Recommendations of the Editorial team
Donald Trump has always had problems letting things go. No matter how absurd the situation, the president apparently cannot resist convincing people of his version of reality. No wonder, then, that Trump is even more insisting on his holiness after the widespread outcry over his ungodly self-comparison with Jesus Christ earlier this week.
Trump spent Tuesday evening delighting the public with another Truth Social posting marathon – and went one better on Wednesday morning: He shared a screenshot of an X-Post with an AI-generated image of Jesus Christ hugging Trump. The caption read: “I’ve never been a particularly religious person…but doesn’t it seem like it, with all these satanic, demonic, child-sacrificing monsters being exposed right now…that God might be playing his Trump card.”
In his own comment, Trump added: “The radical left lunatics may not like this, but I think it’s pretty nice!!! President DJT”
Trump’s Jesus production is escalating
Trump’s penchant for portraying himself as a quasi-religious figure is usually brushed off as just another facet of his MAGA personality cult theatrics. At the weekend – in the middle of a dispute with Pope Leo His implausible claim that he thought the image depicted him as a “doctor” and had anything to do with the Red Cross – perhaps a misinterpretation of the White House’s statement that the image was “edited” – was almost as absurd as the post itself.
Trump also amplified social media posts on Tuesday that pointed to Leo XIV’s criticism of him in the years before his ascension to the papacy. “Not good,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Over the weekend, the president further intensified his conflict with Leo – who has been vocal in his opposition to the war in Iran – accusing him of being “WEAK on crime and disastrous for foreign policy.”
“If I weren’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump wrote on Sunday.
Attacks on the Pope
On Tuesday he followed up. “Can someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed protesters in the last two months and that an Iranian nuclear bomb is completely unacceptable,” he wrote.
The Iranian government was a long way from developing a nuclear weapon – but the president has been clutching at straws for weeks to find a remotely plausible justification for the mess he has created for the Middle Eastern country. And if that means taking on the first American pope, then so be it.
Then on Wednesday morning, in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump had the chutzpah to complain that he doesn’t get enough credit. “I had the greatest year, the greatest first year,” Trump said. “I have ended eight wars, a ninth is coming, but I have ended eight wars – no one has ever ended a single war.”
Trump demands more recognition
“The best economy ever,” he continued. “But even when you have a great president, they tend to lose the midterm elections. That doesn’t make sense to me. We had the greatest year in the history of the presidency, the first year. We should get credit.”
“But even when you have a great president, they tend to lose the midterms. That doesn’t make sense to me. So we’re going to try to turn that around,” Trump added.
If Republicans want to “turn the tide” of the midterms, perhaps they should start by convincing their leader to stop attacking religious figures while portraying himself as a divine savior.
