By: Isuru Parakrama
May 04, World (LNW): In a move that reeks of audacity, delusion, and dangerous political theatre, US President Donald Trump has once again set social and moral boundaries ablaze—this time by posting an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope.
The digital concoction, shared in the wake of a newly vacant papal seat in the Vatican, is not just an embarrassing act of self-idolisation; it is a cynical exploitation of religious symbolism for political capital and yet another sign of Trump’s relentless campaign to dismantle the norms of democratic and spiritual discourse.
This calculated post—ridiculous in appearance, yet disturbingly effective in impact—goes beyond mere bad taste. It is a grotesque fusion of blasphemy and propaganda, engineered to seduce a base that increasingly mistakes showmanship for sanctity.
By portraying himself as a holy figure, cloaked in papal regalia, Trump is not merely engaging in narcissistic theatre. He is attempting to insert himself into a sacred tradition that represents moral clarity, spiritual humility, and global leadership—values Trump has serially mocked and trampled during and after his presidency.
To appropriate the image of the Pope—particularly during a moment of transition and uncertainty in the Vatican—is to desecrate the universal respect accorded to the papacy across Christian denominations and the wider interfaith world. It sends a chilling message: that no institution, however revered, is immune to being co-opted by Trump’s insatiable need for relevance and domination. This is not just political posturing; it is the weaponisation of faith to serve the petty ambitions of one man.
The image, unmistakably AI-generated, underlines another growing concern: Trump’s enthusiastic embrace of digital manipulation and disinformation. In a post-truth era that he helped define, Trump continues to blur the lines between reality and fabrication, often with a smile and a wink to his followers who either do not know better or, more worryingly, do not care.
By fusing his image with that of the Pope, he is not simply pandering to conservative Catholics—he is exploiting religious reverence to lend legitimacy to his self-declared sanctity.
It is a grim parody of religious imagery, dripping with the hallmarks of authoritarian propaganda. Leaders who see themselves as messianic, above reproach and divinely ordained, often spell danger for democracy.
History offers no shortage of warnings. And yet, here we are—witnessing a man who has faced two impeachments, multiple civil suits, and a barrage of criminal investigations, don the symbolic mantle of the world’s most recognisable religious leader. The image would be laughable were it not so ominous.
This AI Pope post is the latest in Trump’s ongoing campaign to reframe American politics not around policy or principle, but around personality cult and spiritual symbolism. His base is being trained to view him not as a flawed public servant, but as a divine instrument, a prophet misunderstood by the political elite and persecuted by the ‘deep state’. That fantasy is not just delusional—it is corrosive to the foundations of secular democracy.
Trump is not only distorting religion but also corroding the public’s capacity to distinguish between truth and fiction, justice and grievance, democracy and authoritarian spectacle. The use of AI—a technology with vast potential for both benefit and harm—has become, in Trump’s hands, yet another tool for deception. It is part of a broader assault on the institutions that have kept America’s democratic experiment from collapsing under the weight of demagoguery.
America’s founding ideals—pluralism, freedom of belief, a clear separation of church and state—are all insulted by this cheap trick. But perhaps that is the point. Trump has long sought to divide, to enrage, and to inflame. This AI Pope stunt is not a joke; it is a cultural provocation, a calculated gesture aimed at deepening fissures in the national psyche while portraying himself as a victim-saint of an imagined persecution.
For all his claims of devotion and patriotism, Trump’s actions continually reveal a disdain for both the spiritual and democratic legacies he pretends to honour. If democracy is a covenant of shared reality and reason, Trump’s antics are a deliberate effort to tear it up in favour of delusion, spectacle, and blind loyalty.
America, and indeed the wider world, should take this moment seriously. A man who imagines himself Pope is not making a harmless meme—he is signalling a worldview where truth, reverence, and democracy are nothing more than costumes to be worn, mocked, and discarded.
In that vision, there is no room for justice, only power. And in that world, democracy dies not with a bang, but with an AI-generated smirk in white robes.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrg8zkz8d0o
https://news.sky.com/story/trump-posts-ai-image-of-himself-as-pope-on-truth-social-13360403
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/donald-trump-posts-ai-image-of-himself-as-the-pope/105249728
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-truth-social-pope-b2744196.html
