Donald Trump has been compared to Jesus Christ by the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene at a campaign rally for the former president in Las Vegas, a city more renowned for evoking images of gambling than biblical scenes.
Greene, who makes frequent references to her Christian faith, cited Trump’s supposed Christ-like qualities to challenge the Democrats’ efforts to capitalise on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s status as a convicted felon following his recent conviction in a case involving hush money paid to an adult film actor and falsified business records in a New York court.
“The Democrats and the fake news media want to constantly talk about ‘President Trump is a convicted felon’,” she told a crowd that waited in soaring early-summer temperatures. “Well, you want to know something? The man that I worship is also a convicted felon. And he was murdered on a Roman cross.”
In some parts of the political ecosphere, Greene’s comparison did not go over well.
“Did Jesus pay off a pornstar and cover it up,” read one comment on X left below a clip of Greene’s remarks on Sunday.
California’s Democratic congressman Adam Schiff sarcastically added: “Definitely not a cult.”
It is not the first time Greene has drawn parallels between Trump and Christ – whom Christians consider to be the messiah and son of God – as well as other historical martyr figures.
When he was arrested in New York on corruption charges in April last year, she likened Trump to Jesus and Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa’s first post-apartheid president after being jailed for 27 years by the racist regime.
“Trump is joining some of the most incredible people in history being arrested today. Nelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison. Jesus was arrested and murdered by the Roman government,” she told the Right Side Broadcast Network.
“There have been many people throughout history that have been arrested and persecuted by radical, corrupt governments … I just can’t believe it’s happening, but I’ll always support him. He’s done nothing wrong.”
Comparisons with Christ have also been pushed by Trump himself as he has sought to exploit his popularity among white evangelical Christians – and despite apparently struggling to identify his favourite passage from the Bible.
When he went on trial in a civil case over business fraud last year, supporters circulated an image depicting him sitting in the courtroom alongside a Christ-like figure.
Trump, in turn, disseminated the faux sketch on his Truth Social site, writing: “This is the most accurate court sketch of all time. Because no one could have made it this far alone.”
He has pressed matters further in his fundraising appeals, invoking a metaphor of himself as a saviour in a headline on his campaign website reading: “They’re not after me. They’re after you. I’m just standing in the way.”
One of Trump’s celebrity supporters, the Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, has also stressed the messianic theme, citing the Book of Joshua and the New Testament to assert that the ex-president “has been targeted for his information that can knock down the corrupt swamp”.
Voight added: “The one man that was ridiculed, destroyed as Jesus, Trump, can come back and save the American dream for all.”
Trump’s personal allusions to Christ are a marked contrast to the messaging of Joe Biden, who has frequently told voters to refrain from comparing Biden with the Almighty, but rather to compare him with the alternative in Trump.
