According to the New York Post, Trump shared the image on his Truth Social account Monday afternoon after it was initially posted on Twitter (recently rebranded as X) by the user account dom_lucre. The original artist has not been identified, although The Daily Mail suggests that dom_lucre is the artist.

The Twitter user’s caption for the Jesus and Donald Trump sketch reads: “This is the most accurate court sketch of all time. Because nobody could have made it this far alone.”

The caption suggests that Jesus has been by Trump’s side throughout his ongoing trials, in which one judge has already ruled against him for deceptive business practices.

Challenging White Jesus

The responses to the fake courtroom sketch of Jesus and Trump have been mixed but appear primarily negative. While some Twitter users have responded positively, others have rejected the suggestion that the central figure of Christianity would be seated next to Trump, who is known for un-Christlike behavior. A few users, apparent artists themselves, even responded to the image with their own sketches. The sketches challenge the White Jesus figure’s physical appearance or replace him entirely.

For example, a Twitter user named TheSnarkTank99 posted a “fixed” version of the Jesus and Trump sketch that replaced Jesus with the devil.

Award-winning actor Isaiah Washington posted his “fixed” version with a Black Jesus (an A.I.-generated Adobe Stock image).

White Jesus has always stood shoulder to shoulder with white supremacy.

But that was never and will never be God. pic.twitter.com/4zp3WKjEy5

— Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (@RevJacquiLewis) October 3, 2023

Trump and Evangelical Christians

Fixed it! pic.twitter.com/5b12O9p8ks

— The Disruptor💥 (@IWashington) October 3, 2023

Washington, an African American, responded as some religious figures on Twitter have also called out the White supremacist underpinnings of a whitewashed cultural icon. Experts in various fields such as history, religion, and art have long argued that Jesus, a first-century Palestinian Jewish rabbi, was unlikely to look like a White European or White American person with long hair and blue eyes.

White Jesus has always stood shoulder to shoulder with white supremacy.

But that was never and will never be God. pic.twitter.com/4zp3WKjEy5

— Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (@RevJacquiLewis) October 3, 2023

That didn’t stop dom_lucre, who is African American, from disseminating the inaccurate image. The Twitter user, whose real name is reportedly Dominick Andrew McGee, is a former music executive who runs a credit repair business. McGee has been described as a QAnon conspiracy theorist known for posting disinformation on social media. Nothing posted on his observable social media accounts suggests that he is an artist or is personally responsible for the Jesus and Trump courtroom sketch.

Trump and Evangelical Christians

The former president has been in court fighting allegations that his Trump Organization falsely claimed his properties were worth billions of dollars to secure certain loans. Trump, 77, has denied the allegations and claims he is the victim of political persecution.

Trump has previously described himself as a “nondenominational Christian” who believes in God but has also suggested that he doesn’t ask God for forgiveness. That confession and moral and ethical failings have not dissuaded some White Evangelical Christians from supporting him.

In fact, support for Trump among some segments gives the former president cult-like status, as many have observed. Some supporters have gone so far as to compare Trump to Jesus and even refer to him as savior of the world.