President Donald Trump’s posting of an artificial intelligence-generated image that appeared to depict him as Jesus accomplished what his verbal attacks against the first American leader of the Catholic Church did not: crossing the line for the religious right. 

Many of the same evangelical Christian and conservative Catholic influencers who used their platforms to help send Trump back to the White House rebuked the image Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday — a chorus loud enough that Trump wiped the image from his account on Monday morning.

Although Trump deleted the post — depicting the president in white robes laying hands on a man in a hospital bed, with a backdrop full of Americana — the damage is already done: Prominent MAGA influencers and Christian leaders took to social media to publicly air their distaste for the image and disappointment in the president.

“God, we might have made a mistake and accidentally elected the Antichrist,” Christian influencer Mandy Arthur wrote in a post on X.

“There’s not context where this is acceptable,” said Sean Feucht, a conservative Christian activist and longtime MAGA surrogate, calling for the image to be “deleted immediately.”

“A little humility would serve him well,” said Riley Gaines, a Turning Point USA contributor who opposes transgender rights.

“More deportations less Jesus comparisons,” said Republican National Committee youth advisory council co-chair Brilyn Hollyhand.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump claimed he didn’t know the image portrayed him as a Christlike figure and blamed the “fake news” for its negative reception.

“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. Make people a lot better,” Trump said.

In another post on Sunday, Trump targeted Pope Leo XIV with a lengthy rant in which he called the bishop of Rome “weak” and condemned the pontiff’s criticism of his war with Iran. Leo later said that he does not “fear” Trump and that his criticism of the war stems from the core teachings of the Gospel, the central Christian message of peace and dialogue. 

The feud between the two American leaders, Trump in Washington and Leo at Vatican City, has not amounted to the same concern from Trump’s religious base.

“Trump is absolutely right about this pope, but he should consider that he is walking into a trap,” Steve Deace, a faith-based MAGA influencer who is slated to speak at Turning Point USA’s pastors’ summit in Texas later this month, said in a post on X. “Asking one of the pivotal voting blocs in America to choose any politician over the most venerable office of their religion is a very tough ask.” 

Trump’s commentary amid his war with Iran has generated backlash from prominent MAGA politicians. Figures like former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson took issue with Trump’s genocidal threat against Iran, in which he suggested “a whole civilization” would be destroyed unless the Iranian regime agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz.

“On Orthodox Easter, President Trump attacked the Pope because the Pope is rightly against Trump’s war in Iran and then he posted this picture of himself as if he is replacing Jesus,” Greene said in a post on X on Sunday. “This comes after last week’s post of his evil tirade on Easter and then threatening to kill an entire civilization. I completely denounce this and I’m praying against it!!!”

Trump’s previous threats did not draw the same resounding condemnation from the religious MAGA right as his AI-generated Jesus image. But the outpouring of anger from one of the president’s most loyal bases — many of whom have previously compared Trump to the Messiah themselves — threatens to tank Trump’s approval rating even further than his war effort already has.

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