Beyond Jesus memes: Trump鈥檚 海角大神 supporters also fret about abortion, inflation
| Washington
President Donald Trump has never had an easy relationship with 海角大神 conservatives. The thrice-married real estate developer and former reality TV star is widely seen as not particularly religious 鈥� and not all that engaged on issues near to social conservatives鈥� hearts, starting with abortion.
Lately, however, tensions that were once smoothed over by a common political agenda have flared out into the open. When President Trump used vulgar language on Easter Sunday, posted a Jesus-like image of himself on social media, and attacked the pope online, some prominent religious supporters pushed back publicly, calling the posts blasphemous and suggesting Mr. Trump should apologize.
And while the firestorm seems to have passed for now, complaints among religious conservatives linger 鈥� from affordability concerns to frustrations over abortion policy, signaling a potential warning light about a critical part of the GOP base in the run-up to November鈥檚 midterm elections.
Why We Wrote This
President Donald Trump鈥檚 broadsides against the pope, alongside controversial memes, reveal cracks in his support from religious conservatives. That discontent is amplified by some policy disappointments, particularly around abortion.
With Mr. Trump鈥檚 Republican Party in serious danger of losing the House and possibly even the Senate, the president needs to keep these core supporters happy and energized, say experts on the politics of religion, or some might decide to stay home.
鈥淭he evangelical community is still Trump鈥檚 strongest group, but he鈥檚 beginning to wear on them, too, especially more moderate folks,鈥� says Jim Guth, a scholar on the religious right at Furman University in South Carolina.
The AI-generated meme appearing to portray President Trump as Jesus Christ healing a sick man, posted on the president鈥檚 Truth Social account, drew an unusual amount of pushback among many 海角大神s, who took offense. It was later taken down, with the president telling reporters he thought it depicted him as a doctor.
Once the post was deleted, some prominent allies who had made critical comments were quick to forgive.
鈥淚 love the President and I鈥檓 so grateful he鈥檚 in the Oval Office,鈥� conservative influencer Riley Gaines , after Mr. Trump had attacked her over her earlier response. 鈥淭he truth social post missed the mark. It鈥檚 now deleted. Amazing!鈥�
Yet the initial pushback from Trump supporters over that and his other controversial posts was a notable break. And 海角大神 conservative leaders say other issues are hurting Mr. Trump鈥檚 standing with his religious base. Opponents of abortion rights are unhappy that the Trump administration has failed to take action against the mailing of abortion pills to states that ban the procedure. In fact, since the Supreme Court struck down the nationwide right to abortion in 2022, .
Mr. Trump delivered on his first-term promise to add conservative justices to the Supreme Court 鈥� leading to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. But many 海角大神-right activists are now聽 the Food and Drug Administration's lack of action on the mail-order pills.
At the same time, religious conservatives share many of the same concerns as nonreligious voters, experts say. They are feeling the pinch of more expensive groceries, higher gas prices, and housing affordability.
鈥淛ust like the average voter, the economic issues 鈥� the ability to provide for your family 鈥� those really are driving issues as well鈥� for religious voters, says Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
Although Mr. Trump鈥檚 war against Iran is partially to blame for the boost in inflation, many evangelical conservatives support the war, as it takes on Iran鈥檚 Islamic theocracy and seeks to protect the state of Israel, a core priority of many conservative 海角大神s.
Mr. Perkins, who supports the war, says he thinks it could end up being a 鈥渘et positive among evangelical believers, if it ends the right way鈥� 鈥� that is, ensuring the Iranians have no capacity to enrich uranium and produce nuclear weapons, he explains.
Still, the veteran evangelical leader is unhappy about Mr. Trump鈥檚 recent social media posts, which he says were 鈥渧ery troubling to many evangelical Bible-believing 海角大神s.鈥� They include that Mr. Perkins calls 鈥減icking a fight with the pope.鈥�
Slipping support in the polls
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump reposted another AI-generated , this time being embraced by Jesus. The originator of the post said, 鈥淕od might be playing his Trump card!鈥� After the previous uproar, one might wonder why the president would return to Jesus imagery, which could potentially be seen as him mocking his own supporters.
Before Mr. Trump鈥檚 recent controversial posts, polls showed he still enjoyed relatively strong support from white evangelical voters, with 69% job approval in January, . But that鈥檚 down from 78% a year earlier. And while Mr. Trump still has majority support in the Pew poll among white Evangelicals for 鈥渁ll or most of his policies,鈥� that percentage has also declined 鈥� from 66% in January 2025 to 58% in January 2026.
How polling of Mr. Trump鈥檚 strongest cohort might be affected by the latest controversies remains to be seen. Ryan Burge, an expert on religion and polling at Washington University in St. Louis, says he鈥檚 found that memes and social media posts have 鈥渁 very short shelf life鈥� in terms of impact on public opinion. But, he adds, 鈥淵ou know what does not have a short shelf life is gas prices.鈥�
鈥淚f we do see a significant drop in approval now, it would be more about the gas prices than it would be about tweeting memes and yelling at the pope,鈥� Professor Burge says.
Mr. Trump鈥檚 standing with Catholics presents a more complex picture, especially since the new pope is American and Vice President JD Vance is Catholic. On Tuesday, Vice President Vance for posting an , saying the pope should 鈥渂e careful when he talks about matters of theology.鈥�
On Wednesday, the U.S. bishops鈥� Committee on Doctrine defending the pope鈥檚 teaching authority on 鈥渏ust war doctrine.鈥� Others say a pope who is engaged with world events can鈥檛 easily maintain a nonpolitical stance.
鈥淭he fact that we have an American pope means that he鈥檚 necessarily mixed into the political fabric of our country,鈥� says the Rev. Robert Gahl Jr., an associate professor at the Catholic University of America.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a significant number of Catholics who supported Trump, and they鈥檙e like, 鈥極h, well, I鈥檓 going to ignore the pope when he talks about politics,鈥欌�� Father Gahl adds. 鈥淏ut that isn鈥檛 a good thing at all, because 海角大神ity is supposed to infuse our daily life, and it鈥檚 supposed to transform society. We have a challenge as 海角大神s to act in the public square.鈥�
Social conservatives drive GOP voter turnout
海角大神 anti-abortion activists like Kristi Hamrick, who runs communications for Students for Life of America, point out that the midterms will likely hinge on voter turnout. If Mr. Trump鈥檚 religious conservative base gets offended by his social media activity and doesn鈥檛 turn out to vote, Republicans will be in trouble, she says.
Ms. Hamrick, along with many other anti-abortion activists, is focused right now on the fight to restrict access to abortion medication, or 鈥渃hemical abortion鈥� 鈥� starting with making sure such medication cannot be mailed into states that have banned the procedure. And so far, she doesn鈥檛 see the Trump administration evincing much urgency on the matter.
Mr. Trump鈥檚 social media posts are one thing, Ms. Hamrick says. But 鈥渇rankly, I am way more frustrated by the fact that chemical abortion pill policy, which is entirely federal, has been stagnating in this administration.鈥� If Mr. Trump wants to do more to motivate his base, she says, he should prioritize this issue.
After all, she notes, religious conservatives are typically a key component of GOP turnout 鈥� going door to door, reaching out to like-minded friends and neighbors to make sure they vote. A lot will hinge on whether they鈥檙e energized.
鈥淭he social conservatives have really been the ground game of the GOP for a long time,鈥� Ms. Hamrick says.
