Grotesque and blasphemous behavior by Donald Trump and his enablers has betrayed the sacred season and message of Holy Week, Easter, and this post-Easter time of renewal. His immigration policies and deportation practices continue to violate the Constitution. His economic plan for the country has only driven up inflation and placed the burden of affordability squarely on the backs and pocketbooks of the middle class and the poor. The Epstein files are still unrevealed in full, and as a result, accountability for the grotesqueness of some powerful and wealthy people remains unfulfilled. Trump’s war of choice in Iran is an abomination, made even more terrifying by his recent but unexecuted threat of generational genocide. All this ugly stuff is taking place during the holiest of seasons, and most despicable of all is the behavior of Trump and his sycophants when he has been compared to Christ repeatedly. His most recent post on Truth Social, showing him as a Christ figure wrapped in a royal cloak and an American flag, has been called “outrageous blasphemy!” The Guardian described it in these words:
Less than a year after signing legislation that will pull nearly 12 million Americans off health insurance by gutting Medicaid, Donald Trump posted an AI generated image of himself to Truth Social on Sunday depicting him as a Jesus-like figure, with diving light emanating from his hands as he heals a stricken man in a hospital bed with a demon from hell floating in the background.
His post on Easter morning was stunningly blasphemous. Can you imagine? The President of the United States posting the following on Easter morning?
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the ***** Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,”
I have mentioned before the daily Gospel devotional by Paul David Tripp. This morning’s blessings, April 13, 2026, read:
God’s story has a beginning and an end that never ends, and if you are God’s child, his story is now your biography. Wow!
Wow! Indeed! Trump has no clue what this observation actually means. Contrary to what his MAGA base thinks, Trump’s biography, though he is God’s child, will contain very little of God’s story and the message of peace that Christ brought. Isabel Brown of the Daily Wire, commenting on his post, wrote:
Nothing matters more than Jesus. This post, (Trump as Christ) is frankly disgusting and unacceptable, but also a profound misreading of the American people experiencing a true and beautiful revival of faith in Christ.
His ‘war of choice’ in Iran is a mess, an immoral mess at that, and one that has, in the words of Wesley Clark, a retired four-star Army general, “gone off the rails.” Michael J. O’Loughlin, writing for The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) reported that Pope Leo XIV has issued an urgent call to Christian leaders who bear responsibility for armed conflicts to examine their conscience and seek confession. Quoting Pope Leo, O’Loughlin writes:
Do those Christians who bear responsibility in armed conflicts have the humility and courage to make a serious examination of conscience and to go to confession?
Clearly, no one in this administration has displayed any inclination to heed the Pope’s call to exhibit some humility and courage and examine the conscience of the administration and nation. Indeed, they even objected to any reporting on the war that reflects badly on them, and recently, Brenden Carr, the chairman of the FCC, threatened media outlets with a loss of broadcast licenses if they don’t fall in line and produce only positive war coverage. Pope Leo XIV has certainly not fallen in line! He has been a confident clerical voice in opposition to this immoral and unjust war as well Trump’s politics and policies. For this Pope, the faces of the war are those of elementary school children found buried amid the rubble of buildings hit by American bombs. Nicholas Kristoff began his Opinion piece on Saturday (March 14, 2026) with these very poignant and provocative words:
Suppose Iran dispatched operatives to Mexico, where, from the Texas border, they fired a missile at an American base and, unintentionally but carelessly, demolished a nearby American school, killing 175 people.
What if they then blew up fuel depots, showering a chemical rain on residents? Then struck homes, schools and clinics, as Iran’s leader warned that “death, fire and fury” would so pulverize America that it could never be rebuilt?
In that case, President Trump — and all of us — would howl at outrageous attacks on innocent civilians. And we’d be right.
In another article by Kristof, this one written on March 7, 2026, and titled The ‘Arrogance of Power’ Drives War in Iran, he writes:
One of America’s great senators, J. William Fulbright, responded to the Vietnam War in 1966 by denouncing what he called “the arrogance of power.” He cautioned: “Power confuses itself with virtue and tends also to take itself for omnipotence.
Fortunately, there is a rising number of voices in the chorus of criticism of this war. Not only has the Pope not backed down from his critique, saying just today that he was not afraid of Trump, but others have heard the call of the Vatican to join him. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin warned that the “logic of the strongest” risks prevailing on the international stage and called on Christians to become “voices of peace” who do not leave Pope Leo XIV standing alone in his opposition to war. He wrote:
“There is a need for more voices of peace, more voices against the madness of the rush toward rearmament, more voices raised in favor of our poorest brothers and sisters, more voices and more proposals — I am thinking, for example, of the world of Catholic universities — for new economic models inspired by justice and care for the weakest instead of the idolatry of money,”
More voices, more voices, we need more voices! In this season of Eastertide, I remember Matthew 28, which includes the Easter narrative and the Great Commission:
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, (as they were told) to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[d] (NRSVUE)
As disciples of Christ, we hold fast to His vision of the Reign of God becoming a growing reality among all people who want holiness and peace to prevail on earth, who want faith and righteousness to spread from person to person, from community to community, nation to nation. It will not happen, however, if we only intend to be muted onlookers or observers, if we only intend to stay on the mountain and retell the wonderful stories among ourselves about our time with Him. Rather, it must spread because of our going forth and spreading the message of hope and new life from heart to heart, from house to house, from church to church, from town to town, from one community of faith or national identity to another. Easter is about one man’s resurrection and the renewal of all who believe in and trust the truth of His life, death and resurrection, who have faith in the relevance and reliability of his teachings about love and justice, hope and joy and the making of peace for us and all God’s children.
More voices, more voices, we need more voices to say clearly this war is wrong, that our president must be held accountable for his corruption and inhumane policies, and amid all the issues and brokenness, we must proclaim His Gospel of renewal and peace!