They say timing is everything.
Former President Donald Trump has compared his trials and tribulations to that of Jesus Christ — during Holy Week.
Trump posted his message on Truth Social on Monday that he was being politically persecuted.
The message was, “I’m praying this over you daily. So many praying for you. Thank you again for taking the arrows intended for us. We love you.”
Trump posted, “It’s ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you. Beautiful, thank you!”
A takeaway from this is, according to The Independent, that he thinks “that his $464m fine for decades of financial fraud is on the same level as the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
This case involves Trump allegedly inflating the value of his assets in order to secure better deals in loans.
On Monday, Trump was in court for a hearing regarding hush money paid to adult actor Stormy Daniels.
“Trump faces dozens of counts of business fraud for allegedly filing a hush money payment as legal expenses after he directed his then-fixer Michael Cohen to pay Ms Daniels $130,000 to stay silent about an alleged 2006 affair during the final stretches of the 2016 campaign,” The Independent reported. The trial has now been set for April 15.
Whoever sent the message also said, “They have also surrounded me with words of hatred – and fought against me without a cause – In return for my love they are my accusers … let an accuser stand at his right hand – when he is judged – let him be found guilty – and let his prayer become sin – let his days be few – and let another take his office”.
Whether Trump thinks the “and let another take his office” quote refers to him and President Joe Biden is not clear.
Trump has “repeatedly claimed that he’s being prosecuted because he’s standing in the way of the authorities going after his supporters,” per The Independent.
Reactions to Trump’s comparison to Jesus have been mixed.
“Donald Trump is starting the week by comparing himself to Jesus. Whether he has an [actual] messiah complex or is just conning his supporters, he’s playing to a growing GOP faction that wants America to be [a] white Christian Nationalist state, with Donald Trump as a divine ruler,” Robert Reich, who served as Bill Clinton’s labour secretary, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Biden campaign responded by criticizing Trump and called him “weak and desperate both as a man and a candidate.”
“He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn’t have,” the campaign said.
