The fury from within: Had been in a prison cell now

Johan Edgar

Published 00.14

         

        Trump took a hamburger order in the Oval Office. Photo: Alex Brandon /AP

First it was the war opponents.

Then the Christians got angry.

Now comes the next furious rebellion from within.

President Trump had just been handed a couple of bags of hamburgers outside the Oval Office by a delivery boy.

But the reporters in the White House were not interested in questions about the PR move about abolishing the tax on tips, writes The New York Times.

Instead, Trump had to try to explain the AI ​​image of himself as Jesus that he uploaded late Sunday night to his account on Truth Social.

       

The Jesus image was not well received. Photo: Truth Social

Influenced by substance?

The image caused an outcry among his own Christian conservative supporters.

“I don’t know if the president thought he was funny or if he’s on some substance or what possible explanation he has for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy,” conservative opinion leader Megan Basham wrote in a post on X that has been viewed nearly two million times.

“But he needs to take this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God.”

         

        Trump meets with reporters at the White House. Photo: Alex Brandon /AP/TT

After just over twelve hours, the post was removed. Coincidentally, at the same time that President Trump had a scheduled meeting with a group of religious leaders affiliated with the White House.

“I thought it depicted me as a doctor, and that it had to do with the Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker, which we support,” Trump explained of the image, which had no reference to the Red Cross but plenty of religious overtones.

Didn't see the doctor symbolism

- It's supposed to be me as a doctor, making people healthier. And I make people healthier. I make people much healthier.

That wasn't the symbolism his Christian allies saw in the image.

"This post is, frankly, disgusting and unacceptable, but also a gross misinterpretation of the American people who are currently experiencing a real and beautiful revival of faith in Christ in the midst of our broken culture," wrote Isabel Brown, a conservative ally of the White House, in a post on X, for example.

And Riley Gaines, a conservative profile who was recently Trump's guest at the White House, wrote the following in a post on X with more than four million views:

"Blasphemy at best"

"Why? Seriously, I can't understand why he would post this. Is he looking for an answer? Does he actually believe this?", Gaines writes.

“Anyway, two things are true: 1) a little humility would serve him well 2) God is not to be mocked.”

Even inside the White House, people were critical of Trump’s portrayal of Jesus.

A person in his staff tells the Washington Post that many of his supporters often portray him as a savior – but that the president himself went too far this time.

– When you do it yourself. Then it is blasphemy at best, the employee tells the newspaper.

A cloud of smoke rises after one in Tehran at the beginning of the war. Photo: Vahid Salemi /AP/TT

Internal battle over the war

The criticism from the Christian right comes at a time when President Trump is already in an infected battle with parts of his MAGA movement over the war in Iran.

In a recent post on Truth Social, he attacked right-wing figures like Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson – all with millions of followers – and dismissed them as losers with low intelligence.

“They are stupid people. They know it, their families know it and everyone else knows it,” he wrote, among other things.

           

           

Donald Trump with former supporter Tucker Carlson who has now turned against the president.                 Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP

 

But it is not only celebrities on the right who have turned against Trump over the bombing war against Iran.

A review by The New York Times shows that more than half of the comments on his most scathing posts about Iran on Truth Social – his own platform with basically only conservative users – are critical.

Listening to donors

The newspaper has reviewed more than 40,000 comments, and many express disappointment over a perceived sense that Trump has broken his promises to stay out of international conflicts.

At the same time, another group of Trump's main supporters is now angry: the hardline opponents of immigration.

The group The Mass Deportation Coalition consists of people from various conservative think tanks and organizations and now believes that Trump has broken his promise during the presidential campaign to throw out all undocumented immigrants.

The Mass Deportation Coalition, a group of conservative think tanks and organizations, now says Trump has broken his campaign promise to deport all undocumented immigrants.

They say he is now listening to wealthy donors and industry instead of the American people.

           

          ICE crackdown in January. Photo: Adam Gray / AP

“Would have been in jail”

– If Trump had said what industry wants at the rallies: “I’m going to let the illegals stay in the country so you can get cheap labor,” Mike Howell, the group’s leader, told Axios.

– He would have been in a jail cell right now.

Howell, who worked in Trump’s first term, said the president had bowed to pressure to tone down the hunt for undocumented immigrants.

– The truth is, the first year was not a year of mass deportations. A conscious decision was made to go after the worst first, which we can call a departure from the central election promise of mass deportations, he tells Axios.

Now he is calling for a phase two where there will be one million deportations per year.