Not the Messiah: Just Trump Being Trump

crossroadscaloundr
Apr 19
2 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Trump’s critics keep mistaking provocation for prophecy. But the man himself has never claimed to be anything more than a sinner trying — and failing — to get into heaven.

When will the progressive left learn that Donald Trump is not the Messiah… he’s just a very naughty boy.

It should be obvious to anyone who has listened to the US President for more than 60 seconds — admittedly a test of endurance — that for all his bluster, he claims only to be a deeply flawed individual.

Not the Messiah — Just Ask Him

The US President told Fox and Friends last year that he was … “[trying] to get to heaven if possible,” but added that he was “not doing well” and was “at the bottom of the totem pole”.

Doesn’t sound like a Messiah complex to me. Far from it.

Back in 2021, Trump told the congregation at First Baptist Church in Dallas:

“Our country needs a savior right now. And our country has a savior. And it’s not me. It’s somebody much higher up than me. Much higher.”

There’s plenty more, but you get the drift. Trump is not short of confidence, but he has never pretended divinity. Not even close.

In August last year, he told journalists that he hoped, maybe, ending wars around the world might help him to sneak into heaven.

Parsing Memes Like Encyclicals

With all that background, I was pretty surprised when otherwise intelligent people interpreted Trump’s ‘Jesus’ meme as a boast that He was equivalent to our Lord and Saviour.

This is the man whose rhetorical style falls somewhere between stand-up comedy and a bar fight. And now we’re parsing his memes as if they were encyclicals.

If he was depicting himself as Jesus, it was clearly a joke.

Trump is actually quite well known for his jokes.

Isn’t that one of the Left’s major problems with Trump? That he is baboonish and inappropriate?

But it seemed pretty obvious he was depicting himself as the Pope, not Jesus.

Trump v the Pope

The meme came right after a very public spat with the Pope, who had criticised Trump’s war with Iran.

The Pope had claimed that war is never right, which would certainly have been news to Moses, and Gideon, and Samson, and Deborah, and David.

The Pope also claimed that God will never bless those who pick up the sword, which would certainly have been news to the Apostle Paul, who wrote that God gives governments the sword so that they can deal with injustice and evil.

Trump shot back that the Pope should stay out of politics. And besides, Trump was doing a better job at fixing the world than the know-nothing Pope.