The last thing Michael Knowles does is break ranks with the president.
But late Sunday night, as real Christians prepared to celebrate Orthodox Easter, something appeared on Truth Social that forced his hand.
Knowles wasn't alone – and the post was quietly deleted by Monday morning, with nobody at the White House explaining who put it there.
Trump Deleted the Jesus Christ AI Image After His Own Base Called It Blasphemy
The AI-generated image depicted Donald Trump in a white robe and red sash – the garb of Jesus Christ in centuries of Western art – laying a glowing hand on a sick man in a hospital bed.
Bald eagles flanked the scene.
American flags framed the background.
Soldiers ascended toward a heavenly light above the president's head.
Trump posted it without a caption, less than an hour after attacking Pope Leo XIV as "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy" – on Orthodox Easter Sunday.
This was one week after Trump posted a profanity-laced Easter morning message threatening Iran – a post that included a word you can't print in a family publication.
The reaction from the MAGA faithful was swift and scorching.
Knowles, the Daily Wire host with 1.4 million followers on X, called on the president to delete the image regardless of intent.
https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/2043539668227039475
Megan Basham, culture reporter for The Daily Wire, went further – demanding Trump ask forgiveness from both the American people and God for what she called "OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy."
Riley Gaines, Fox News contributor and OutKick host, didn't mince words: "God shall not be mocked."
https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/2043631814963503150
Marjorie Taylor Greene posted across two separate accounts.
"I completely denounce this and I'm praying against it," she wrote – noting directly that Trump had chosen Orthodox Easter for this moment.
On her second account, she went further: "It's more than blasphemy. It's an Antichrist spirit."
The pushback didn't stop at media figures.
GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska called it "gaudy and juvenile" and warned it was dividing the very coalition Trump needs.
Ari Fleischer – Fox News contributor and former Bush White House press secretary – was blunt: "It's inappropriate and embarrassing. It's offensive."
Truth Social itself turned on the president.
One comment on the post – which accumulated more than 9,000 likes – demanded Trump take it down and offer Christians an apology.
Trump Called It a Doctor Photo but His Truth Social Followers Were Not Buying It
Trump, asked about the image by reporters Monday, said he thought it showed him "as a doctor."
He offered no apology, and the White House issued no statement explaining who authorized the post.
This isn't the first time an AI-generated image has put Trump on the wrong side of the faithful.
Last May, Trump posted an image of himself dressed as pope – days before the conclave that would elect Leo XIV.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the most Trump-friendly bishop in America, told reporters plainly: "It wasn't good."
The New York State Catholic Conference was less diplomatic: "Do not mock us."
Trump's response then was to claim the Catholics loved it.
This time the deleted post and the silence speak for themselves.
Paula White and the White House Sycophants Who Let This Happen on Orthodox Easter
The Christian voters who put Trump back in the White House didn't do it so a staffer with an AI account could dress him up as the Son of God on the holiest night of the Orthodox calendar.
Gaines, Knowles, and Basham didn't spend years building conservative credibility to stay quiet when something this serious hits the feed.
They spoke up because the faith that animates the conservative movement isn't a prop.
It isn't a branding exercise.
It isn't an Easter aesthetic.
While serious Christians were demanding answers, Laura Loomer posted that people upset over the image needed to "chill out" – apparently classifying blasphemy as an overreaction.
That's exactly the problem.
The yes-men and sycophants surrounding this president – including Paula White Caine, the prosperity gospel televangelist who serves as senior adviser to the White House Faith Office – have spent years telling Trump that anything he does is spiritually blessed.
Real pastors don't tell presidents they can do no wrong.
Real faith advisers don't look the other way when the Son of God gets turned into a social media post.
A growing number of Trump's own base is no longer willing to assume this was an innocent mistake by a rogue staffer.
The Easter F-bomb was one week ago.
Trump’s Jesus meme came down – but the people who enabled it, cheered it, or stayed silent when they should have spoken are still in the building, and Trump's Christian base deserves to know exactly whose hands were on that keyboard.
Sources:
- "Christians condemn Trump post depicting him as Jesus-like figure," Axios, April 13, 2026.
- "Trump, 79, Posts Himself as Christ After Bonkers Pope Attack," The Daily Beast, April 13, 2026.
- "Donald Trump deletes Jesus photo after conservative fury," Newsweek, April 13, 2026.
- "Image depicting Trump as Christ-like savior removed from president's social media page following backlash," NBC News, April 13, 2026.
- "Trump faces backlash over post depicting him like Jesus," Yahoo News/AP, April 13, 2026.
- "U.S. bishops' president 'disheartened' by Trump attack on Pope Leo," EWTN News, April 13, 2026.
- "Trump dismisses criticism of AI image of him as pope: 'The Catholics loved it,'" Catholic News Agency, May 5, 2025.
