This week, US president Donald Trump posted an AI slop image of himself as Jesus Christ, miraculously healing a sick man while a host of angels look on from above and an American flag ripples in the background.
It was only the latest in a dizzying series of AI images the president has posted to social media — from a picture of himself as the Pope to racist clips depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes — his latest post appears to have been a step too far for his most ardent supporters.
Following a major outcry among Christian and far-right influencers, Trump deleted the picture of himself healing the sick man, sheepishly trying to play it off by telling reporters he thought it was “me as a doctor” — a bizarre excuse which, if you take it at face value, seems to suggest that the president thinks doctors dress in Christ-like robes.
But it was too late to stop a “GOP holy war” that had conservative and Christian activists calling the image starkly unacceptable. While Trump has never seen much support from the left, even his most ardent supporters on the right were taken aback, highlighting the sheer amount of collateral damage his offensive AI slop posts are causing.
“I support Trump, and I spend eight hours a day defending him,” conservative political commentator Cam Higby tweeted. “I will not defend blasphemy.”
“A little humility would serve him well,” anti-trans activist Riley Gaines posted.
Making the “doctor” excuse particularly laughable, during the days leading up to his latest faux pas Trump had accused Pope Leo of being “WEAK on crime and terrible for foreign policy” in a rambling Truth Social post.
The pontiff had criticized the war in Iran, decrying the president’s threat to wipe out a “whole civilization” as “truly unacceptable” and encouraging others to “contact the authorities — political leaders, congressmen — to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war, always.”
While we can only guess what Pope Leo thought of Trump depicting himself as Jesus, the latest backlash highlights how the president’s already tarnished public image continues to be eroded by the constant barrage of hateful AI slop on social media.
After he posted the racist clip of Barack and Michelle Obama as apes in February, Trump initially claimed he “didn’t see” part of the video, with the White House defending it as an “internet meme.”
The egregious video received widespread criticism from both sides of the aisle, with republican and Black senator Tim Scott (R-SC) calling it the “most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.” The backlash continued even after the White House took down the offending clip.
Experts have warned that the White House’s attempts to disregard offensive AI slop as “memes” could be an “attempt to cast it as a joke or humorous post, like their prior cartoons,” as Cornell University professor of information science David Rand told the Associated Post in January. “This presumably aims to shield them from criticism for posting manipulated media.”
In short, Trump’s troubling posts could further erode trust in an environment already heavily marked by AI-facilitated disinformation.
Meanwhile, the country’s adversaries are continuing to fight back, with Iranian government-backed propagandists posting their own AI slop. As 404 Media reported late last month, videos depicting Trump as a war hungry pedophile in a LEGO movie went viral online, suggesting the enemy is beating Trump at his own game — and without alienating their supporters.
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