Stop Casting Trump As Jesus

It all happened in about two weeks. And if you weren't paying close attention — which, honestly, is understandable given the pace of everything — you might have missed just how aggressively the Trump administration leaned into casting itself in explicitly Christian, and specifically Christ-like, terms. So let's walk through it. Because it's worse than you think.

Pete Hegseth Quotes Pulp Fiction at a Pentagon Prayer Service

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a prayer service at the Pentagon. During it, he read what he presented as a military prayer called "CSAR 25:17," which he said was meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17.

What Hegseth actually read was a lightly modified version of the famous monologue from Pulp Fiction where Samuel L. Jackson's character, Jules, screams a fake Bible verse at a man before shooting him. The words are almost identical. "The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men." In the film, it's "the path of the righteous man." Hegseth swapped "righteous man" for "downed aviator" and "the Lord" for "Sandy 1" and read it reverently at the Pentagon while people bowed their heads with their children dressed in Sunday clothes.

Here's the part that makes this worth more than a headline, though. At the end of Pulp Fiction, that same verse comes back. Jules recites it again in a diner while being held at gunpoint. But this time, he doesn't use it as a justification for violence. He says he used to think the verse meant he was the righteous man and the world around him was evil. That he was God's instrument of vengeance. But he's reconsidered. Maybe, he says, he's the shepherd. Maybe the point isn't to rain down judgment but to protect and guide the weak through the valley of darkness.

Tarantino, for all his issues, wrote a character who evolved past using scripture to justify violence. Hegseth read the vengeance version at a prayer service and never got to the part about becoming the shepherd. 

At the same prayer service, Hegseth also compared the press to Pharisees. He said the thought came to him during a sermon about the Pharisees' response to Jesus healing a man's withered hand in Mark 3. His application? Anyone who scrutinizes Trump is a Pharisee, blind to his good works, only looking for violations.

That's not what the Pharisees were. The Pharisees were religious leaders who used their position and their performative piety to exploit the people they were supposed to serve. They were the ones in power. But sure. The press asking questions at a briefing makes them Pharisees.

Paula White-Cain Compares Trump to Jesus on Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday, Trump's personal spiritual advisor, Paula White-Cain, stood at the White House Easter Lunch and said this: "Jesus taught so many lessons through his death, burial, and resurrection. He showed us great leadership, great transformation requires great sacrifice. And Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price."

She went on: "You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It's a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. But it didn't end there for him, and it didn't end there for you."

Let's be clear about a few things. Trump was not falsely accused. He was convicted. There have been zero consequences for that conviction, but the conviction happened. The politics of victimhood are powerful, and they're being deployed here with surgical precision. Timothy Snyder's Black Earth talks about how victimhood is weaponized in authoritarian politics. This is that playbook.

Hegseth Casts an Airman Rescue as the Resurrection

Also on Easter Sunday, Hegseth described the rescue of a downed airman in Iran in explicitly resurrection terms: "Shot down on a Friday, Good Friday. Hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday. And rescued on Sunday. Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday. A pilot reborn."

That's not even trying to be subtle. It's mapping the Easter story directly onto a military operation during an offensive war, one that the Pope, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and just war theology all say doesn't meet the criteria of a just war.

And we haven't heard from the airman. We don't know if they agree with being turned into a resurrection metaphor. That person is being used as a prop to uphold a narrative they may have no part in shaping.

Trump Posts an AI Image of Himself as Jesus

And then Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself depicted as Jesus, healing a man. The White House couldn't even get its story straight. Karoline Leavitt called it "a doctored image" while Trump claimed it was meant to show him as a doctor. 

You cannot prompt an AI image generator to make you look like a doctor and get back an image of yourself dressed as Jesus with your hands on a man in a healing pose. You have to ask for that specifically.

The reactions were revealing. Doug Wilson, a self-described Christian nationalist pastor who Hegseth has brought into Pentagon events, said he was grateful that conservative Christians pushed back. Riley Gaines said a little humility would serve Trump well and that God shall not be mocked. Tucker Carlson went further, openly asking whether Trump might be the anti-Christ. 

And Allie Beth Stuckey, who is no one's idea of a liberal critic, said it plainly: "This is what happens when Paula White is your personal pastor and people around you are continually comparing you to Christ."

And then there was Franklin Graham, who dismissed the whole thing as "a lot to do about nothing." And Mike Johnson? The Speaker of the House, supposedly one of the most devout Christians in Trump's circle? He said he talked to Trump about the post, not to tell him it was blasphemous, but to tell him it wasn't being "received" the way he intended. He addressed the optics. Not the theology. That tells you everything about where his priorities are.

Trump vs. Pope Leo XIV

All of this was happening while Trump and Pope Leo XIV were going at it publicly. The conflict started when Trump said "I do" in response to a reporter asking whether God supported U.S. military actions in Iran. Leo responded that God does not bless any conflict and that anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who drop bombs.

Trump fired back on Truth Social, calling Leo "weak on crime" and "a very liberal person." He claimed Leo was only elected pope because he's American and the church thought that would be the best way to deal with Trump. "If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican," he wrote.

That's not how the papacy works. But it's a perfect encapsulation of how Trump sees every institution, as existing in relation to him.

Leo's response was measured and direct: "I have no fear of either the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel." He said the church is not political, that he doesn't want a debate, but that he will continue to speak against war and for peace. He told the American people to contact their congressmen and tell them they want peace, not more war. As one Georgetown scholar put it, it doesn't get more American than that.

Vance Tells the Pope to Be Careful About Theology

Then JD Vance, a Catholic convert of about six years, said the Pope "should be careful when he talks about matters of theology." He asked whether God was on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis, said he believes the answer is yes, and suggested that if the Pope is going to "opine on matters of theology," his words should be "anchored in the truth."

The Vice President of the United States told the Pope to be careful about theology.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Doctrine responded. They pointed out that Leo is not "merely offering opinions on theology," he is speaking as the supreme pastor of the universal Church, exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ. They noted that the Pope's position on war reflects a thousand-year tradition of church teaching: for a war to be just, it must be a defense against another who actively wages war. Iran was not waging war against the United States.

Vance got just war theory wrong. Theologically. In public. While telling the Pope to study up.

The Avignon Threat

There's a piece of this story that just came out as well. The Free Press reported that back in January Pentagon officials warned the Vatican that the Catholic Church must take the United States' side in global affairs. The implicit threat referenced the Avignon Papacy, a period in the 14th century when France ousted the Pope and exerted control over the Church.

The U.S. government, through the Pentagon, effectively threatened to do to the modern papacy what a medieval king did seven hundred years ago. That's not diplomacy. That's coercion. And it rhymes uncomfortably with how authoritarian regimes have historically tried to bring the church to heel. If you want to see the playbook, read about what the Nazis did to court the Catholic Church, or pick up Jason Stanley's How Fascism Works.

Some People Are Starting to See It

Here's the small silver lining in all of this. Some Trump voters are reaching their limit, and for some, the AI Jesus image was the thing that did it.

One person posted on Facebook that they voted for Trump, agree with many of his policies, but posted about the image because "it's important for a lot of people to recognize that this dude is not infallible." Someone else commented: "I cannot defend this. He's lost me." Another said they were already on the fence, but this finished it.

Is it frustrating that this is the breaking point and not the racism, the xenophobia, the attacks on vulnerable communities, the erosion of democratic norms? Yes. Absolutely. But if this is a door that opens and people walk through it and start asking harder questions about what they've been supporting then it matters.

What Scripture Actually Says

In a season where the administration is using Christianity as a costume, it's worth remembering what the texts actually say.

Jesus said to love your enemies. He said to do good expecting nothing in return. He said blessed are the peacemakers. He said woe to those who are rich and comfortable while others suffer. He said his house should be a house of prayer for all nations. He drove the money changers out of the temple.

He did not say to rain hell upon your enemies. He did not say God blesses your bombs. He did not say that scrutinizing power makes you a Pharisee. He did not say the path of the righteous man ends with vengeance.

Even Samuel L. Jackson's character figured that out by the end of the movie. It shouldn't be too much to ask of this administration. 

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