US President Donald Trump on Monday deleted a social media post in which he portrayed himself in a Jesus-like image.
The AI-generated picture, posted late Sunday on his Truth Social platform, showed Trump in a flowing white and red robe placing his hands on a sick man in a pose associated with faith healing. The image drew rare rebuke from some of his most religious followers.
Trump appeared with light in both hands, one hovering over the man’s head. The background included the Statue of Liberty, a large US flag, fireworks, a fighter jet, a praying figure, bald eagles and figures resembling holy warriors floating in the clouds above his head.
When reporters asked about the deleted photo, Trump denied posing as Jesus and blamed the media for insinuating it. “I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do Red Cross,” he said. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
Trump made his remarks at the White House after receiving a McDonald’s food order delivered by a DoorDash employee, who interacted with the media at the event.
This was not the first time Trump used religious imagery in posts. During his 2023 bank fraud trial he shared a supporter’s sketch showing him sitting next to Jesus in the courtroom. Trump draws strong support from the Christian Evangelical community and regularly meets religious advisers who have cast him in biblical terms. At an Easter lunch at the White House, televangelist and spiritual adviser Paula White‑Cain likened his experience to Jesus’—saying, “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us.”
By contrast, Trump has clashed with the Catholic Church. He has been at odds over issues such as immigration and the war in Iran, and he is currently feuding with Pope Leo XIV. Speaking at the McDonald’s delivery appearance, Trump said the pope was “wrong” and that there was “nothing to apologize for,” criticizing Leo as “very weak on crime and other things” and opposing the pope’s stance on Iran because “you cannot have a nuclear Iran.”
Edited by: Darko Janjevic