Stephen Colbert criticized President Donald Trump after Trump offered what Colbert described as a “silly excuse” for posting an AI-generated image portraying himself as Jesus. The 79-year-old president shared a photo of himself placing a hand on a patient’s head. With light emitting from his hands, many assumed Trump was Jesus in the photo.
A reporter asked Trump, “Mr. President, did you post that picture of yourself depicted as Jesus Christ?” Trump replied that the image depicted him as a doctor. The image also included a nurse, a military service member, and a woman praying.
‘The Late Show’ host Colbert took a jab at Trump, “So, Donald Trump wants us to believe that he thought this was a doctor. If I’m in a doctor’s office and that man walks in, I’m thinking I died.”
Donald Trump posts an image portraying himself as Jesus Christ.
Vainglorious and extremely weird. pic.twitter.com/r0DZAukoY8
— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) April 13, 2026
He then continued to call it “quite an excuse” and impersonated Trump. He said, “It was clearly me as a doctor, like in my favorite movie, ‘Passion of the Doctor,’ and my favorite TV show, ‘Dr. Jesus Medicine Christ.’”
Trump’s post followed recent criticism from Pope Leo regarding tensions involving Iran, during which the pope called for peace and stability. Colbert referred to a young white man in a hat and an older white man in a hat as “Trump Christ’s disciples.” He also pointed out other elements of the photo, such as “astronaut” and “cloud soldier.” The background of the AI-generated image also included the Statue of Liberty and the US flag.
Colbert also said, “According to one Italian religious historian, ‘Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the pope so directly and publicly.’” He suggested Trump should be more “discreet and respectful.”
Stephen Colbert takes aim at Donald Trump’s attack on Pope Leo:
“According to one Italian religious historian, not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the Pope so directly and publicly,” Colbert told his viewers. “It’s never great when someone says, ‘You should really be more… pic.twitter.com/FiGhfmNXe4
— Variety (@Variety) April 14, 2026
Many social media users reacted to Trump’s photo, with some speculating about the identity of the patient depicted. Several users commented that the figure resembled Jeffrey Epstein. One X user posted, “This is either high-level trolling or a massive miscalculation… not sure which yet.”
Another one commented, “Many people have said Trump wants to be the messiah. Now this is the definition of ‘god complex’.” One more commented, “Haha, I’m not religious or anything like that, but this guy has gone off the deep end.”The third one asked, “Does the guy in the hospital bed look like Jeffrey Epstein?” Trump has deleted the post, but the netizens are trolling him endlessly.
