President Donald Trump faced renewed scrutiny this week after sharing AI-generated photos on social media. The latest image showed Jesus hugging the 79-year-old. This comes after Trump shared a photo, which critics claimed was a potrayal of himself as Jesus Christ.
Trump was forced to delete the first image amid backlash.
Christian leader reacts
Franklin Graham, one of Trump’s most prominent Christian supporters, welcomed the president’s clarification following backlash over an earlier post.
“I’m thankful the President has clarified that this was not at all what he intended and has removed the post,” Graham, who is president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told Newsweek Wednesday.
New image shows Jesus embracing Trump
Days after deleting the earlier image, Trump shared another AI-generated visual – this time depicting Jesus embracing him.
The image shows Jesus with an arm around Trump’s shoulder and a hand on his chest, with both figures leaning into each other against a glowing backdrop featuring an American flag.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!! President DJT.”
Trump’s Jesus photo
The latest post follows intense backlash over a now-deleted AI image that appeared to depict Trump as Jesus, dressed in flowing robes and performing a healing.
“This should be deleted immediately. There’s no context where this is acceptable,” Christian activist Sean Feucht wrote on X.
MAGA influencer Riley Gaines questioned the post on X Monday, writing, “Why? Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this. Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this? Either way, two things are true. 1) a little humanity would serve him well 2) God shall not be mocked.”
“This goes too far. It crosses the line,” David Brody, a journalist with the Christian Boadcasting Network wrote on X. “A supporter can back the mission and reject this.”
“I don’t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he is under the influence of some substance or what possible explanation he could have for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy,” wrote Megan Basham, a conservative writer and commentator. “But he needs to take this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God.”
Trump defends deleted image
By Monday morning, the original image had been removed from Truth Social. Trump later defended the post while speaking to reporters outside the White House.
“I viewed that as a picture of me being a doctor,” he said. “You know, as a little fun playing the doctor and making people better. So that’s what it was viewed as. That’s what most people thought.”
The president added that he removed the image to avoid confusion and blamed media coverage for amplifying the controversy.
“I didn’t want to have anybody be confused,” he said, attributing the backlash to “fake news.”