Trump, Jesus, and White Supremacy

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist

15 Apr 2026

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Donald Trump/Truth Social

Beliefs in white supremacy and manifest destiny are at the heart of Donald Trump’s actions and his appeal to millions of people.

Donald Trump’s downward spiral has become more evident in recent weeks. His behavior substantiates the evidence provided by medical experts that he suffers from both dementia and a serious personality disorder. Beginning on the evening of April 12, he posted all night on his Truth Social platform on various obsessions including his ballroom, Joe Biden, and the Strait of Hormuz. Those comments have since been forgotten because of his 334-word tirade directed at Pope Leo XIV for being “weak on crime”, “weak on nuclear weapons,” an associate of Obama “sympathizers,” who is also “catering to the radical left.” He felt compelled to add, “He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”

Just 45-minutes after indulging in grandiosity and disparaging a respected religious figure Trump then posted an image of himself as a figure who appeared to be Jesus Christ healing a sick man, as if to say that he has greater spiritual power than the head of the Catholic church. The seeming nonsense was all vintage Trump, his anger and pettiness directed at someone who dared to publicly express opposition to him and his policies.

The Vatican had been the target of Trump’s ire for some time and recent media reports revealed that in January a Pentagon official summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to a meeting to tell him that the pope’s comments on war and peace were not appreciated by the white house. The pope had expressed concern that “war is back in vogue” and condemned using “weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion.” After Trump’s Easter Sunday threat to end Iranian civilization, Pope Leo had words of his own: “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”

The ensuing hilarity about Trump depicting himself as Jesus and the endless meme creation at Trump’s expense are quite entertaining. But the opportunity for grim amusement should not mask some very serious truths about the United States, and the white supremacy that Trump represents and cultivates.

Right wing influencer Nick Adams, who serves as the Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism and Values, first posted a version of the Trump as Christ image on the X platform in February 2026 and wrote, “America has been sick for a long time. President Trump is healing this nation.” The image and the words may seem unimportant but we should look closely before dismissing what appears to be mere silliness at first glance. The image depicts Trump healing a bedridden white man who is surrounded by other white people, a nurse, a soldier, and an anonymous praying woman, with bald eagles and fighter jets flying overhead along with winged figures that appear to be soldiers, with the Lincoln Memorial, Capitol building, and Statute of Liberty in the background as a huge American flag flies in the breeze. Trump is dressed in ancient robes and both of his hands are glowing as he lays them on the sick man while the figures surrounding him look on in awe and prayer.

The image evokes an 1872 painting, American Progress, a paean to the concept of manifest destiny which depicts a blonde white woman floating above the country, bringing light and technology from the east to the west as white farmers till the soil and indigenous people and buffalos and other wild animals flee the invasion. Kitschy art can make a statement which is especially easy when one considers that manifest destiny and white supremacy are in fact this country’s official belief system. In fact no one needs to guess about the connection. In a July 23, 2025 post on the X platform the Department of Homeland Security posted American Progress and these words, “A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending.”

While there is an excess of religiosity in the United States, there is very little care for individuals or for the larger community. Politicians like Trump win elective office by promising austerity and cutting services and benefits that millions of people need. The “progress” that is worshipped here is antithetical to the idea of care and concern for humanity. Pope Leo’s criticism of war and his support for vulnerable people like the Global South immigrants caught in Trump’s mass deportations and his concern for the millions of Iranians living under the threats presented by U.S. militarism makes him an enemy to be scorned and mocked. The pope did not just criticize Trump personally. His words called into question the entire mythology of U.S. goodness and the very idea of exceptionalism that allows Trump and other presidents to be admired even as they commit terrible acts.

Of course the Catholic church has historically been a tool of conquest, imperialism, and supremacy. Trump’s unhinged remarks have made any institution look good and present themselves as being progressive even when they are not.

It is interesting that Trump altered the original image and turned the central soldier/angel figure into what appears to be a demon. It is tempting to know what goes on in Trump’s brain but we are left to guess that the white people needing his healing also see themselves as fighting evil. Then again, perhaps he just likes demons. But who can know what fever dreams inspire Trump as he obsesses over how best to threaten Iran or take the pope to task.

Trump claimed that he saw himself as a doctor in the depiction and not Jesus, but there was enough outcry that the post was removed from Truth Social. Although his devout MAGA base probably didn’t care about the brouhaha at all. There are millions of people who consider themselves religious yet who are also staunch Trump supporters. Evangelicals who are quick to make declarations of religious piety are strangely silent about their love of a man like Donald Trump. They don’t care that he posts a blasphemous image or that he has been married three times, or that his current wife was a nude model, who he cheated on with a porn star. They don’t care that he is an adjudicated rapist, having lost a multi million civil suit to a woman who testified that he sexually assaulted her.

None of those things matter because Trump is seen as the man who will take care of white people. He will heal them with militarism, patriotism, and racism too. The symbols of the U.S. government are symbols of the power they hope will protect them, and if the law won’t protect them then angel soldiers and fighter jets will. It isn’t hard to figure out why Trump loved this image so much and displayed it after lambasting a religious leader who called his policies and U.S. myth making into question.

The Trump as Christ image is white supremacist imagery. Trump is not known for deep thinking or wide knowledge but he succeeds politically because he knows his people, they are of the same mind, and he is Jesus like to them, a savior. Some of them may openly express white supremacist doctrine, others are under cover and hide that ideology. Even his Catholic supporters may not be pleased by the Jesus depiction but it is unlikely they will abandon him now. He can count on wide support from most white people because he has said he will heal them and they believe that he will.

Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com.