![\"President](\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/6huAz8ioKf98cVzmQBf7xdCWgO8=\/1500x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(349x212:351x214):format(webp)\/donald-trump-ai-pope-050325-2272ae41e1444b7fa2ee9c0cb14d4a8b.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Donald Trump\u00a0has shared another fake, AI-generated image \u2014 this time of himself as the pope.<\/p>\n
Trump, 78, shared the photo on his\u00a0Truth Social\u00a0account on Friday, May 2, just days after\u00a0jokingly stating he should succeed the late Pope Francis. The image was also shared 11 days after\u00a0Francis\u00a0died of a stroke\u00a0at age 88, and six days after Trump\u00a0attended the pontiff’s funeral\u00a0at the Vatican.<\/p>\n
The president shared no caption alongside the image, which depicts him sitting with a stern expression and holding up one finger while wearing white and gold papal attire, including a large cross necklace.<\/p>\n
The photo was quickly reposted across social media platforms, where it was met with heavy criticism.<\/p>\n
One viral\u00a0post\u00a0by an X account called \u201cRepublicans Against Trump\u201d shared the artificially enhanced image and wrote, in part, \u201cIt’s full-on lunacy at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harry Sisson, a vocal Democrat and political content creator, also received attention for his\u00a0X post\u00a0about the AI image, calling out the president for sharing such posts, instead of working to combat issues like\u00a0rising inflation.<\/p>\n
“Trump just posted an AI image of himself as the Pope. Instead of working to bring down costs, he\u2019s doing this instead,\u201d Sisson wrote. \u201cNice job, MAGA! You elected a man-child.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"United](\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/D3RhS9XIFPf0FDRvMWcF8UmsgqU=\/4000x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)\/donald-melania-trump-pope-francis-funeral-050325-b8469dd11fc044e29bb3a29ea053b299.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>Others, like X user @MissSassbox,\u00a0criticized\u00a0Trump for not only the content of the controversial post, but for making the \u201cdisrespectful\u201d choice to share it so soon after Francis\u2019 death.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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,\u201d the user wrote. \u201cIt’s not even funny at this point, it’s actually disrespectful and I’m not even Catholic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those defending the post on X, meanwhile,\u00a0said\u00a0it was \u201cclearly a joke,\u201d and\u00a0insisted\u00a0that those who were upset by the image were \u201ctaking the bait.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Pope](\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/badJfe52BZAEz4eVeb-VI9Bf2VE=\/4000x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)\/pope-francis-palm-sunday-050325-d0101267338c4b83a9073a0a9d1a9976.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>Earlier this week, Trump made headlines for jokingly naming himself as the \u201cnumber one choice\u201d to succeed the late Francis.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice,\u201d he said, before stating more seriously that he has \u201cno preference\u201d about the upcoming\u00a0papal conclave, which is set to begin on May 7.<\/p>\n
![\"President](\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/b_PBHVncgMSZAG_KxMs3LlGB4Rs=\/4000x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)\/donald-trump-shares-fake-photo-02-050325-4296d36a55be49619827b429da20e121.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>Trump\u2019s May 2 post is not the first time he has shared AI-generated content, sparking backlash.<\/p>\n
In February, the president\u00a0shared a fake AI video of the war-torn Gaza Strip being transformed into a resort-like area,\u00a0just a few weeks after suggesting that the United States could\u00a0“take over” the Palestinian territory\u00a0and turn it into something “magnificent.”<\/p>\n
The video included a luxury building called \u201cTrump Gaza” and an AI version of\u00a0Elon Musk, as well as a large golden Trump statue and areas with mini golden Trump figurines.<\/p>\n
It was set to a dance beat with a voice that sang, \u201cNo more tunnels, no more fear \/ Trump Gaza is finally here!”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Donald Trump shared a fake, AI-generated photo of himself as the pope on social media, 11 days after Pope Francis\u2019 death Critics of the image called it \u201cdisrespectful\u201d and said Trump was a \u201cman-child,\u201d while others insisted it was a joke The post comes shortly after Trump joked that he is his \u201cnumber one choice\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/495188281_122124623708783512_4526774904765623218_n.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15241,"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15239\/revisions\/15241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otrxio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}