woman.
“This is gross blasphemy. Faith is not a prop,” Brilyn Hollyhand, a 19-year-old MAGA influencer, posted on X.
Riley Gaines, a Fox News host and conservative commentator, added: “Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this? Either way, two things are true. 1) a little humility would serve him well 2) God shall not be mocked.”
Isabel Brown, a host for the conservative outlet the Daily Wire said the image was “disgusting and unacceptable,” while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote on X: “Trump has become fully unhinged and we should talk about it.
The post quietly disappeared from Trump’s Truth Social account after a few hours of backlash.
However, speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump accused the media of creating a firestorm as he cited the nurse in the picture as part of his wild explanation.
“I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor - it had to do with Red Cross, there’s a Red Cross worker there, which we support.
“Only the fake news could come up with that one (the depiction of Jesus). I just heard about it, and said: ‘how did they come up with that?’”
Trump posted the image less than an hour after lashing out at Pope Leo, the American-born pontiff who has been highly critical of the administration’s war with Iran.
In an extraordinary attack that shocked millions of Catholics around the world, Trump condemned the pope as “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy.”
He also claimed credit for Pope Leo’s success, arguing that he should “get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left.”
The pope, in turn, dismissed Trump’s criticism and doubled down on his message, saying he would continue to proclaim the Gospel’s call for peace.
“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do,” he told reporters.
Asked on Monday if he would apologize, Trump told reporters: “No.”
“Pope Leo was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran,” he said.
“Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result. You’d have hundreds of millions of people dead, and it’s not going to happen.”
He also praised Pope Leo’s brother, Louis Prevost, who has repeatedly gushed over Trump in online posts, applauded his attacks on the trans community and the Democratic Party, and once even shared a video that referred to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a “c--t.”
“His brother is a big MAGA person, and he’s a great guy,” Trump said. “I like Louis better than I like the pope.”
