Trump shared this image, then took it down when he was attacked. The image was said to represent him as Jesus. He denied that he had seen it that way. He said the image showed him as "a doctor making people better and I do make people a lot better." Many observers hooted "Doctor!" What kind of doctor wears a robe and applies small orbs of light to the patient's forehead!?
But what is Jesus-y about handheld balls of light? What is Jesus-y about an American flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, a bald eagle, fighter jets, soldiers ascending upward, and a medical worker with a stethoscope?
You can see what you want here, and maybe if you're genuinely concerned about blasphemy you'll want to err on the side of not jumbling up worldly images with things that might be sacred. But is there any serious Christian iconography there? I see nothing other than the white tunic and red mantle. What about the healing itself? But healing with the laying on of hands is not something limited to Jesus. Whether it is effective or not, it has been a widespread practice through human history, and it is a way to express the idea of profound healing.
There is healing through the laying on of hands in the Old Testament and, in the New Testament, it is not limited to Jesus. And in Western history, there was also the "royal touch" — "a form of laying on of hands, whereby French and English monarchs touched their subjects... with the intent to cure them of various diseases and conditions."
American Presidents are frequently portrayed as healers — spiritual healers — and the use of exalted imagery is common, not some freakish new thing special to Trump. It might be a bad idea — because it's trashy art, because politics and religion should be kept strictly separated, or because propaganda is deceptive and distracting — whatever. That image may be bullshit, but the outrage over it is also bullshit. When I think of all the times Barack Obama was portrayed as a Christ figure! Ridiculous. Grow up.
And here are The Thompson Twins:
Posts
87 comments:
Ann - you sum it up perfectly:
"That image may be bullshit, but the outrage over it is also bullshit."
Obama the light-bringer.
LOL - he brought pallets of cash to the Ayatollahs.
Whined endlessly about the Crusades.
I don’t see the comparison or link to Jesus. All political candidate campaign images are propagandistic treacle. At least Trump doesn’t make any bones about it or pretend that it isn’t.
Trump gets this crap from somewhere - and he should look at it and laugh - not re-post it.
But what if the guys with parachutes were doing a HALO jump?
Who is the central ghost figure above Trump's head? Is that a transformer or something? Optimus Prime?
"is there any serious Christian iconography there?"
Glowing Stigmata from the hands?
My oh my have cultural concepts changed since the 1980s. That's when Christian topics last controlled national narratives per the Moral Majority, Tammy Faye Baker, swearing on TV, etc.
That look and feel duplicates the stock Christian art of 20th century USA protestant churches. It's a dead ringer if you swap out Trump's head for flowing brown hair and a beard, plus a cross instead of a flag. No adjustments are needed for the surrounding faces, nor the glowing sky.
I read it as derivative AI art based on a prompt such as "Show Trump as Jesus healing a sick man with patriotic imagery in the background." The old-timey folks who made a big deal about satanic 1970s music would be livid at this image.
"Bowing down to false idols" they would say. Firmly. Yet, Trump and @Althouse haven't seen this stuff.
This post and reactions reveal a lot about one's exposure to the subculture. Also see "Jesus Camp" (2006) for how far the USA moved in 50 to 100 years (i.e., per the dominance of TV, film, and secular media). That movie shocked city people -- but it was mere salt-of-the-Earth USA culture not long ago.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486358/
“warm my heart” is the lyric I remember…
More like 0bama the Shit Disturber.
"When I think of all the times Bark Obama was portrayed as a Christ figure! Ridiculous. Grow up."
There was an SUV or crossover (likely a hybrid, natch) in the driveway at the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison with a poster-sized window sticker showing Barack Obama backlit, as though with a halo, with "HOPE" in large letters at bottom. I found the juxtaposition odd. This was, I think, just before the election in 2008.
The royal touch (also known as the king's touch) was a form of laying on of hands by French and English monarchs who touched their subjects, regardless of social class, to cure them of various diseases and conditions. Had Trump known about English monarchs to make royal subjects believe in magic, but he is not smart enough to dredge up this wild shot.
"When I think of all the times Barack Obama was portrayed as a Christ figure!" Sorry, that did not happen!
From 1992 until 2008, he was a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ—a Reformed denomination. Obama left it in the wake of the Jeremiah Wright controversy, but Wright never declared Obama a Christ figure. Right-wing media conspirators declared Obama to be Muslim.
Oh I don't know, Anne? What's Jesusy about a woman folding her hands in prayer? 🤣
I think our Hostess has Biden-brain, too.
A better question for anyone that has an answer: what's "doctor-y" about a demon descending from the clouds?
I take it as a joke and as Trump poking fun at his ego. At least I hope he's poking fun at his ego.
It's the red robe. Christ will return wearing a blood red robe.
@D.D. Driver --
I don't think it's a demon, even though it surely look like one.
Per an extreme zoom: I think it's a mashup of (1) Uncle Sam's legs, (2) the Statue of Liberty's crown, and (3) a pair of crossed flags. But headless -- an AI error.
I also considered a stage outfit from the rock band Gwar, and characters from the Road Warrior movie.
I think the outrage over Trump in this case ties in with the attack on the Pope and his crazy message on Easter Sunday where he deliberately used the word "Fuck" and threatend to destroy Iran's Civilization. As Tucker said, as outrageously anti-Christian as you can get.
Plus all images, the light in his hand, the white/red robe all tie to Trump as Jesus Christ. Ted Cruz refuses to say "Christ is King" but given his love for Israel and hatred of Iran maybe he will say "Trump is Christ".
Obama as a christ figure is funny enough. I mean an agnostic athiest Pol who was went to Islamic studies when he lived in Indonesia. But Trump as Jesus is even sillier. What's next, Hillary as Mother Mary?
"because politics and religion should be kept strictly separated"
Have Muslims been notified?
Trump could put this to rest by releasing the AI prompts that were used to create the image.
Came from nick adams amateur art unlike the shephard fairey obama porn that was circulated everywhere
Nothing Trump releases would put anything to rest if it couldn't be used against him by idiot leftards.
That was a cover on newsweek
Compared to those psycho covers on time magazine
Thank you! I've observed the freak out on this and been a little confused. I understand the red robe is supposed to set it off as Jesus but the whole thing just looks like AI slop. I don't find it any more offensive than the angel strengthening Trump in the oval office. Which is to say, it's tacky and slightly offensive.
That is a great question.
The image of Trump looks like Jesus. It's the robe. He shouldn't have posted it, but maybe he thought it was funny and wanted to share the laugh.
Re: images of Obama as Christ. I definitely remember those. They were framed so that it looked like he had a halo. And didn't they call him the "light bringer?" Also, there are all those devotional candles of leftist politicians - Michelle Obama as the Holy Mother (one that I found particularly offensive) and others. https://a.co/d/0bjxHqDQ
Video: Democrats to Trump trying to lay his hands on them.
I thought Jesus was black, and bearded, and Jewish and a Muslim.
"Why do people read this illustration to represent Trump depicted as Jesus rather than Trump with the miraculous power of the laying on of hands" Easy, because people of no faith other than 'orange man bad' felt that if they made enough noise about it they could hurt DJT politically.
Another contrived controversy
Did you see the video of John Stewart noticing how much the sick man looks like himself?
https://x.com/TheDailyShow/status/2044023363195039999/video/1
“Did you see the video of John Stewart noticing how much the sick man looks like himself?”
Meh. I think he looks more like Levon Helm.
Nice defense of plausible deniability, counsellor.
Is the patient a generic Iranian?
It's a joke, like Reagan riding a velociraptor
Trump is not a religious man, as far as I can tell. Approximately zero percent of people are worshipping Donald Trump.
I've seen lots of examples of TDS among people who hate Trump. I've seen exactly zero examples of TDS among people who love Trump.
I've only seen derangement in the negative way. I've never seen people so deranged they think he's a messiah.
Given all of the pagan idolatry Trump has recently associated himself with, that should give the Mullahs pause. He's celebrating his heritage and going Viking.
Ah!
Ah!
We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow
How soft your fields so green
Can whisper tales of gore
Of how we calmed the tides of war
We are your overlords
Oh, we sweep with threshing oar
Our only goal will be the western shore
So now you'd better stop
And rebuild all your ruins
For peace and trust can win the day
Despite of all your losing
The Why is pretty easy to see.
---wearing of a garment that many, many images of the Lord depict as He would wear
---the healing process itself
---the aura of light right behind Trump, along with "angelic" like figures
---Trump's penchant to stylize himself as a Bigger-than-Life character
Even though I'm a Trump supporter I wish he hadn't done this.
I agree with @Enigma, this is a picture done in the style of modern Christian art. I think it's actually a rather clever trolling.
The image was calculated to evoke a reaction to Christian religious art, but without anything explicitly Christian, not a single element. And when you actually analyze it, all of the themes are patriotic.
I'm actually a little surprised that everybody is so busy damning Trump for imitating Jesus, that nobody has pointed out how outrageously racist, White supremacist, and transphobic this picture is.
He reposted something else, grow up people
Iman: “ I think he looks more like Levon Helm.”
So Trump’s saying “put the load right on me?” CC, JSM
Yeah there is a stewart resemblance
Trump deleted the image himself. So he knows.
Kate
@kate_p45
Have you ever noticed that we never see Catholic cardinals or the Pope speak out about all the Christian churches being burned down around the world?
But yet, Pope Leo runs to showcase a mosque in a country that restricts Christians and other faiths, and coerces conversion to Islam. Not a single statement of concern from Pope Leo or the Cardinals about religious freedom and protections for Christian minorities in certain regions.
I was years old when Newsweak splashed their St Obama as the Messiah on their magazine cover, and all the phony dark web leftist media rags like TNR, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Salon, and NYHag all gushed and squeeed over it...
Go squeeze a lemon, Howee.
Robert Prevost's politics were somewhere between Rachel Maddow and The View.
Now he's Pope Leo XIV.
The sick guy looks like Dr. House.
And Trump looks like a preppy with a red sweater over his shoulders.
" "quotes marks missing
Doesn't Trump look more like a Roman politician than Jesus?
The image was calculated to evoke a reaction to Christian religious art, but without anything explicitly Christian, not a single element.
This reminds me of the old joke: other than "that" Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?
Other than the glowing orbs, the angels, the lady praying 🙏 to Trump and the faith healing there is not a damn thing to evoke Christ.
I cannot believe we still allow you people to fuck one another.
Trump thinks big. He's not just after Nobel Prize. When you think about it, the Catholic Church has never canonized a non-Catholic. Isn't that a bit exclusionary for our day and age. And even worse, they've never canonized a living person. It would be cool for the first American Pope to canonize the first non-Catholic living saint. Who better than Donald Trump. Talk about miracles. Who else can trigger a war and a stock market rally simultaneously. That's a miracle comparable to and in some ways superior to the loaves and the fishes.......I think with a little judicious pressure the Pope will come around. Perhaps there's a wing in St. Peter's that can devoted to the worship of the Donald. I think a little gilding around the edges would also spurce up St. Peter's.
The "sick guy" is Chuck Norris. Trump is gonna Lazarus the guy..... This sort of childish stuff drives my progressive friends crazy. Such is its purpose.
The supine man obviously suffers from scrofula.
You’re screwing a rabid pooch, DeeDee.
He might need vaseline for that
Jesús Enrique Rosas - The Body Language Guy
@Knesix
"I'm a practicing Catholic. I need you to understand that part. But in my opinion, Trump has all the right to lash out at him. Maybe you'll disagree, but in the end, Trump talks like Trump. Water is wet. I'm talking about MY Church being run like a DNC satellite office but with a golden throne.
This is the same Vatican that watched governments padlock churches during COVID and said nothing. That let Biden take communion while funding abortion and said nothing. That fired Bishop Strickland for defending actual Church doctrine. That removed Bishop Fernández in Puerto Rico for defending religious exemptions THE CATECHISM ITSELF supports.
But somehow Trump is the threat to human dignity.
Pope Francis was bad. Leo has turned out to be worse. Francis at least was vague about his politics. Leo went and hired the consulting firm."
From here: https://x.com/Knesix/status/2044111234673299936
Yes, Achilles. Trump resembles Caligula much more than Jesus.
Oh, were you talking about the AI image?
I wasn't
Althouse has got this one dead wrong and in a way which shows a curious vacancy where her long and close study of law and religion might have led us to hope for more.
1. Trump created or circulated the image. He is responsible for it. Comparisons to creations by perfervid Obama supporters are not relevant. Obviously Obama would never have circulated such an image of himself. The question is whether Trump should have done so.
2. As Claude pointed out when asked, the religious imagery is unambiguous and much more extensive that Althouse acknowledges. Claude writes: "The white robe, red sash, laying on of hands, kneeling figures, and rays of light from the hands are all drawn directly from centuries of Christian iconography depicting Christ healing the sick. These are not incidental — they are the core visual language of New Testament healing scenes."
3. Contrary to Althouse, healing by laying on of hands does not happen in the Old Testament and a search for images of such comes up empty. In the New Testament, the vast majority of instances of healing by laying on of hands involve Jesus. St. Peter and St. Paul, the most important leaders of the early church, are mentioned as doing so. The only obscure person to do so is Ananias (once). Does Althouse imagine that is who Trump intended to reference? Come on!
4. The presence of nationalist and militarist images doesn't detract from the religious imagery--it simply takes it in a Trumpy, Christian nationalist direction.
5. Context matters. Again Claude: "Posting a Christ-like image of himself within an hour of attacking the actual head of the Catholic Church creates a pointed symbolic contrast — essentially positioning himself as a rival spiritual authority."
6. This was not just about offending people with TDS. The people who were most offended by this were Trump supporters and sympathizers who take religion seriously, many of whom experienced it as a betrayal.
7. What does the fact that Trump would post this say about his decency and sanity? What does it say about his professed respect for religion, and Christianity in particular? Althouse's one sided and misinformed treatment of this incident allows her to avoid these questions altogether. Maybe she should give us her views on them, but though I hope she will, I'd give long odds that she won't.
Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼
@DrewPavlou
This is an absolutely disastrous moment for American liberalism because their top public intellectual just said they should embrace open communists who support mass killings and political terrorism.
I compiled a video showing 65 times Hasan Piker endorsed political killings and terrorism:
https://x.com/DrewPavlou/status/1969746010777010383/video/1
Fuck the drawings, Stephen, tell us what you think about the Democrats efforts to destroy this country from the inside out.
In other words, get serious.
Democrats are far away from God. God is only mentioned when they think God can be used to hurt someone or tear something down. They always return to their thieving, treasonous, mendacious and evil ways.
Achilles is right. It's President Blutarsky chanting TOGA! TOGA! TOGA! right before smashing Pete Seeger's guitar.
"...I cannot believe we still allow you people to fuck one another. ...."
Ha ha, mission accomplished. The truly appalling thing is that there are people out there trying to get in position to do precisely that and worse, if they had their way, and calling themselves 'good people', and thinking of themselves as fair-minded and advanced, somehow. But you won't be able to - and you never will.
Angels? Where? are you talking about the warriors up there in the sky? Ladies praying? Ever been to Thailand, ever seen a monk? Common hand pose, not explicitly Christian, as I said. 'Healing' Oh - is that what he's doing?
Enjoy your evening.
What's offensive/comical about the image is merely that it shows Trump showing care for and offering help to another human being--any other human being. As if! He doesn't care for anyone in his own family beyond the least cursory...if that.
Iman is correct. Maga is the home of evangelical snake handlers whom speak in tongues. This explains Trump's war on Catholics.
Some American evangelicals, particularly those holding to dispensational premillennialism, view the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran through an eschatological lens, believing it could fulfill biblical prophecy and signal the end times or Armageddon. While some view this with excitement, others strongly reject this view, focusing on peace.
The Intercept
The Intercept
+4
Prophetic Excitement: Reports indicate that some evangelicals, including key religious advisors, view the conflict as a potential "holy war" that could trigger the return of Jesus.
Military Impact: There are reports of some military commanders frames the Iran war as a fulfillment of prophecy, which some advocates believe is a self-fulfilling prophecy to hasten the end times.
Diverse Views: Some argue that it is a "45-year-old cliché" that all evangelicals want this conflict, with many focusing on traditional spiritual support for Israel rather than a desire for war.
Rejection of Interpretation: Many theologians argue that viewing current events as necessary precursors to Armageddon is a misreading of scripture, cautioning against using the Bible to encourage violence.
Catholic Answers
Catholic Answers
+5
The Trump people have figured out that if they can keep the media--traditional and online--in a constant frothing, deranged frenzy, there is no variation in the signal and therefore no contrast, no information. Normies therefore never get the sense that the particular thing Trump has done today is actually both bad and worth paying attention to.
I'm sure the theory (if there is one) is that the continuous chimp-out will eventually convince the normies that Trump really must be the most horrible horrible who ever horribled, but we are now 10 years in and don't seem to have gotten any closer to that eventuality.
The people who've cranked themselves up into Bitch-Eating-Crackers hatred for Trump either can't see that they're helping him or (more likely) can't help themselves, which is kind of amusing.
You’re probably better at studying rocks, Howard.
@Stephen --
Yes, this is one of @Althouse's most severe misreadings of a topic. If one has any exposure to middle-American, mid-20th-century Christianity, the references are beyond obvious.
I put this style as post-WW2 1950s Baby Boom optimism. The white faces indicate a time before the "token minority" art era that was in full swing by the 1990s. The US was 85% to 90% white back then, so it was accepted without comment.
Given the possible "demon" and apparent dark ghosts in the clouds, a great deal of thought went into the symbolism.
As with the Trump video that had offensive content tacked on the very end, I suspect Trump himself didn't think about it much. He may have been trolled.
Tacitus said...
This sort of childish stuff drives my progressive friends crazy. Such is its purpose.
4/14/26, 6:21 PM
Definitely. The libtards and critics starting to move the needle on Iran? Time to break out the laser pointer.
Look, libtards! Trump thinks he's Jesus!!!!!!
Mom's grandfather was the 7th son of 7th son, thought to have healing powers, and he was asked to lay hands on people. He became a lawyer and politician, so I suspect (and hope) that happened early in his life.
Must have been a lot of "can you resurrect this dog-ass case?" work for him. CC, JSM
Well seegers guitar needed smashing
Watching Megyno and the dick Tucker's entitled shrill melt down was comedy gold. Thanks, Donald!!
Ya gotta love the guy. He winds up all the right people. Right here on Athouse blog.
"Althouse's one sided and misinformed treatment of this incident allows her to blah blah blah"
Ah yes, let's take a closer look at those two scoops. You guys remind me of the Angry Man in the Parking Lot. He was yelling about something, ruining everyone's morning coffee, but then he made it worse and went downtown for the day to talk the nice police lady.
What provoked him was his own frustration at being ignored. So he thought - just like you guys - that he just needed to yell louder and THIS TIME it would get through to us and we would see the error of our ways. God help you, you guys are always "if we just had a bit more hyperbole and tantrum we could push it over the top!" and you just keep frothing and frothing as you remind us that you don't respect the results of elections when you lose.
You know, all this hatred and stress is going to shorten life spans on the Left, all Pretti and Good aside. It must be part of Trump's Evil Plan (tm) because we are know the Left is too enlightened and sophisticated to uh do that thing they do with the petard. Haha
At least he isn’t handling snakes, that’s one that creeps me out.
Trump portraying himself as Jesus in a white robe and red sash. One was a fashion choice the other is a mental health problem.
Althouse Fact Check:
“Donald Trump was portraying himself as Jesus in a white robe and red sash.”
Two Pinocchios: Donald Trump was actually portraying himself as a doctor in a white robe and red sash.
Little E --
Look up the definitions of "sash" and "cloak" and "robe" then revisit your thoughts.
Iman said...
"You’re probably better at studying rocks, Howard."
I was under the impression that Howard was an environmental engineer. You know the one that doesn't require a lot of math.
MAGA smoking some high grade copium over Trump's messiah complex....
Ann falls for Trump’s bullshit Every. Single. Time.
Instead of squabbling with the Catholic Church, President Trump must focus on what they have in common, such as a legacy of protecting pedophiles.
The people getting the vapors over this are all atheists.
Has anyone here sent out Christmas cards depicting yourself as a hands-on healer flanked by soldiers, the heavens and an American flag? Your friends and family would have champagne coming out their noses.
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