Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding a True Faith

by April Ajoy

Persecution also creates sympathy and loyalty. Just think for a moment how many impeachments, trials, and indictments Donald Trump has gone through. Do these turn followers away? Hardly. Every punishment he faces is viewed as persecution, which makes him a martyr. With each new indictment brought against him, the closer he gets to being Jesus incarnate. And I’m not really exaggerating. I’ve seen lots of posts openly equating Trump to Jesus. Umpteen photos of Trump side by side with the Son of God get reshared by Christians every time he faces the consequences of his moral failings. Trump even shared one of these images to his Truth Social account following a court appearance in October 2023. It was an image of Jesus sitting beside Trump at the defendant’s table with a caption that read, “This is the most accurate court sketch of all time. Because nobody could have made it this far alone.”7 When Trump was arraigned during Holy Week in 2023, the comparisons of Trump to Christ were everywhere. Even Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene compared Trump’s charges to the arrest of Jesus.8 You know, because Jesus was arrested for challenging religious leaders with radical love, and Donald Trump was arrested for falsifying hush money payments to a porn star and keeping classified nuclear documents in his shower. Totally the same thing.