Donald Trump posted a seemingly AI-generated image of him as the pope; the conclave electing Pope Francis’ replacement begins this week. Courtesy of Getty Images/Truth Social

By Mira Fox May 5, 2025

Donald Trump posted an image of himself dressed as the pope Sunday, referencing the papal conclave due to begin this week. The picture, which appears to be generated by AI, was posted on Trump’s accounts across every social media platform the president uses — Instagram, his own Truth Social, Facebook — and subsequently reposted by the official White House accounts.

The picture of Trump’s trademark glower emerging from under the papal mitre seemed like a nod to nominating himself for the role which, technically, he could be eligible for if he was Catholic. (He’s not, though I suppose he could get baptized in the next few hours.) It wasn’t the first time he’d mentioned taking over the Holy See, saying he was his own “number one choice” for the role.

Neither of these instances went over well with many Catholic leaders, who took offense at the idea that Trump was even considering the idea of declaring himself, effectively, God — or at least God’s emissary here on earth. But most of Trump’s supporters, including JD Vance, who is Catholic, dismissed Trump’s suggestion as a joke.

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Like many of Trump’s posts, however, the extent to which he was kidding is hazy; nearly all of his suggestions, even the most outlandish — like, for example, the AI-generated video of building a Trump resort in Gaza — carry at least a seed of truth.

In the case of becoming pope, Trump is certainly aware that he’s not a real possibility to lead the Catholic Church. Still, though, the idea that Trump is ordained by God’s own hand, to execute God’s desires on earth, is not new; Trump supporters have been saying as much since his first term. And when he survived an assassination attempt last July, they saw it as a clear sign of his divine mandate.

After the bullet missed him, Trump himself began to repeat the idea that he was anointed, continually referencing the idea that he was “saved by God” in rallies and speeches. He had courted Christian voters before, of course, but now he was truly embracing the idea that he was a messianic figure. There was an ad, which Trump played at events, that featured a narrator riffing on the opening lines of Genesis saying that “God made Trump” to be the caretaker of the world. He promoted Trump-branded bibles.

These campaign moves — and, now, the image of Trump as pope — were made to appeal to the president’s Christian nationalist base; they’re the ones who already thought he was ordained by God. The role they believe God has for Trump is to make America great again by making it Christian.

And he’s already begun. Trump created a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias” at the Justice Department, devoted to ending “the anti-Christian weaponization of government.” The executive order establishing the task force referenced arrests of Christian anti-abortion activists protesting outside abortion providers and the Biden administration’s declaration of a Trans Day of Visibility as examples of “unlawful targeting of Christians,” and promised to consider topics like returning prayer to public schools.

And, just last week under Trump’s leadership, Congress added a loophole in a bill to fight antisemitism that allows Christians to promote the harmful idea that Jews killed Jesus.

The president also announced the formation of a religious liberty commission last week; everyone on it is Christian except for one rabbi, Meir Soloveichik. “They say, ‘Separation between church and state,’” Trump said at the event announcing the new commission. “I said, ‘All right, let’s forget about that for one time.’”

For the Christian nationalists who helped put Trump in office, this is the dream: a Christian nation, ruled by their understanding of biblical values and law — rolling back LGBTQ+ rights, limiting or outlawing contraception and abortion, making Christianity the national religion.

Trump’s papal AI slop was a joke, sure; he knows he won’t be pope. But to the Christian nationalists it was meant for, the image promises the leader of the U.S. is a Christian. And as Trump erodes the separation between church and state, that makes him, as president, the head of a church already — the American church.

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