Five candidates to Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat this week condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to post a Jesus-like image of himself in Roman-style robes with light streaming from both hands and other religious imagery.
That includes three of the 10 Republican candidates, plus the candidates vying for the Libertarian and Democratic nominations for the seat.
Kevin Christensen, a U.S. Army veteran of Casper, was the first of Wyoming’s U.S. House hopefuls to issue a public condemnation, in a Monday statement to social media.
“As a Christian, I find this image profoundly offensive and blatantly blasphemous,” said Christensen in the statement. He reiterated that stance in a Tuesday interview.
Trump had posted the image Sunday to Truth Social.
It shows Trump holding one light-emitting palm over the forehead of a man who appears to be ailing. A woman in the image faces Trump with her hands met as if in prayer, and other people look in his direction. Soldiers and one crowned or horned figure loom in a brilliant body of light overhead.
The image shows the president as Jesus, Christensen said in his statement.
“I want to be unequivocal about where I stand,” he said. "I support most of President Trump’s policies. However, support for policy can never require silence in the face of conduct that violates basic standards of decency and faith.”
The image was later deleted from Trump’s account.
The president told the public Monday afternoon that he believed the image depicted him as a doctor and had to do with the Red Cross.
Christensen called that “not only unconvincing but insulting to the intelligence of the American people.”
The Tally
Christensen faces off against nine other candidates seeking the GOP nomination to the U.S. House Seat, which Rep. Harriet Hageman plans to vacate as she runs for U.S. Senate.
Of those nine Republicans, two voiced agreement with Christensen on Tuesday, when interviewed by Cowboy State Daily.
Those were Pinedale resident Matt McGinnis, and former state Rep. John Romero-Martinez.
Libertarian candidate Shawn Johnson and Democratic candidate Lisa Kinney both voiced disapproval toward Trump’s post as well, in their separate interviews.
Two more Republican candidates, Casper businessman Reid Rasner and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, didn’t condemn Trump’s actions. They leveled criticism at one another instead.
And four more Republican candidates did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s Tuesday-morning requests for comment by publication that afternoon.
Those were former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, Senate President Bo Biteman, conservative philanthropist Steve Friess, and military veteran David Giralt.
‘Don’t Ask AI To Put Your Head On Top Of Jesus’
Romero-Martinez, who describes himself as a devout Catholic, said the image is not only blasphemous, "it's sacrilegious."
“Jesus is Jesus,” said Romero-Martinez. “Don’t ask AI (artificial intelligence) to put your head on top of Jesus.”
Romero-Martinez continued: “President Trump, through AI, decapitated Jesus and had his face put on the robe of Christ. And it’s absolutely unbelievable to consider that he was asking AI to make him look like a doctor.”
Romero-Martinez noted that like Christensen, he’s also a veteran. He served in the U.S. Air Force, said the candidate, who also sent Cowboy State Daily a photograph of his U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs member ID card.
As for the horned or crowned figure and soldier-like figures looming in the clouds behind Trump, Romero-Martinez said Trump “probably asked AI to make the soldiers look like angels, and have the top angel look like the Statue of Liberty.”
But theologically “that’s still blasphemy,” he added.
McGinnis sent a brief statement of disapproval via email.
“While I believe President Trump has done much good for our country, Christ has done much more for this country and the world than anyone else could,” he wrote. "I believe the depiction is wrong."
So This Is The Line?
The Libertarian candidate condemned the photo, but voiced shock that for some Trump loyalists nationally, this was the act that pushed them into consternation.
“Well obviously it’s ridiculous, just like all the other AI photos he puts out there are ridiculous,” said Johnson in a Tuesday phone interview. “It’s just weird to me that that’s the thing. That’s the thing that they draw the line (on) … when he’s stripping due process from people, locking people up in camps, trying to ban constitutional provisions via executive order.”
Johnson called Trump’s attack on Iran “highly inappropriate” and said, “there’s so many worse things he’s done, that the line should have been drawn at.”
Johnson said he’s glad to see Republicans and other conservative-minded people questioning Trump’s actions.
“I think this picture coming out really kind of pushed it a little bit more,” he said. “It’s good to see, but it’s almost too little too late, in my opinion, (if) you’ve supported everything this man has done up until this Jesus picture.”
‘Whole Civilization Will Die’
Trump’s post came after he clashed publicly with Pope Leo XIV over the war in Iran. The pope had directly criticized a post Trump made last week, threatening “a whole civilization will die tonight” in reference to the Iran war.
Kinney, a Democratic candidate, describes herself as a Christian.
Like Johnson, she wasn’t “as horrified about (Trump) thinking of himself” as a healing figure as she was about his past actions. She condemned his threat to the Iranian civilization in particular.
“When they threaten to kill 92 million people, that’s unforgiveable,” she said. “In the state of Wyoming … how many of us would say we want 92 million people killed because they have a bad political leader? The answer is no, we don’t. That’s not how we think, that’s not how we act.”
Gonna Sword Fight This One
MAGA-style GOP candidate Reid Rasner sent a comment Tuesday via his spokesperson, which did not condemn Trump’s actions but instead derided Secretary of State Chuck Gray, and Christensen.
“The Liz Cheney Lane of the Republican primary is getting crowded between Kevin Christiansen (sic) and Chuck Gray,” says the comment. “Both oppose the president: Chuck on China and Kevin on trying to be relevant. I am proud to be an America First and Wyoming First candidate.”
Gray has not run an anti-Trump campaign, but has kept his messaging always favorable to the president. Rasner has, however, accused Gray of dissembling on certain issues, and has pointed to Gray’s approval of three wind-energy leases on state lands.
Gray also did not condemn Trump’s post.
“Reid Rasner’s problem is simple — he talks a big game but has nothing to show for it,” wrote Gray in a Tuesday text message. “I’ve been on the front lines for President Trump and the America First movement, delivering real conservative wins for Wyoming.”
He pointed to election integrity measures he’s backed in Wyoming, and said he’s worked to stop business fraud in a joint operation with the Trump Administration.
“My effectiveness is why the radical Left is lying and now trying to charge me criminally for following the law and advancing election integrity,” said Gray.
A Cheyenne-based attorney on Monday filed a formal complaint against Gray with the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office, urging the latter to call in a special prosecutor to determine whether Gray potentially broke state election law by handing sensitive voter data to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Gray continued, saying “some candidates like Christensen” are auditioning “for the Liz Cheney lane” and “others like Rasner are just trying to stay relevant by spending his Mom’s money with made up claims.”
Gray asserted that Rasner is “preparing to pull a Liz Cheney and turn on us the first chance Reid gets.”
The secretary threw one more jab: “Wyoming voters can spot the difference between a proven fighter and a bunch of empty suit (sic), albeit in Reid’s case a very large, empty suit.”
Riley Said …
Some Trump loyalists recoiled publicly from Trump’s image.
Women’s rights activist Riley Gaines, often an ally to the president, criticized the post Monday via X.
“Seriously I cannot understand why he’d post this. Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this?” she asked in a comment on the image. “Either way, two things are true. 1) a little humility shall serve him well; 2) God shall not be mocked.”
Trump said Gaines’ comment didn’t influence him, adding, “I’m not a big fan of Riley, actually.”
Riley parried, saying she loves the president and is glad he’s in the Oval Office, but added, “I do nothing for the approval of man. Our purpose on this earth is to glorify Him in all we do.”
She voiced joy that the Truth Social post was deleted.
Not About The Pope
Christensen said his issue is not with the fact that Trump had been sparring with the pope when he posted the image.
“Let me be clear: criticizing the Pope is not the issue,” said Christensen, adding that public figures aren’t above scrutiny. “But exploiting sacred imagery for political provocation crosses a line that should matter to anyone who takes faith, character, or leadership seriously.”
Christensen said he knows opposing Trump on this could be unpopular in Wyoming Republican politics.
Trump won the state by nearly 72% of the vote in 2024, the highest majority in the nation.
Christensen said he stands proudly in the tradition of President Ronald Reagan and the late U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, a Wyoming Republican. He called them principled leaders who “understood that policy without integrity is hollow.”
He told Cowboy State Daily in his Tuesday interview that he’s not an anti-Trump candidate, but seeks to put Wyoming first.
He said he aligns often with Trump’s policies, but will put principle and good governance above them.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
