I have a song stuck in my head. You know, by Mötley Crüe, big hit in 1989. At the end of the video a rich criminal’s life literally goes up in flames.
“He’s the one they call Dr. Jesus, he’s the one that makes you feel all right.”
Those aren’t the actual lyrics. But that’s what started playing in my brain when I heard what Donald Trump said about posting an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus online.
“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better,” he told a reporter. “And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
Wow, I feel a lot better already.
Look, it’s not hard to recognize the difference between Jesus and a doctor. I mean, Jesus — Jesus is everywhere. There is no chance that Trump didn’t understand what was going on in that picture (except for the weird Voltron action going on in the sky at the top).
This is, of course, not the first time that Trump has likened himself to Jesus. Not even the first time this year. In fact, it was the second time this month.
Though perhaps he was emboldened to post the Tresus (that’s Trump+Jesus and it sounds a little like “treason”) image after his spiritual adviser and pastor Paula White-Cain made the comparison on Easter.
“Jesus taught so many lessons through his death, burial and resurrection. He showed us great leadership, great transformation, requires great sacrifice. And Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price,” White-Cain said. “It almost cost you your life. You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us.”
Ah, yes. The notorious “great sacrifices” Trump has made in his life. What a martyr.
But in the past Trump’s hubris didn’t upset his followers much. Not so this time around.
“This is gross blasphemy,” Brilyn Hollyhand, the former chair of the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Council, posted on X. “Faith is not a prop. You don’t need to portray yourself as a savior when your record should speak for itself.”
Go off, Brilyn. Though it does kind of sound like he’s saying he thinks Trump’s record is giving savior.
“Why? Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this. Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this?” anti-trans activist Riley Gaines posted on X, adding that “a little humility would serve him well.”
Imagine being chided by Riley “I tied for fifth place with a trans swimmer in college and made hating trans people my entire personality and life’s purpose” Gaines about humility.
Trump ended up deleting the post.
The thing that makes Tresus (remember? Trump+Jesus? Humor me. It’s the “fetch” I’m trying to make happen) even better is that before he posted the image he posted a 334-word screed online against THE POPE.
Why? Because Pope Leo XIV dared to criticize Trump’s cruelty toward immigrants and his hobby of just attacking other countries.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela,” Trump ranted. “And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States.”
Now, of course, Pope Leo XIV never said he wants Iran to have nuclear weapons. Given the Pope’s whole anti-war thing, I would venture to say he doesn’t want anyone to have them.
Now, look, I’m not Catholic, so the Pope isn’t anyone special to me. But he’s a Pretty Big Deal around the world. I mean, so is Trump, but people actually like the Pope and they think he’s, like, magical. I don’t gamble, but I would definitely put my money on the Pope in this fight.
Trump goes on to claim credit for “Leo” becoming Pope at all. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” he wrote.
There’s that humility we all know and love.
“Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me,” Trump concluded. “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”
Trump has refused to apologize, literally pulling a “he started it.”
“He went public,” Trump said. “I’m just responding to Pope Leo.”
As for Pope Leo, he says, “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.”
Literally the gospel truth.