Donald Trump has again sparked controversy with his use of artificial intelligence, after posting an AI-generated picture of himself as Jesus appearing to cure a man during a verbal attack on Pope Leo XIV, before deleting it.
According to Trump, the US-born leader of the Catholic church is not “doing a very good job” and should “stop catering to the Radical Left”.
The pontiff, who suggested over the weekend that a “delusion of omnipotence” was fuelling the US-Israeli war against Iran, told reporters that he did not fear Trump and would continue to “speak strongly against war”.
New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.
The post has even drawn rare criticism from the religious right, with evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics urging Trump to remove it.
“I don’t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he is under the influence of some substance or what possible explanation he could have for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy,” wrote Megan Basham, a conservative Protestant commentator, on X. “He needs to take this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God.”
Isabel Brown, a Catholic influencer and Trump supporter, described the post as “frankly, disgusting and unacceptable” and a “misreading of the American people”.
However, this isn’t the first time that Trump has leaned on AI to present an alternative perception of reality – it isn’t even the first time he’s caused controversy by presenting himself as a religious figure.
Trump as the Pope
Trump posted the AI-generated photo of himself as the Pope shortly after the death of Pope Francis (Photo: Truth Social/Donald Trump/Reuters)
Last May, Trump faced blistering criticism after posting an AI-generated image portraying him as the Pope. The picture was shared on official White House social media accounts just weeks after the death of Pope Francis, and days after he joked “I’d like to be Pope” to the media.
The image featured a solemn-faced Trump wearing a white cassock and pointed mitre, traditionally worn by a bishop, with a large cross around his neck and a finger held aloft.
The New York State Catholic Conference, which represents bishops, wrote on X: “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President.”
Left-leaning Italian former prime minister Matteo Renzi also lambasted the image, writing on X: “This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions, and shows that the leader of the right-wing world enjoys clowning around.”
The White House rejected the notion that the President had intended to make fun of the papacy. “President Trump flew to Italy to pay his respects to Pope Francis and attend his funeral, and he has been a staunch champion for Catholics and religious liberty,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump’s ‘Gaza riviera’
After the 7 October attack on Israel by the militant Hamas group, Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting a glitzy view of what a post-war Gaza Strip could look like.
The 30-second clip starts in the streets of a war-torn Gaza before rapidly transitioning to “Trump Gaza”, with skyscrapers, palm trees and Teslas driving through the streets.
Hamas militants are seen sporting full beards while dancing in bikinis, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lounge topless by a pool sipping cocktails, and a gigantic golden Trump statue looms over the scene.
The visuals are accompanied by a thumping dance track featuring the lyrics “Donald Trump will set you free, bringing the life for all to see, no more tunnels, no more fear, Trump Gaza is finally here.”
The video emerged in February 2025, shortly after Trump unveiled his property development plan for Gaza, saying he wanted to “clean out” the two million people living in the Strip to create the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
It prompted outrage, with people labelling the video insensitive due to the war causing the deaths of around 75,000 people, and being labelled a genocide by the UN.
Solo Avital, the Los Angeles based film-maker who created the video, told The Guardian it was intended as satire.
‘King Trump’ carpet bombs protesters with excrement
No words 🤡🌎
In response to the ‘No Kings’ protests against President Trump and his administration, Trump reposted an AI-generated video of himself with a crown on his head, flying a fighter jet with the words ‘King Trump’ written on it, dropping loads of feces on protestors pic.twitter.com/qrPvSGuBMN
— Lady Rose🥀 (@LadyRose322) October 19, 2025
In October last year, after millions of people gathered in US cities for “No Kings” protests, Trump posted a video of him carpet-bombing activists with what appeared to be faeces.
The 20-second clip begins with Trump, wearing a crown, piloting a fighter jet with the words “King Trump” emblazoned on the side. He flies over Times Square and releases the jet’s payload – a deluge of excrement – splattering the protesters.
The action occurs to a soundtrack of Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone”, recorded for the film Top Gun, which the musician confirmed he had not given authorisation for.
The White House communications director, Steven Cheung, wrote on social media that the President was defecating “all over these No Kings losers!”
This came a day after Trump insisted on Fox News that he was “not a king” and called the No Kings protesters “whacked out””
Trump has a White House kickabout with Ronaldo
The AI version of Trump appears to be an expert in many fields, with the President posting a video of himself and Cristiano Ronaldo skilfully doing tricks with a football in the Oval Office.
In the clip, Trump and Ronaldo can be seen heading the ball, doing kick-ups and smoothly passing between them as they move around the Resolute Desk before Trump kicks the ball at the camera, shattering the screen.
Trump posted the video on Truth Social two days after dining with the Portuguese footballer at the White House alongside Mohammed bin Salman – the Crown Prince’s first state visit since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the country’s government. Bin Salman has denied any knowledge of the assassination.
Ronaldo moved to Saudi Arabia in 2023, becoming the face of the Saudi Pro League and captain of Al Nassr – the club owned by sovereign wealth fund PIF, which is chaired by the crown prince. Last June, he became football’s first billionaire player.
Following the dinner, Ronaldo reposted a slow-motion video shared by the White House on X of him and Trump walking side by side with the caption “TWO GOATS, CR7 x 45/47”. “CR7” refers to Ronaldo’s player number and “45/47” refers to Trump’s two terms as 45th and 47th President.
Trump has Obama AI-arrested
Trump’s reposting of a video showing Obama being arrested prompted further speculation that he would use the law to go after his enemies (Photo: neo8171/TikTok/Donald Trump/Truth Social)
Trump has often called for the arrest of his political opponents, but in July 2025 helped his Truth Social followers visualise it after reposting an AI-generated video of former president Barack Obama being jailed by FBI agents.
The clip begins with a montage of political figures – including Obama and former president Joe Biden – repeating the phrase “no one is above the law”.
“YMCA” by Village People, a song Trump frequently dances to and uses as a theme tune at public events, plays as Obama is manhandled into cuffs by two FBI agents in the Oval Office while a grinning Trump looks on.
He next appears in an orange jumpsuit, pacing around his cell and looking forlornly into the “camera” from behind bars.
The video appeared to have been a response to comments made by director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who accused Obama of orchestrating a “years-long coup” to keep Trump out of the White House.
Many at the time accused the President of focusing on the alleged crimes of Obama to draw attention away from the Epstein files.
Racist video of Barack and Michelle Obama
Trump’s posting of the video on Truth Social was widely decried as racist (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP)
In February this year, Trump posted what many saw as an overtly racist video.
The minute-long video began with false claims about election fraud, before the faces of the Obamas – the first Black US President and First Lady – were shown superimposed onto apes, dancing to the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”.
Obama addressed the video, but didn’t mention Trump by name, later that month on Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast, saying: “There doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office.”
“That’s been lost,” the former president added.
Even some of Trump’s allies objected to the video. Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the senate, spoke out strongly against the video on X, saying that he was “praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”.
The office of Gavin Newsom, the Democratic California Governor who is rumoured to be pitching himself for a 2028 run, posted on X: “Disgusting behaviour by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”
At first, the Trump administration defended the video, which was posted on the first week of Black History Month. Leavitt said in a statement: “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.
“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
However, around 12 hours later, the video was deleted and a White House spokesperson told media outlets: “A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.”
Trump’s mockery of Hakeem Jeffries
Hakeem Jeffries was the subject of what some saw as racist mockery by the Trump Administration (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
In another video condemned as racist, Trump depicted Hakeem Jeffries, House minority leader, wearing a fake moustache and sombrero as the two parties negotiated to end a government shutdown.
Vice-president JD Vance made light of the tactic during a rare appearance in the briefing room, saying: “I think it’s funny. The President’s joking and we’re having a good time. You can negotiate in good faith while also making a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats’ positions, and even poking some fun at the absurdity of themselves.
“I’ll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make the solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop. I’ve talked to the President of the United States about that.”
Jeffries denounced the memes as racist, to which Vance retorted: “I honestly don’t even know what that means. Like, is he a Mexican American that is offended by having a sombrero meme?”
The video, posted last September, also used fake audio to have the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, say: “Not even Black people want to vote for us anymore, even Latinos hate us, so we need new voters. And if we give all these illegal aliens free healthcare, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us. They can’t even speak English so they won’t realise we’re just a bunch of woke pieces of shit.”
The narrative that Democrats are trying to give government benefits to undocumented Latin American immigrant to gain votes is a far-right conspiracy theory pushed by white supremacists, often referred to as the “great replacement theory”.
After Jeffries’s response, Trump posted another video with similar content.
Both clips, which were set to Mexican mariachi music, were intended to underscore the administration’s false claim that the Democrats were demanding health insurance subsidies for unauthorised immigrants as a condition for funding the federal government.
Trump the ice hockey player
The President used AI-generated video in February to celebrate the men’s hockey team victory over Canada in the Winter Olympics final.
Trump is depicted in his trademark blue suit with a red tie firing pucks past Canadian players and even throwing his gloves down to repeatedly slug a Canadian player in the face – all set to Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”.
Included in the post was a statement from Canada’s former prime minister Justin Trudeau saying: “You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game.”
The video followed verbal sparring between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney over the former’s threats to annex his northern neighbour and make it the 51st state.