The president Donald Trump confirmed this Monday that he published on Truth Social a computer-generated image depicting him with the iconography of Jesus Christ laying hands on a sick person, but he rejected that interpretation: he asserted that the illustration represented him as a doctor of the Red Cross, not as Christ.
"I thought that I was a doctor and had to do with the Red Cross, as a worker of the Red Cross, which we support," Trump stated to reporters.
"I am supposed to be the one as a doctor, helping people get better. And yes, I do help people get better. I help people get much better," he emphasized.
The image, published without any explanatory text, shows Trump surrounded by military personnel, healthcare workers, and a woman praying, with soldiers depicted as angels, the American flag and iconic monuments of the country in the background.
The visual content —hands being laid on a sick person, angelic figures, and a scene of healing— generated a wave of reactions as it was interpreted as a direct comparison to Jesus Christ, something that Trump attributed to "fake news."
"Only fake news could lead to that. I just found out and said: how did they reach that conclusion?" asserted the president.
The post occurred hours after Trump harshly criticized Pope Leo XIV on the same platform, calling him weak on crime and terrible in foreign policy.
"León 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. He is hurting himself and, more importantly, he is hurting the Catholic Church!" wrote Trump.
Criticism arose after the pontiff's statements condemning the threat to "wipe out" Iran and calling for a ceasefire. Pope Leo XIV responded from a flight to Algeria that the Church has a moral obligation to oppose war and that he is not afraid to speak out.
This is not the first time that Trump has posted AI-generated images with grandeur symbolism. In May 2025, just days before the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV, he shared an image of himself dressed as the Pope with the message: "I think I would make a great Pope. No one would do it better than me".
In July 2025, the White House released an image of him as Superman, and in February 2025 shared a fake cover of Time magazine with the caption "Long live the king."
On that occasion, Cardinal Dolan criticized the image of Trump as the Pope, describing it as "frivolous and disrespectful," a precedent that did not stop the president from continuing to post such content.
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