President Donald Trump finally deleted a social media post showing himself as a Christlike figure after he was called out by a supportive organization founded on the ideals of the Crusaders.
The 79-year-old president drew rare criticism from from the religious right by posting what appeared to be AI-generated image depicting him in a white robe, holding a glowing orb in one hand and laying his other hand on the forehead of a man lying in a hospital bed.
The Knights Templar was among many organizations and individuals to urge him to delete the post.
"The Knights Templar Order and its ruling Council demand that this offensive and blasphemous image be removed forthwith!" the organization posted on its X account. "We supported President Trump in 2016 and 2024 (NY Times attributed our support in 2016 to be part of his victory). However we are deeply offended by this and have no other choice but to condemn it wholeheartedly and ask for a public apology to the Christian brethren who have been deeply upset by this depiction."
"We respectfully remind President Trump of the Bible Scripture found in Galatians 6:7 'God will not be mocked,'" the group added.
The Knights Templar International bills itself as the largest official non-Masonic Templar organization in the world and true to the spirit of their Christian forebears, which would be the Catholic military order founded in 119 to protect Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land after the capture of Jerusalem in the First Crusade.
Trump deleted the post shortly before noon Monday, several hours after the organization joined the call to take down the post.
"He’s roused the Knights Templar!" whooped journalist Helen Kennedy.
"The Knights Templar have the potential to do the funniest crusade of all time," posted journalist Justin Ling.
"At last we have created 'the Knights Templar are offended by the AI conspiracy' from the video game Deus Ex," said engineer Ellie Lockhart.
"The Knights Templar are currently having a resurgence (this is the topic of my book I am working on)," noted researcher and lecturer Carmen Celensti. "They are antisemitic and anti-Islam in their recruitment calling people to join the new crusades. So there has been great division in their groups against Trump's unwavering support of Israel."
"I'm alive and watching the Knights Templar and a secular leader of Shia Islam defend a sitting Pope from heretical schismatics in the Thirteen Colonies," marveled Bluesky user RexLibris. "This is the kind of statement that gets people institutionalized.