| What sweet irony when the Christian right reacted with horror at Donald Trump’s depiction of his AI self as Jesus Christ comforting the sick. After their shock, he deleted it, saying it really just depicted him as a doctor, haha, but it was Christ-like—with a halo above the head of the man on whom he was laying hands and a ball of light in his own hand as he wore Christ-like clothing right out of central wardrobe. The religious right was correct to see the image as offensive, but c’mon, they created this monster from the White House with their laying on of hands that I discussed here, their anointment of him as “God’s chosen one” when he avoided assassination, their treatment of the government as their own cheerleading squad with the relentless Christian right messaging from the likes of Pete Hegseth and so many others in the Administration, not to mention the ubiquitous diamond crosses favored by so many of the women, including the now-ousted Pam Bondi. Of course, Trump sees himself as the savior. What malignant narcissist wouldn’t? | | You may have missed the related events that occurred on the same weekend, so I will bring Trump’s “Christ-like” mindset into context. | | First, the Trump-as-Christ photo appeared less than two hours after his strongman friend, Viktor Orban, conceded he lost his race for Hungary’s Prime Minister, ending a 16-year run of far-right policies, including making Hungary a Christian country. With record turnout and a huge loss, Trump had to see himself in a similar situation with the upcoming November midterms because of the many parallels between the two autocrats. Trump was told by evangelicals that he has a “divine purpose” (despite his many infractions of their moral culture). In the same vein, Orban was told there was a divine purpose in his public service. Orban portrayed himself as the “defender of Christianity” and “civilization.” That meant fewer civil rights for the people, especially dissenters, elevating Christianity over all other faiths, and demonizing LGBTQ individuals. Same-sex marriage was banned soon after he came into power and further repressed last year when Hungary passed a constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ public gatherings. Women were encouraged not to work but rather return to the home, and pursue their “highest” calling, having babies. If this agenda sounds familiar, it should. | | Lest Trump think pursuing the religious right’s Christian country will to power is the key to his ongoing success, he might think again after Orban’s fate. In 2011, Hungary passed a Church Law, which created special privileges for certain Christian faiths and ended government recognition of over 300 other faiths. Certain Protestant sects and the Catholic Church have been “established” and, therefore, have access to government funding, unlike all the other religious groups. Public schools can be transformed into established religious schools with the vote of 50% of the parents. The disfavored religions (along with atheists and secularists) have experienced discrimination, and there is rampant anti-Muslim and antisemitic sentiment. None of that shielded Orban from his humiliating loss. | | No one knows what is really going on in that head, but our president may have seen the Orban defeat as placing on Trump the mantle of preserving what they call “western civilization” with its Christian preferentialism, narrow-mindedness, and authoritarianism. So why not just be Christ for everyone? He got his answer quickly enough from some conservative Christian supporters and took down the image. | | Second, and this relates to another strongman Trump admires: a new book is coming out that is summarized in an article in the Wall Street Journal’s April 11-12, 2026, weekend edition, that talks about Trump’s buddy Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, who developed a cult of personality in North Korea, which was derived from American Presbyterianism, but took a Nietzschean bad turn. Kim “sought to portray himself as the true Messiah, displacing Christ as 'the benevolent sun of the world.’” He resolutely repressed religion but concocted a public cult where he was the religious savior. When he “entered the twilight of his life, ever-more grandiose tributes were heaped on the men. 'He seems to have been called by every honorary title imaginable.’” You can only imagine that if Trump even skimmed that article, he got some great ideas for himself. | | If Kim could make himself into a better Christ for his country, why not Trump, in Trump’s mind? The image Trump used included a background of soldiers, war planes, flags, and eagles, so there was plainly an attempt to make himself into a nationalist Christ. There would be nothing as motivating as the phrase “grandiose tributes” to motivate him to find the pathway. | | Third, and, yes, this is the same weekend: Trump took it upon himself to lambaste Pope Leo, who had apparently pushed Trump over the edge. He posted his Christly image not long after he took the Pope apart for criticizing him, showing, I suppose, his Christian superiority. Earlier in the week, Leo disapproved of Trump’s threat to end the Iranian “civilization,” repeatedly criticized the war in Iran, and essentially said that Trump’s Iranian war was based on a “delusion of omnipotence.” So Trump gave it to him over the weekend, saying he’s “WEAK” on crime and “terrible” on foreign policy, and, well, not MAGA like the Pope’s brother is. Then we learned this week that Trump’s Pentagon had reached out to the Vatican in January, suggesting that the U.S. has more war power than the Vatican does and that the Vatican should support Trump’s policies. They didn’t. Not long after his tirade against the Pope, Trump issued the picture of himself in Christ-like robes ministering to a man with a lot of holy light and war planes, implying he’s the real pontiff of the world, with a lot of firepower. So that is the third possible motivator behind his promotion of himself to Christ. Some Catholics have been offended by Trump’s bullying talk against the Pope. | | On this battlefront, I have to say that the Catholics, especially the bishops, taking umbrage from Trump treating the Pope like he’s a politician, is a little hypocritical. He is, in fact, not just a religious leader for the Catholic Church but a head of state who exercises sovereignty. That’s one reason it has been virtually impossible to sue the Vatican for the sexual abuse of so many children around the world. I would also like to point out that the American bishops were not doing a whole lot for the suppressed civil rights of so many Americans under the Trump administration—instead, literally dancing a jig that their Notre Dame professor on the Supreme Court dealt the death blow to women’s right to abortion—until the federal government stopped funding their work with immigrants. The Catholic Church is supported by billions in local, state, and federal tax proceeds, and they depend on it. But I digress. Suffice it to say plenty of presidents and popes have had many political policy disagreements. | | It is curious, though, for an American president to attack the first American pope, who so far is popular. Yet, Trump sees himself as the head of the religious right movement, which exists in his mind to keep him in power, so when anyone, including a religious leader questions his judgment, it’s only natural that he would go on the attack. | | To the religious right that has pandered to Trump’s enormous and fragile ego, repent of your sins. You created a political monster through your relentless drive for power to control the rest of us. Your framing of him gave him permission to place himself at the head of Christianity, to think that a cult of personality is normal, and to believe his arbitrary, chaotic policymaking is always correct, no matter what anyone says. To everyone else, the midterm elections are only 204 days away. |
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