Donald Trump Shares Fake Photo of Himself as the Pope Days After Saying He’s His ‘Number One Choice’ for Pontiff’s Replacement

The photo was quickly reposted across social media platforms, where it was met with heavy criticism.

One viral post by an X account called “Republicans Against Trump” shared the artificially enhanced image and wrote, in part, “It’s full-on lunacy at this point.”

Harry Sisson, a vocal Democrat and political content creator, also received attention for his X post about the AI image, calling out the president for sharing such posts, instead of working to combat issues like rising inflation.

“Trump just posted an AI image of himself as the Pope. Instead of working to bring down costs, he’s doing this instead,” Sisson wrote. “Nice job, MAGA! You elected a man-child.”

Others, like X user @MissSassbox, criticized Trump for not only the content of the controversial post, but for making the “disrespectful” choice to share it so soon after Francis’ death.

“This is literally the President of the United States of America while the Vatican is still grieving the loss of Pope Francis and trying to pick his successor,” the user wrote. “It’s not even funny at this point, it’s actually disrespectful and I’m not even Catholic.”

Those defending the post on X, meanwhile, said it was “clearly a joke,” and insisted that those who were upset by the image were “taking the bait.”

Earlier this week, Trump made headlines for jokingly naming himself as the “number one choice” to succeed the late Francis.

When asked by reporters on the White House lawn about his choice for the next pope, Trump mused for a second before answering with a smile.

“I’d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice,” he said, before stating more seriously that he has “no preference” about the upcoming papal conclave, which is set to begin on May 7.

Trump’s May 2 post is not the first time he has shared AI-generated content, sparking backlash.

In February, the president shared a fake AI video of the war-torn Gaza Strip being transformed into a resort-like area, just a few weeks after suggesting that the United States could “take over” the Palestinian territory and turn it into something “magnificent.”

The video included a luxury building called “Trump Gaza” and an AI version of Elon Musk, as well as a large golden Trump statue and areas with mini golden Trump figurines.

It was set to a dance beat with a voice that sang, “No more tunnels, no more fear / Trump Gaza is finally here!”