Vance defended Trump’s deleted AI-generated Jesus photo
Vance, who published a spiritual memoir earlier this summer about his conversion to Catholicism, told Crawford’s podcast that he is doing “as much of God’s work as possible” and would be at peace if his work helps bring about the end times, which he said “are coming.” The vice president said he does not know whether humanity is in the end times but finds the topic “fascinating.”
“While I’m fascinated by it, I think that focusing on it too much can be very bad,” Vance said, adding that he tries to maintain “an attitude of: the end times may be coming, in fact they are coming, it’s just a question of whether they’re coming thousands of years down the road, or a few months down the road.”
The interview aired Monday on a podcast hosted by Bryce Crawford, a 22-year-old evangelical with more than one million YouTube followers whose videos include titles the Guardian described as sensationalist, such as “Preaching the gospel in Chicago’s deadliest neighborhood” and “Debating a ‘gay’ pastor.”
Vance pointed to AI as evidence the antichrist might already be present. “I think there are things about the world that make me feel, like, not shocked if the antichrist was walking among us,” Vance told Crawford. He said: “When you completely divorce the human from the social element that God made us for … that’s very bad.” Vance’s example was an acquaintance who uses AI as a marriage counselor, whom he described as “kind of satanic.”
Asked whether he had ever been in a room that was “spiritually dark,” Vance said he has “been in meetings with world leaders where various issues are being discussed, and somebody will say something or somebody will make an observation, and I’ll feel some darkness about it.” He added that the experience “sets off every spiritual alarm bell in my body.”
Vance also defended Trump’s AI-generated photo of himself as Jesus, which the president posted and later deleted after the image prompted outrage from Christian supporters, according to the Guardian. “The president didn’t mean any offense. Obviously, he loves Christians,” Vance said, adding: “Did Donald Trump mean to post a meme of himself as God? No. The president has a good sense of humor. He did not mean to mock or mimic God. That’s just not who he is.” Vance characterized Trump as “a backslapper” and “a bit of a ball buster.”
After the photo prompted outrage from Christian supporters, according to the Guardian, Trump deleted it and said the image was “supposed to be me as a doctor making people feel better.”