Trump tests his luck with the religious right amid feud with pope and AI Jesus posts

Donald Trump’s depiction of himself as Jesus Christ and recent spat with Pope Leo XIV could come back to bite him and the Republican party in the midterm elections, according to experts, with some newly aggrieved Christian groups set to play an outsized role in key races across the US.

The president’s Trump-as-the-Messiah Truth Social post sparked immediate criticism among some Christians, including some on the right. Trump, 79, said he thought the AI image of him administering an ethereal light to a stricken man’s head as translucent figures descended from the heavens represented him as a doctor.

“Blasphemous,” was the verdict of Douglas Wilson, a self-described Christian nationalist who believes women should not be able to vote, and a confidant of Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary.

“This should be deleted immediately. There’s no context where this is acceptable,” Sean Feucht, a Christian activist who is partnering with the Trump administration on a “Worship Tour”, posted on social media.

Trump’s post was ultimately taken down, although the level of his apology was brought into question when he then posted an AI image of what appeared to be Jesus Christ cuddling him.

“He did seem to cross a line for some of his Christian supporters,” said Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a professor at Calvin University and an expert on white American evangelicals. She noted that Trump’s supporters have been prepared to put up with plenty of other things.

“Really, from day one, with him bragging on camera that he assaulted women in the Access Hollywood tape to, even just very recently, threatening to annihilate an entire civilization. He is also detaining children, and there are allegations right now related to the Epstein files.

“There is a lot out there that arguably should concern Christian supporters, and the fact that it was this AI-generated image that sparked this outcry is worth pondering. I think it felt like it crossed the line for some because it was just so blatant.”

Yet Du Mez said not all the outrage may have been sincere.

“I sense that there was this kind of performative aspect that enough Christian leaders knew that they needed to be on record saying: ‘We don’t approve of this. But again, that’s something very different from them actually withdrawing their support from him,” she said.

Feucht, the Worship Tour guru, certainly got over it quickly. Within hours he had uncritically reposted Trump’s “doctor” explanation. Riley Gaines, a Christian, anti-trans activist, to the Trump image: “A little humility would serve him well.” Later that day, Gaines wrote on social media: “I love the President and I’m so grateful he’s in the Oval Office.”