Trump posts image of Jesus hugging him amid escalating feud with pope
US president doubles down on religious imagery as his administration clashes with Pope Leo over the Iran war
US President Donald Trump posted an image of Jesus embracing him on Wednesday, as a war of words between his administration and the pope showed little sign of abating.
The image, reposted to Trump’s Truth Social account, shows Trump with his eyes closed, touching temple-to-temple with a similarly posed Jesus. Trump is standing behind a microphone, and behind him is an American flag. The original post had a caption that included the words: “God might be playing his Trump card!”
Trump’s repost added the caption: “The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!!”
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Trump posts image of Jesus hugging him amid row with pope over Iran war
Trump, who does not attend church regularly, has a large contingent of Christian voters among his base, including Catholics. He has been feuding with Pope Leo, the first US-born leader of the Catholic Church and an outspoken critic of the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Trump reiterated his criticism of the religious leader on Tuesday night. In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump urged that “someone please tell Pope Leo” about the killings of protesters by Iran and that “for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable”.