President Donald Trump shared an image Friday depicting him as the pope.
The image, which appeared to be generated by artificial intelligence, arrived mere days after Trump jokingly told reporters he would “like to be pope” himself, following the death of Pope Francis last month.
The image seems inspired by traditional papal portraits: It shows Trump in full papal regalia, replete with an embroidered pope’s hat and his index finger lifted at the sky — a gesture that appears to mimic the hand of benediction frequently used in religious blessings.
The 78-year-old MAGA leader posted the image on his Truth Social platform around 10:30 p.m. ET. It was later reshared by the official White House account on several other platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, to thousands of baffled reactions.
“Where do you even begin with this?” wrote one user on X, with another person commenting more directly: “A ‘Pope trump’ would be the first Pope in history unable to recite a single Bible verse, or even recount his favorite part, except for Two Corinthians.”
Trump was famously stumped by an easy question about the Bible during his first presidential campaign in 2015, despite frequently presenting himself as devout. He appeared to forget to place his hand on the Bible as he was being sworn in earlier this year.
The convicted felon, whose marital infidelity was on full display during a historic hush money trial last year, launched mass deportations shortly after assuming office. Pope Francis rebuked the policy as a “major crisis” mere weeks before dying on Easter Monday.
Asked last week who he thought should succeed Pope Francis, Trump told reporters: “I’d like to be pope.” While he went on to give a more serious answer afterward, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) later said in a post on X the papal conclave should “keep an open mind” about the idea.
The contrast between Trump — who personally attacks his political opponents, berates foreign leaders on television and posts footage of drone bombings on social media — and the selflessness that popes tend to exhibit certainly hasn’t escaped social media users.
“Every day is more absurd than the last,” one person tiredly concluded.
“Donald Trump just posted a photo of himself as the Pope. It’s full-on lunacy at this point,” wrote the Republicans Against Trump group, with another user writing: “I honestly thought this was fake! Unreal! He actually did this! Nothing surprises me anymore.”
Others are more irate than bewildered, and are taking the post as an affront to their faith.