What did Donald Trump do today?

He stayed up all night and regretted it in the morning.

Trump, who is 79 years old and erratic under the best of circumstances, stayed up all night posting to his boutique social media site. At 9:03 PM on Sunday, he posted a lengthy screed against Pope Leo XIV, accusing the head of the Roman Catholic Church of being "WEAK ON CRIME." 46 minutes later, he posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus, healing the sick while worshipers looked on adoringly.

 

Trump then posted at 9:50 PM, 10:10 PM, 10:32 PM, 10:34 PM, 10:53 PM, 12:43 AM, 2:35 AM, 2:36 AM, 2:37 AM, a second post at 2:37 AM, 2:38 AM, and 4:10 AM, before, presumably, getting a little sleep. 

If Trump's public schedule is to be believed—and for this sort of thing, it shouldn't be—he might have gotten a little under three hours of sleep before getting up and ready for "executive time" starting at 8:00 AM. (In the Trump White House, that is a euphemism for time spent browsing social media, calling friends, or napping, so Trump may well have just slept through the first part of his "workday.")

When he did finally appear after noon, Trump was asked about why he depicted himself as Jesus. He insisted that he thought the picture of him in the white and red robes, showing him laying hands glowing with holy light on the head of a sick man—which is how Jesus is often depicted in devotional art—was showing him as a "doctor."  

 

Then, perhaps not wanting to walk back the Jesus comparison too much, he insisted, "I do make people better." He also praised the obviously AI-generated image as having come from a "very beautiful, talented artist," and blamed "the fake news" for the controversy.

Trump comparing himself to Jesus is nothing new: this isn't even the first time this month he's done it. But this time, he outraged some of his strongest Christian supporters—to say nothing of Christians and non-Christians across the political spectrum—and was forced to remove the post. 

Why does this matter?

• Inability to sleep because of an agitated state of mind at night, followed by excessive sleepiness during the day, is an indicator of severe cognitive decline in the elderly. 

• Dementia is the generous explanation for comparing yourself to Jesus right after you denounce the Pope for forgiving criminals.