Last week, Donald Trump threatened to wipe out "a whole civilization" which has been around for thousands of years. This week, he not only picked a fight with the Pope, but for good measure also posted a picture of himself depicted as Jesus Christ. That Nobel Peace Prize should be a cinch for him now, right?

The best commentary we heard about all of this came from Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a Democrat from California. As an aside in an eye-opening comment she made to a reporter (more on this in a bit), she called Trump, "this dude, Dr. Jesus...." Which is where our headline today came from (to give credit where it is due).

Trump, as usual, wasn't ready for the backlash that erupted. His rather lame attempt to explain it all away was that he didn't see it as him-as-Jesus, but rather him-as-a-doctor. This was not even remotely believable, as anyone who saw the actual image can attest to.

The image wasn't just the usual "A.I. slop," it was in fact "A.I. schlock." As usual for Trump (or whatever underling took the time to tell an A.I. program to create this image), it was absolutely crammed with increasingly-bizarre motifs.

Trump is portrayed in a white robe with a red garment draped over it (as is common in Jesus imagery). He has more hair than he actually does in real life (of course). His left hand holds what could be described as a miniature sun -- a little ball of energy beaming light. His right hand is laid upon the forehead of what appears to be a sick man lying in a bed, whose entire head is glowing with the same beams of heavenly light.

And all that is just for starters, folks. The sick man bears a striking resemblance to either (take your choice) Jon Stewart or possibly Jeffrey Epstein. Jesus/Trump is surrounded by four people (all of whom are looking adoringly at Jesus/Trump): an old guy with a beard wearing a hat with gibberish written on it, a soldier in uniform also wearing a hat with gibberish on it, a woman praying as she casts her loving eyes at Trump, another woman (or perhaps the same one, they bear a striking resemblance to each other) dressed as a nurse or doctor, and two hands not connected to any visible people.

Behind the Jesus/Trump figure are (in no particular order): a big U.S. flag (with an incorrect number of stars on it), a bald eagle, several buildings that resemble Washington D.C. governmental buildings, the Statue of Liberty, some exploding fireworks, the sun's rays peeping through clouds, another bald eagle (just for good measure), one fighter jet, another two (?) fighter jets (?) that appear to be kissing each other (it's hard to actually tell exactly what this is), four soldiers magically floating in the skies around the sun, and a central figure that is without doubt the weirdest thing in the entire image -- it seems to have the body of another soldier, but has no head. Instead it has spikes of a crown (much like the Statue of Liberty) and what Anderson Cooper described last night on Stephen Colbert's show as "two women's legs" sticking up from his shoulders. Or something. It's hard to tell. As mentioned, "A.I. schlock" seems the best way to describe it.

Now, of course, Trump has posted outrageous images of himself previously, including one depicting him as the Pope (more on him in a bit). But this one was too much for a large segment of his own MAGA base. Marjorie Taylor Greene (who used to be a staunch Trump supporter but has now gone her own way) called it: "more than blasphemy, it's an Antichrist spirit," which doesn't seem too far off the mark. Even House Speaker Mike Johnson (who wears his religiosity on his sleeve) told Trump to take the post down, which he eventually did (which is also extremely rare, for Trump).

Trump then came up with his excuse -- it wasn't a post of him as Jesus at all, it turns out! Here's his completely lame excuse:

I viewed that as a picture of me being a doctor in fixing -- you had the Red Cross right there, you had, you know, medical people surrounding me. And I was like the doctor, you know, as a little fun playing the doctor and making people better. So that's what it was viewed as. That's what most people thought.

Two things: there is no Red Cross in the image, and no, that's decidedly not what most people thought. The entire episode put Trump on very thin ice with the religious portion of his base (evangelicals, conservative Catholics, Christian nationalists, etc.), many of whom did indeed see it as nothing short of blasphemy.

To make up for being forced to take the image down, Trump posted a second image later in the week portraying him together with Jesus, looking (as one late-night comic put it) like they were on a prom date together.

This wasn't enough for Trump's delusions of godhood, however, as he also took the time this week to get into a public spat with the Pope. Both Trump and many of his closest advisors have a warped view of Christianity, probably because they have never bothered to read all that New Testament stuff about Jesus talking about peace and whatnot. They instead prefer the robust and vengeful deity from the Old Testament, and have convinced themselves that the Christian God is rooting for them to bomb Iran "into the Stone Ages." The Pope had a different view on things, which led to not just Trump but JD Vance attempting to instruct the Pope on the meaning of the Bible. Oh, and Pete Hegseth attempting to quote the Bible but instead quoting Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction, too -- can't forget that one. All of this also put a strain on the support from Trump's religious followers, which isn't too surprising.

What this week was supposed to be about, for Trump, was taking a victory lap for Tax Day. He was supposed to be bragging all week about how American taxpayers were saving bundles because of the big, ugly bill Republicans passed last year (the truth of which, of course, was nowhere near as rosy as Trump claimed), but all the outrage over the Jesus/Trump image kind of overshadowed it. Trump did hold a rally in Las Vegas where he spouted his usual lies about his new tax cuts, but the media barely even noticed. The Republicans even enshrined his tax cut lies on the new IRS form they created to deal with all the changes, which has headers reading: "No Tax on Tips," and: "No Tax on Overtime," although they weren't shameless enough to also add: "No Tax on Social Security" (it was merely listed as: "Enhanced Deduction for Seniors" instead). These are lies because no matter how many times Trump uses these phrases, they just are not true. There is now a tax break for tip income, but it is limited (not all tip income is covered). There is now a new tax break on the additional income people make (for "time-and-a-half" or "double-time") when working overtime, but their standard pay rate is still taxed for those hours, and this benefit is also capped. And there is an increased standard deduction for seniors, but it doesn't cover all Social Security income for all seniors, as Trump promised.

Trump, of course, doesn't care about such details, and he was supposed to be boasting about all of these wonderful tax cuts all week long. However, that was before he started a war of choice with Iran, before gas prices went through the roof (as a direct result), and before he decided he was Jesus and infallibly right (while the Pope was theologically wrong).

For the first time since Trump started it, he actually got some good news from the war this week, as it is now looking increasingly like the ceasefire will (at the very least) be extended past the original deadline of next Tuesday. Israel and Lebanon reached their own ceasefire agreement, which spurred Iran into announcing today that the Strait of Hormuz had been reopened to all ships, but we'll have to see how it all develops in the next week.

Trump (of course) is bragging that Iran has agreed to all his demands, including giving up all their (as he puts it, being too ignorant to realize it is in gaseous form) "nuclear dust," but Iran has not confirmed any of that, so Trump may just be making that part up. Again, we'll have to wait and see what happens, since the original deadline is fast approaching. New face-to-face talks may take place this weekend, but nothing is confirmed as of this writing.

Gas prices in America have been falling back a tiny bit (they're still over $4.00 a gallon, though), and the world oil market reacted to the news about the Strait by lowering the price of a barrel of crude oil by ten percent (to under $90 per barrel). Which is good news for the whole planet, if these positive developments continue.

And we have to end this with a correction (and an apology) for something in last week's column, where we wrote that Trump was going to travel to China for a summit meeting this week. That was the original schedule, but unbeknownst to us the date had been rescheduled (yet again), due to the war with Iran. So this summit won't be taking place until next month. Mea culpa to our readers, for this misinformation.

 

There was a lot of interesting news from Democrats at the state level this week, from Maine passing a law banning large data centers from being constructed (for the next few years), to Democrats who are so optimistic about their midterm chances that they're planning on spending some campaign cash in very red districts (since if it truly is a blue wave election, they might actually turn out to be flippable districts). And Minnesota prosecutors also brought charges against an ICE agent this week, for brandishing a weapon without any justification (the first of many such charges, most likely).

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has apparently been drawing lots of heat from conservative media (because for some reason they are aghast that a Democrat would actually support a Democratic agenda). Spanberger deserves at least an Honorable Mention not for sparking all this rightwing angst, however, but for a law she signed this week which removes the tax-exempt status for Confederate groups in the state (most notably the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which is based in the old Confederate capital of Richmond). It's about time Virginia leaves behind all the ghosts of their pro-Confederate past, and this is a good step in that direction.

But our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week was Analilia Majía, who coasted to victory in a special House election in New Jersey this week. Majía won the Democratic nomination for the district due to AIPAC essentially shooting itself in the foot (by meddling in the primary, they wound up with what they considered the worst candidate of all), and this week she defeated her Republican opponent by a whopping 35 points (from early returns).

Majía is a solid progressive (who earned the support of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Elizabeth Warren), and should make a wonderful addition to the House Democratic caucus. She boasted during her victory speech that she was an "unbought, unbossed, sassy new member of Congress."

Sounds good to us. Because this was a special election, Majía will have to win all over again in November, but she will have the benefit of running as an incumbent by that point. But no matter what happens then, for winning this week's special election (and continuing the Democrats' streak of doing well in all the special elections since Trump took office again), Analilia Majía is our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week.

[You'll have to wait until next week to congratulate Representative Analilia Majía, because the official list of House members' pages hasn't been updated with her new contact page yet. Next week, you will be able to look for her new page under New Jersey's 11th congressional district, to let her know you appreciate her efforts.]

 

A case could be made that one Democrat deserves this award this week, but it was such a horrific story that the word "disappointing" doesn't even begin to cover it, we felt. The former lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, murdered his own wife and then took his own life this week, while his children were home. The couple had been going through a tough divorce, and Fairfax had reportedly been on a downward spiral, but the news was beyond tragic to read about.

But we are going to give the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week this week to the obvious choice, even though his behavior was also beyond merely being "disappointing," if the accusations prove to be true.

Last week at this time, Eric Swalwell was not just a sitting member of the House of Representatives, but was also the leading Democratic candidate in the race for California governor. Now, he is a disgraced ex-member of Congress who has ended his gubernatorial campaign.

This all came about as five women came forward with stories of sexual predation by Swalwell, to varying degrees. The last woman to come forward had perhaps the worst story to tell, as according to her Swalwell slipped her a date-rape drug in a glass of wine, took her up to his hotel room, and forcibly raped her. Investigations have been opened for possible criminal charges in two states (as of this writing), and Swalwell will have to answer for his conduct.

He denies any criminal wrongdoing, but when it is not just one woman or even two but five telling similar stories, it's pretty hard to take his word for it.

Swalwell's resignation from the House came under pressure, as the chamber was moving to hold a vote to expel him if he didn't voluntarily step down. A Republican also resigned under the same pressure, which will leave the House balance the same. Gavin Newsom has already called for a special election to fill Swalwell's seat, but so far the Texas governor has not followed suit.

But whatever the political fallout, it was a pretty easy choice to hand Eric Swalwell the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week on his way out the door.

[Because he has now resigned, Eric Swalwell is a private citizen once again, and it is our policy not to provide contact information for such persons.]

 

Volume 837 (4/17/26)

Before we begin, we have one warning and two hat-tips this week. The warning is for those who are triggered by profanity -- don't read the final talking point!

The first nod we have to give (which didn't really rise to the level of a talking point, but was still amusing) was to whichever HuffPost headline-writer summed up Trump's blasphemous idiocy this week with a screamer headline: "DON T'S INFERNO!"

That's pretty good, but even better was what Sarah Palin (of all people) posted in response to Trump's two Jesus images this week. You can say what you want about Palin, but she has always had a sense of humor, which was on full display. Her social media post had an image of Jesus reaching out his hand, with a "more in sorrow than in anger" look on his face, below the caption: "ALRIGHT. THAT'S ENOUGH. GIVE ME THE PHONE."

Funniest thing we saw all week, so we had to at least mention it.

 

   Blasphemer-in-chief

If the shoe fits....

"After sending out a social media post which dropped an 'f-bomb' on Easter Sunday, Donald Trump marked the occasion of Orthodox Easter Sunday by sending out a picture of himself as Jesus Christ. So to all his devout Christian supporters, I have to ask, are you happy now? Because at this point Trump seems to have earned a new title: Blasphemer-in-chief."

 

   What his own supporters are saying

This has been the biggest pushback Trump has ever gotten from his base, so Democrats really should point it out as often as possible.

"Trump's religious megalomania was swiftly condemned as 'blasphemy' by Trump supporters. Some even used the term 'Antichrist.' In a television interview, one supporter summed it up nicely: 'Bro, that's not a doctor. That's him depicting himself as Jesus Christ. That is blasphemy in its purest form.' Other Trump supporters are calling on him to apologize for picking a senseless fight with the Pope. It's pretty obvious that Donald Trump has never cracked a Bible and read a single word of it, which was apparently fine with all his evangelical and Catholic supporters, but this time I think he's pushed them too far. Some are even burning their MAGA hats in disgust. They seem to be seeing Trump in a new light -- and it's not any light magically shining from his hands."

 

   Hungary for change

OK, we couldn't resist that lead-in, we fully admit.

"Hungary held an election last weekend and finally got rid of Viktor Orbán, as the voters overwhelmingly rejected giving him another term in office. This was despite Donald Trump and JD Vance begging Hungarian voters to keep supporting their favorite European strongman. Vladimir Putin was also disappointed in the outcome, while the rest of Europe celebrated the results. So to voters in America -- there is hope. Strongmen can still be defeated at the ballot box. If you want to see such a change here, get out and vote!"

 

   Not very high?

Admittedly, this issue may fade a bit if the war with Iran is actually coming to an end, but it's entirely likely that prices won't return to normal for a while, so it is still effective for Democrats to point it out.

"Donald Trump told a reporter this week that he thought the price of gasoline was, quote, 'not very high' right now. This prompted late-night comedians to wonder if Trump was 'very high' when he said that. Which is a good question, because earlier in the week he tried to cover all his bases in what might be called 'stoner style.' When asked if the price of gas will come down by Election Day, Trump gave the following non-answer: 'I hope so. I mean, I think so. It could be. It could be or the same or maybe a little bit higher.' Well, that pretty much covers all the bases, right? It could come down, it could stay the same, it could even go up -- who knows? I would just like to remind all the American voters out there of one simple fact: the nationwide average price of a gallon of gasoline was $3.09 when Trump took office. And he promised he'd lower that price by half in his first year. So that's the metric he should be judged on."

 

   Pay up, you ingrates!

Not to be outdone, one Republican senator framed it even worse than Trump this week.

"Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas showed his utter disdain for what American families are going through, every time they fill their cars up with gasoline. His response was: 'I'm sorry the gas prices are going up, but help is on its way, and your national security, yes, is even more important than your pocketbook.' So suck it up, Buttercup! Stop complaining -- Trump wanted a fun little war and so you should be happy to pay another buck a gallon for it, because making him happy is far more important to the country than your family's budget."

 

   Consumer sentiment hits all-time low

Democrats are already using this as a talking point, which is good to see.

"The University of Michigan has conducted a survey of consumer sentiment since 1952. In all that time -- 74 years -- they have never measured it lower than it was last month. Think about that for a moment. Think of all the economic crises and disruptions that have happened since the 1950s -- oil shortages, sky-high inflation and interest rates, financial meltdowns, government shutdowns, and even the economy grinding to a halt during the COVID pandemic. Throughout all of those crises, U.S. consumers had a brighter outlook than what they are feeling right now. Donald Trump drove consumer confidence to an all-time low. Remember that, come November, and vote accordingly."

 

   Tell us what you really think, Congresswoman!

We are closing today by quoting the same person we quoted at the start of this article (and in our headline). This sets a new low standard for politicians using profanity, but we find that we simply don't care, at this point. Fair warning -- if you despise that sort of language, then it's best if you just stop reading right now. For everyone else, here is what Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove had to say (in full and unedited) when a reporter asked her: "Are you concerned about the impact this war in Iran is having on our national debt?"

Oh my God. Yes, of course I am! You would -- Stevie Wonder can even see how much this is costing us. So, gas prices are going up -- it's almost ten dollars in California -- and fertilizer's going up, I mean you name it, the prices have gone up. And this dude, Dr. Jesus, OK, is wanting to spend two billion dollars of your money every single day rather than help you get healthcare. Fuck his ass!

-- Chris Weigant

 

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground