On April 12, President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself cosplaying as a Jesus-like figure healing a sick man with divine power. Trump loves posting incendiary AI content; in less than a year, we’ve received a post depicting the Obamas as monkeys, a press release of a Minnesota protestor mid-arrest edited to appear as though she was crying when she was not and a video of Trump flying a fighter jet, spraying literal shit on American protestors. Trump’s Jesus post, however, feels different. Trump took the Oval Office in large part due to the frustrated white, Christian nationalist voters who felt Christian values were no longer a priority in this nation. Trump is known for trolling his opposition — it’s his shtick — but aggravating his own side feels different.
Responding to backlash over the AI-Jesus post, Trump told reporters, “I thought it was me as a doctor … Only the fake news could come up with that one … It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better and I do make people better.” Some of MAGA will call him on this bullshit and jump ship — most will not.
Trump’s pattern of anti-Christian content is not only a departure from the so-called Christian platform he ran on, but a message telling the world: “Hey, look, I can say whatever I want, even when it’s offensive to my own voter base, and I’m still untouchable.” Liberal media is using this post to highlight Trump’s decaying mental capacity. I don’t disagree, but I think there’s something much more Trumpian at play: He’s mocking us. He has officially declared a new line he can cross. This, coupled with Trump’s refusal to release the Epstein files, has redefined what it means to be a Republican: The party that claims to be of Christians, of family, has established that idolatry and pedophilia are fair game.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
