After evangelical Pastor Paula White offended many Mainline Protestants and Catholics by comparing U.S. President Donald Trump to Jesus Christ, Trump doubled down by posting, on his Truth Social platform, an illustration depicting him as Jesus. Plenty of non-Christians were offended as well; Muslims don't consider Jesus the son of God, but they revere him as a prophet and believe that he helped pay the way for the teachings of Prophet Mohammed.

In a scathing article published on April 15, Salon's Amanda Marcotte argues that when Trump compared himself to Jesus in his Truth Social post, he was exposing an uncomfortable truth about far-right white evangelicals.

"On Sunday, (April 12)," Marcotte explains, "the president posted artificial intelligence-generated fan art depicting himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick man while being worshiped by white Americans in modern clothing. When this drew criticism, even from some of his biggest sycophants in the punditry, Trump deleted the post. Then, the conflicting excuses began."

Marcotte adds, "'I think the president was posting a joke,' (Vice President) JD Vance argued on Fox News."

Some right-wing white evangelicals attacked Trump's Truth Social post as blasphemous, but Marcotte contends that most of the president's evangelical supporters weren't genuinely offended.

"One gets the sense that most evangelical influencers weren't really angry so much as they were embarrassed that Trump said the quiet part out loud: He has supplanted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior," the liberal journalist laments. "MAGA leaders love to praise Trump's bluntness when he's attacking their presumed enemies, but they expect him to be a little more circumspect when assessing the character of the people who follow him. That is a huge miscalculation. Trump eventually betrays everyone who shows him loyalty, so it should have come as no surprise that he couldn't help but strip away the pretense that their faith is about following the teachings of Christ."

Marcotte adds, "In the corny AI language so loved by MAGA, Trump told the truth: What the Christian Right worships is power…. Here is what will almost certainly happen next: Since the Trump-as-Jesus picture was deleted from his Truth Social feed, MAGA influencers will promptly return to offering him over-the-top worship.

The Christian Right, according to Marcotte, "is really not about worshipping God — it's about worshipping power."

"In the MAGA movement," Marcotte writes, "Trump serves a similar role, his followers not to the Almighty but to what they really want: control over American government and society. And there is nothing the president could do that would cause the Christian Right to lose their faith in him."

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