What did Donald Trump do today?

Literal blasphemy.

Paula White is Trump's "White House Faith Advisor," head of an office he created for her at the start of his second term. White, who abruptly left her position as the head of a megachurch with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue shortly before it declared bankruptcy, is a political supporter of Trump, and shares with him a fondness for expensive private jets paid for by other people. 

At a White House event today, notionally celebrating the Christian Holy Week, White compared Trump explicitly to Jesus, telling him that "you were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused" just as Jesus had been. (It's true that Trump was arrested.)

Outside of her affiliation with Trump, White is best known for saying that if Jesus had been a refugee like those who apply for asylum in the United States, he would have been a sinner and therefore not the Messiah. In fact, it doesn't violate the law to ask for shelter in the United States. But more importantly, as the vast majority of Christians understand their faith, the fact that Jesus was born to refugee parents is a central element of the Gospels, as is his repeated emphasis on showing kindness and grace to outsiders.

Normally, presidents discourage comparisons between themselves and Jesus, but this was familiar territory for Trump, who has repeatedly made the connection himself. He's also compared himself to popes, although that appears to have been a deliberate attempt to offend Catholics mourning the late Pope Francis, whom Trump hated. He's even made literal golden idols of himself. He most recently did this Monday, releasing an AI-generated video of his planned presidential library featuring a gallery full of people worshipfully gazing up at giant gold statue of himself.

 

In fact, Trump made the Jesus comparison himself again today too. Reading from a prepared text about Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Trump seemed to have a flash of recognition on the word "king" and began to rif about how he, too, has been mocked as a so-called king, before "joking" about how he'd do "a lot more" with unlimited power if he could. 

Why does this matter?

• It's hard to think of a better way to show your contempt for practicing Christians than to compare yourself to Jesus.