Donald Trump Attempts to Follow His Finger as It Grazes Over the Bible
- Austin Abbring
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
After posting an AI image of himself as Jesus, Donald Trump repents by reading the bible on screen.
By: Austin Abbring
May 17, 2026
Donald Trump continues to find ways to agitate and betray his base. This time, he has offended arguably his most loyal voters, the evangelicals. Following his feud with the pope and posting an AI image of himself depicted as Jesus healing a man (who eerily resembles Jeffrey Epstein), or, depending on what circle you are in, a medic or a red-cross worker, Trump has decided he should read aloud to the class in an attempt to repent. Donald Trump stumbled along a passage he has most certainly read before. You can tell by the way he does not even look down as he orates. You can tell by the multiple camera cuts that, as anyone in any video editing space will tell you, it was not one take. Here you can watch for yourself (if you dare):
Video Credit: Pure Flix and America Reads the Bible (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oqyMMBAapY)
Now, this is a lighter, more humorous piece. At least I hope you find this writing moderately amusing because sometimes we all just need to laugh through the pain. I am not a religious person by any means, and quite frankly, I am not overly concerned with what religion the president or any member of federal, state, or local government identifies with. They are free to privately practice their faith just as I am free to practice my atheism. However, this attempted demonstration of Trump being a saved, righteous man is problematic.
For starters, I am old enough to remember when there was supposed to be a separation of church and state in this country. The Christian nationalist movement has had a major revival in the Trump years. Some evangelicals will watch this video and take it at face value. They will actually forgive and forget Trump’s blasphemous AI imagery - c’mon, who hasn’t been there?. The blending of religion, in particular Christianity, has somehow embedded itself even deeper within the Republican Party.
There is a lie that I have found repeated ad nauseam by press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other key members of this administration, which is that we were founded as a Christian nation. To be even more specific, a “Judeo-Christian nation”. To be clear, this is not a new argument; it has been perpetuated for decades and by contemporary politicians. This is just factually incorrect on numerous levels. First, upon the creation of our country, the overwhelming majority of the country was Protestant, with the Jewish population being a fraction of a percentage point. The term “Judeo-Christian” is a modern term, which a simple Google search would happily convey to you.
Second, the First Amendment establishes the separation of church and state. The Treaty of Tripoli also cites that the United States was not founded on the principles of religion. Article 11 of the treaty declares, “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religious or tranquility of Musselmen, and as the said states never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.” This treaty was ratified by the Senate and signed into law by John Adams in 1797. (Free Speech Center)
Finally, while a majority of the founding fathers were Protestant, the key influencers were deists. Meaning, even though they believe in a creator or god, they separate those beliefs from human affairs. There is an established principle in separating religious dogma from legislation. There should be no conflation with the fact that even though roughly sixty percent of Americans identify as Christian, the United States is not a “Christian nation.” We are a nation that is supposed to be agnostic to any singular religion ruling in our founding and in our present-day legislative body. We must continue to function that way. Donald Trump reciting bible passages from the Oval Office is the antithesis of that function.