{"id":602351,"date":"2026-04-14T00:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602351\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T00:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:52:11","slug":"trump-deletes-ai-image-of-himself-as-jesus-like-figure-after-widespread-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602351\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump deletes AI image of himself as Jesus-like figure after widespread outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

An AI-generated image posted to Donald Trump’s Truth Social account on Sunday, showing the president in a religious context, appearing to heal a sick man. The original post has since been taken down.Truth Social<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure on Sunday, drawing widespread criticism even from some religious conservatives who typically support him, before deleting the post on Monday.<\/p>\n

The post on Trump\u2019s Truth Social platform, which Trump later said was meant to portray him as a doctor, came amid his escalating feud with Pope Leo, who has criticized the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran as inhumane. Shortly before publishing the image, the president posted a lengthy screed against Pope Leo, calling him \u201cWEAK on crime and terrible for Foreign Policy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, said in response to Trump\u2019s attacks that he had \u201cno fear\u201d of the Trump administration and would continue to speak out. In a forceful speech on Monday in Algiers, he denounced \u201cneocolonial\u201d world powers who are violating international law, without specifically referring to the United States.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s post, depicting Trump in a white robe with an apparently healing hand on a prone man\u2019s head, could create a rift between Trump and the religious right, whose support was critical to his victory in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

In the paintinglike image, Trump holds a glowing orb in one hand and uses his other hand to touch a seemingly sick man on the forehead. The Statue of Liberty, fireworks, a fighter jet and eagles could be seen in the background.<\/p>\n

Trump denied on Monday that the image was intended to show him as a Jesus-like figure, calling that \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better, and I do make people better,\u201d he told reporters at the White House, soon after the post was deleted.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump forcefully criticized Pope Leo late on Sunday. In response, Pope Leo said that he plans to continue speaking out against the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n

Brendan McMahon, an art history professor at the University of Michigan, found that explanation \u201chighly suspicious\u201d given that the image depicts another figure in scrubs, and because Trump is depicted bathed in a bright light used to signify the divine in countless works of religious art through various centuries. Light also emanates from Trump\u2019s hands in the image.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s borrowing from this long tradition of Christian imagery with Christ as healer,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cStyle-wise, it seems like it\u2019s gesturing towards social realism of the interwar period in the States, like WPA murals, imagery about enfranchising working-class Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brilyn Hollyhand, who served as the co-chair of the Republican National Committee Youth Advisory Council, wrote on X: \u201cThis is gross blasphemy. Faith is not a prop. You don\u2019t need to portray yourself as a saviour when your record should speak for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer and outspoken critic of transgender athletes in women\u2019s sports who has appeared with Trump at rallies, wrote on X she could not understand why Trump posted the image.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes he actually think this?\u201d she wrote. \u201cEither way, two things are true. 1) a little humility would serve him well 2) God shall not be mocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christian voters, including Catholics, have formed a critical part of Trump\u2019s political base. Trump, who does not attend church regularly, won large majorities of Christian voters in the 2024 election, including Catholics, who had previously been closer to a split.<\/p>\n

After Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July 2024, some evangelical supporters said it was evidence he had been blessed by God.<\/p>\n

Pope Leo pushes back after Trump criticizes Church leader over remarks on Iran war<\/a><\/p>\n

David Gibson, the director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, a Catholic school, said it was difficult to understand Trump\u2019s motive in attacking Leo and for posting the image, but that it was also hard to say if American Catholics would turn against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill this move cross a red line for them? Will they finally punish Trump and the GOP and at the ballot box?\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a watershed moment \u2013 will Catholics in America choose the pope or the president?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Robert Barron, who serves on a Trump-created religious liberty commission, said on X that the president owed Leo an apology for his \u201cinappropriate\u201d statements on social media. But he also praised Trump in the same post for his outreach to Catholics.<\/p>\n

Trump told reporters on Monday he had \u201cnothing to apologize for\u201d to the pope.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Leo has become one of the most prominent critics of the war in Iran, even making an unusual direct appeal to Trump and urging him to find an \u201coff-ramp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo has also said that Jesus cannot be used to justify war and that God rejects the prayers of those who start conflicts. Those remarks were widely seen as a rebuke to Trump officials like U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has cited scripture to justify the use of \u201coverwhelming violence\u201d against enemies and likened the rescue of a U.S. airman inside Iran to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Trump also feuded at times with Leo\u2019s predecessor, Francis, who publicly opposed Trump\u2019s deportation campaign as un-Christian. Last year, after Francis\u2019 death, Trump posted an image showing himself as pope, prompting outrage from many Catholics.<\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s attacks on Leo have gone well beyond his swipes at Francis.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican presidents and American Catholics have disagreed with popes in the past,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cBut this is disrespect. Disrespect is way different than disagreement, and that\u2019s the danger for Trump here.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least eight members of Trump\u2019s cabinet are Catholic, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.<\/p>\n

Vance, speaking to Fox News Channel\u2019s Special Report with Bret Baier, played down the Jesus-like image, saying Trump made it jokingly. Vance added it was sometimes better for the \u201cVatican to stick to matters of morality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: An AI-generated image posted to Donald Trump’s Truth Social account on Sunday, showing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,1008,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-602351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-pleasemod","14":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}