The photo illustration, created on April 13, 2026, shows a photo of US President Donald Trump on a screen and an AI-generated photo of himself posted on the Truth Social platform depicting himself as Jesus Christ after criticizing Pope Leo XIV.
Mandel Gunn | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump deleted a Truth Social post Monday morning that featured an image of him appearing to be Jesus Christ after receiving backlash.
“I posted it. I thought it was me, the doctor,” Trump told reporters at the White House, denying claims that he meant to dress up as Jesus.
“As a doctor, it was supposed to be me who made people better,” he says.
President Trump posted an image that appeared to be generated by artificial intelligence on Sunday night after criticizing Pope Leo XIV for criticizing US military action against Iran and Venezuela.
The image showed Trump, wearing a white robe, with his right hand resting on a man who appeared to be sick or dying, with a bright light emanating from the president’s left hand and an American flag, an eagle and a military plane flying behind him.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment about the deleted post.
“I don’t know if the president thought he was joking, or if he was under the influence of some substance, or what explanation there is for this outrageous blasphemy,” conservative Christian commentator Megan Basham wrote in a post about the X image.
“But he needs to immediately back down and ask forgiveness from the American people and from God,” Basham wrote.
US President Donald Trump’s Truth social account posts depict an AI-generated image of himself that clearly looks like Jesus
@realDonaldTrump | Truth Society | Reuters
The post was one of a series of posts posted to President Trump’s Truth social account Sunday night. The image stood alone, without words.
Former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally, wrote in her own post on X that “President Trump attacked the Pope on Orthodox Easter because the Pope rightly opposes Trump’s war on Iran, and then posted a photo of himself as if he were replacing Jesus.”
“This comes on the heels of last week’s post where I went on an evil Easter rant and threatened to destroy an entire civilization. I completely condemn this and pray it doesn’t happen!!!” Greene wrote.
In May 2025, President Trump posted an image of himself as a Catholic pope after Pope Francis’ death.
The president was heavily criticized for his post by the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops.
“There is nothing clever or funny about this image,” the synod said in a post on X. “We have just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn meeting to elect a new successor to St. Peter. Please do not mock us.”
