'Morning Joe' Co-Hosts Disgusted Over Donald Trump's Jesus Photo: 'Unhinged' 

Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, along with their panel, condemned President Donald Trump for social media posts they characterized as "profane" and "blasphemous" after he crassly criticized Pope Leo XIV.

Over the weekend, Trump launched sharp social media attacks against Pope Leo XIV, calling him "WEAK on Crime" and "terrible for Foreign Policy." This followed the Pope's public criticism of the administration's ongoing war in Iran.

Following his attacks on the Pope, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself depicted as Jesus Christ performing a miracle, surrounded by patriotic symbols like flags and fighter jets. (He later took it down.)

Scarborough invoked biblical scripture regarding "false prophets" and noted that while Trump's supporters might view it as a joke, many evangelicals would find the self-deification blasphemous. He suggested the post might be a tactic to "distract from all the terrible news" facing the administration.

“And Mika, that doesn’t even get to what the president last night posted, a picture of himself. He posted a picture of himself… as-, an AI picture as Jesus Christ healing people, and it just... I don’t know, just the Baptist in me reminded me of what Jesus said,” Scarborough sneered.

“Many believers will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. And false prophets will arise and lead many astray, and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. That wasn’t the pope; that actually was Jesus, who also said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for… We’ll go through the whole thing down the road,'" said Scarborough, who added that “the Gospel will be around much longer than any politician.”

Lashing out at the outrageous AI-generated photo Trump posted of himself, Scarborough wondered if it was yet another distraction from his disastrous policies and recent failures in Iran.

“You almost wonder if Donald Trump posting a picture of himself as Jesus is to distract from all the terrible news that happened for the administration yesterday. But I do want to just put this in perspective,” he mused, referring to Vice President J.D. Vance's failure to negotiate a peace deal in the Middle East.

“A week ago, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, promised mass genocide as a negotiating tactic, promised mass genocide against an entire civilization. This week, he portrays himself as Jesus Christ while viciously attacking the pope. That’s a rough week or so and raises many, at least I think to me, and many people in Washington, many disturbing questions,” he added.

David Ignatius, a guest on the show from The Washington Post, described the posts as "profane" and "disturbing," questioning whether anyone in the White House vetted the content before it was released.

“So, Joe, like you, I found the self-iconography in the image of himself as the healing Jesus figure profane, that’s the only way to put it. Just the minute you saw it, I was troubled by it. At a time when he’s picking a fight with Pope Leo, he’s already gone after the ayatollah, maybe he’s trying to be broader in his attacks on religious leaders,” Ignatius said.

“But it’s just disturbing. You can’t help but wonder what many Christians who’ve seen Donald Trump as an embodiment of their faith and beliefs think when they see this kind of imagery. But it just-, it’s of a piece with somebody who’s now self-memorializing, putting out memes of himself as a warrior-king, a viking, a Star Wars figure, go down the list. And this latest one is especially disturbing. I wonder, Joe, isn’t there anybody in the White House who looks at these things and says, ‘Mr. President, I’m not sure you ought to put that one out.’ Clearly not,” he said.

An appalled Brzezinski concluded, “Aside from profane, unhinged posts that Republicans seem to just turn away from and cower from, we do have major news to get to this morning. Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán has conceded.”