Trump Deletes AI Image of Himself as Jesus Christ After Conservative Backlash on Orthodox Easter

Summary:

• President Trump posted AI-generated image portraying himself as healer on Easter, drawing criticism and confusion.

• The controversial image disappeared quickly, sparking questions about its meaning and implications.

• Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and others criticized Trump’s post, questioning his motives and respect for religious symbols.

On Orthodox Easter Sunday, President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image to Truth Social showing himself in a white robe and red sash, healing a sick man while bald eagles, American flags, and military jets filled the background. He did not include a caption.

By Monday morning, it was gone.

The image went up less than an hour after Trump unloaded on Pope Leo XIV, calling the pontiff “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy” for opposing the U.S. war in Iran.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has grown increasingly critical of the president since leaving office, did not mince words. “On Orthodox Easter, President Trump attacked the Pope because the Pope is rightly against Trump’s war in Iran and then he posted this picture of himself as if he is replacing Jesus,” she wrote on X. Conservative influencer Riley Gaines, one of the administration’s most visible surrogates on transgender sports policy, asked plainly: “Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this. God shall not be mocked.”

Fox News contributor and former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer called it “inappropriate, embarrassing and offensive.”

When reporters caught up with Trump outside the Oval Office Monday, he offered an explanation that raised more questions than it answered. “I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor,” he said. “It had to do with Red Cross. There’s a Red Cross worker there, whom we support. Only the fake news could come up with that one.” There was no Red Cross symbol in the image. There was no clear depiction of a doctor either.

The image had originally been posted months earlier by right-wing influencer Nick Adams with the caption that Trump was “healing this nation.” Trump’s account shared a modified version of it on one of the holiest nights of the Orthodox Christian calendar.

It was not the first time. After Pope Francis died in 2025, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed as pope, drawing condemnation from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, one of the few Catholic leaders who had maintained a warm relationship with the administration.

The pattern was not lost on religious observers. Paul Erickson, bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said the image reflected an administration that “confuses the kingdom of God with a particular government.”

Pope Leo XIV, speaking to reporters Monday, was measured and direct. “I have no fear of the Trump administration,” he said. “I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”

The White House did not issue a formal statement.