House Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump didn’t think ‘doctor’ post was ‘sacrilegious at all’

April 15, 2026

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says he spoke with President Donald Trump about his controversial now-deleted social media post in which he compared himself to a Christ-like healing figure.

The Christian Post reports that the Truth Social post depicted Trump, wearing a white robe covered by a red shawl, touching his right hand to the forehead of another man lying in a bed wearing a hospital gown.

The background imagery included an American flag, the Statue of Liberty and other classic American iconography along with several figures in the clouds above him, including a winged, three-horned figure descending from the heavens.

The post sparked strong reactions from Trump supporters and detractors alike and was deleted from Truth Social by noon Monday.

When Johnson was asked by a Capitol Hill reporter on Tuesday whether the president’s post constituted blasphemy, Johnson responded, “I talked with the president about it as soon as I saw it and told him that I don’t think it was being received in the same way he intended. He agreed and he pulled it down.”

According to the Christian Post, Johnson said that added that pulling down the post was the “right thing to do” and that he doesn’t believe Trump intended to disrespect the Lord Jesus or Christians in general.

Johnson stated, “He explained how he saw that, and I don’t think he thought it was sacrilegious at all.”

The controversial post came just days after Paula White-Cain, who serves as the senior advisor to the White House Faith Office, compared Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign with the persecution of Jesus leading to His crucifixion. 

Photo: top, Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images