Politics

Riley Gaines brutally shut down by Trump amid AI Jesus criticism

Drew Angerer/Getty Images and Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Former swimmer turned conservative activist Riley Gaines was once described by US president Donald Trump as a “tremendous athlete”, but when the 25-year-old was one of the many people to criticise the 79-year-old for sharing an AI-generated image of him as Jesus, the convicted felon soon changed his tune.

As a reminder, Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Sunday to share an image of him lit up by a golden glow and placing a healing hand on the forehead of a man lying down in front of him. He later deleted the post and claimed the picture was actually of him as a doctor.

Yes, really.

Gaines, meanwhile, responded on X/Twitter with a tweet asking: “Why?

“Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this. Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this?

“Either way, two things are true. 1) a little humility would serve him well. 2) God shall not be mocked.”

But Trump soon clapped back at Gaines, telling a CBS reporter who asked if he deleted the post because of the backlash from the activist and others that he “didn’t listen to Riley Gaines”.

“I’m not a big fan of Riley, actually,” he added.

Ouch.

And fellow X/Twitter users have since delighted in Trump’s putdown. The press office of California governor Gavin Newsom simply tweeted: “lol”:

Ron Filipkowski, of MeidasTouch, said “it’s all part of the MAGA experience”:

Similarly, Medhi Hasan wrote that MAGA influencers “do everything they can to suck up to and please Trump”, only for him to ‘throw them under the bus’:

Fellow journalist Aaron Rupar responded with the iconic “the worst person you know just made a great point” meme from the viral Clickhole article:

Gaines has since responded to Trump’s remarks, tweeting that she will “continue to support him and the America First agenda”.

“At the end of the day, I do nothing for the approval of man. Our purpose on this earth is to glorify Him in all we do. The truth social post missed the mark. It's now deleted. Amazing!

“We're imperfect people. I know I am. I don't get my feelings hurt easy and I know with the President it's really not personal. I want to spend eternity in a real place called Heaven. I'd love for Trump to be there too,” she wrote.

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