Trump posts AI-generated photo of himself in papal attire; Evokes backlash, praise on social media
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump has posted a seemingly AI generated photo of himself in papal attire on his social media sparking a duelling backlash and praise, Newsweek said on Saturday.
The image, which was also posted from the White House's social media handle, prompted many social media users to call it “cosplaying as the next Pope” comes days after Trump had jokingly said last week that he would be his own “number one choice” for the next pope.
In the Vatican, cardinals are set to begin on May 7 the process to choose a successor to Pope Francis, who died on April 21. The US president was among the world leaders who attended his funeral at St Peter's Square on April 26.
The president posted the picture without a caption or comment. “The post immediately garnered positive and negative reaction online,” Newsweek said adding, it reached out to the Vatican via email soon after.
Earlier on April 29, Trump told a television reporter: “I’d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice.”
When asked who should replace Francis, Trump said, “I have no preference,” but added: “I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who’s very good, so we’ll see what happens.”
Meanwhile, Trump's image went viral on social media with scores of users coming up with jokes, memes and criticism of the president.
Reacting to the image posted on the White House's X account, Lepus (@LepusNox) was quick to point out how it was neither funny nor respectful. “As President of the United States, posting a picture of himself as Pope a few days after the Pope's death is neither funny, nor does it present statesmanship and respectful behaviour. Rather, it shows the boundless arrogance and childish behaviour of a man who believes he is above everything, can get away with anything and is the head of everyone.”
The newsportal quoted comedian Terrance K Williams's post on X, which said: “Pope Trump... Lol our President just posted this. He's trolling because he knows the media is going to flip out. Love it Actually I love the sound of King Trump, the first of his name.”
Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health and former Democratic congressional candidate, also took to X saying, “The guy who broke all 10 commandments is posting pictures of himself cosplaying as the next Pope.”
An X user, Average Aussie Egyptologist (Therese Clarke) (@AUSegyptology) called it “truly disgraceful” and an insult to the late Pope Francis.
“I can take lots of jokes about religion, but this is truly disgraceful - an insult to the late Pope Francis. It is on Donald Trump's approved Instagram account. The man couldn't even follow the protocols advised by the Holy See, fell asleep during the funeral mass and now does this,” she said.
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11 more bodies retrieved from Arunachal accident site
Itanagar (PTI): Eleven more bodies were retrieved on Saturday from the deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, where a mini-truck on which 22 labourers from Assam were travelling fell, an official said.
With this, 17 bodies have been recovered from the accident site, Anjaw's deputy commissioner Milo Kojin said.
He said three more bodies will be brought out on Sunday.
The operation, being conducted by a joint team of the NDRF and Army, resumed at 6 am.
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"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain, and the gorge is very deep," Kojin said.
The operation was suspended around 4 pm due to low visibility and will be resumed on Sunday morning, he said.
"One person is still missing, and a search operation will be carried out tomorrow," he added.
The accident happened on the evening of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam in the district. On the evening of December 10, one survivor managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, following which the authorities were alerted.
Six bodies were recovered from the gorge on Friday and handed over to their families on Saturday.
