Trump's 'Jesus' post proves his loyalty depends on agreement | Opinion

I’ve written about Donald Trump for more than 10 years. At this point, there isn’t much the president can do that will really surprise me. 

Yet, some recent Trump paroxysms on social media have certainly raised my eyebrows. 

And they also could drive a wedge between Trump and the MAGA base that has been so loyal to him. 

Religious conservatives, especially, have real reasons to be miffed with the president in recent days, from his criticism of Pope Leo XIV to literally posting an AI-generated photo of himself as Jesus. 

After pronounced pushback, Trump did take the artificial intelligence photo down. But he’s not acting sorry. 

When he spoke with reporters on April 13, Trump explained himself this way: “I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor,” he said, saying he thought it had to do with “the Red Cross.” “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better, and I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”

I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether that’s a sincere response, but no doctor of mine has ever appeared quite so ... God-like. 

Trump once again proves his loyalty depends on agreement  

Many of Trump’s most loyal supporters called him out online after he posted the image. 

That includes Riley Gaines, a former NCAA collegiate swimmer and activist for fairness in women’s sports. Gaines now hosts a podcast on OutKick and Fox News. 

“Why?” Gaines posted on X on April 13 in response to Trump. “Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this. ... A little humility would serve him well.”

When asked about the criticism, Trump told CBS News, “I didn’t listen to Riley Gaines. I’m not a big fan of Riley, actually.”

You could have fooled me. Ahead of the 2024 election, Gaines actively campaigned for Trump, and he seemed to think highly of her. She was present in 2025 when the president signed an executive order keeping biological men out of women’s sports, and he praised her efforts on this issue. 

Gaines deserves more loyalty from the president than he showed her. 

This is a common pattern with Trump, however. If you cross him in any way, he’ll lash out forcefully, regardless of past allegiances. 

Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly have 'Low IQs'?

Take, for instance, Trump’s recent Truth Social outburst against some well-known commentators on the right, including Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly.

They have both been critical of Trump’s war with Iran and have openly expressed their concerns.

That was enough to inspire this from the president: “I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon ‒ Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs. They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too! Look at their past, look at their record. They don’t have what it takes, and they never did!”

That is a strange way to treat former advocates, especially in the case of Carlson and Kelly. (With Owens and Jones, Trump has a better case, given some of their odd and alarming views.)

Of course, as I mentioned at the beginning, none of this is surprising. Trump has always been bombastic, irreverent and unpredictable. That’s not to excuse his behavior, but he is nothing if not consistent. 

The left will never tire of wringing their hands over every Trump action. 

The right? They knew who they were voting for. And while we can hope Trump will listen to his better angels, don't be shocked if the sacrilegious posts continue.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques