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Dr. Dan Koch
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Dr. Dan Koch
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Dr. Dan Koch
Welcome back everybody to Religion on the Mind. I AM your host, Dr. Dan Koch. Today's episode, a midweek, a rare Wednesday edition of the show. Not quite an emergency edition, but certainly a very, very special edition. A very special episode, you might say of Religion on the News, which is our mix of serious and lighthearted stories. Today we're talking about serious things, but we are definitely leaning more into the humorous and lighthearted. That is our plan. Joining me on this journey as always, the host of a people's theology and quite frankly, he's weak on crime. It's Mason Menninga.
Mason Menninga
If there's anything I'm weak on, it's definitely crime. Bench press is up there but crime is definitely my number one weakness.
Dr. Dan Koch
Oh little do you see how he snuck that in there ladies? His bench pressing. Wow, you're going to get some. How much do you lift bro? DMs here from that?
Mason Menninga
Not much, bro. Not much anymore, bro.
Dr. Dan Koch
I will say Mason, as like among my most Marxist friends, you probably are about as weak. I guess it's not strictly a Marxism thing but the type of compassionate way of thinking of like for instance the incarcerated that comes with Marxism. You probably are like I don't know if it actually like I don't know if that's a Marx thing. Just to be clear. Certainly the the people who have enacted Marxism have not been weak on crime. But my friends who like Marxism are my weakest on crime friends. I mean that right.
Mason Menninga
That seems to be the case. You know there is a whole Marxist world that absolutely hates the prison industrial complex. So that is us Crime one.
Dr. Dan Koch
Okay, now you make it sound like. No, no, now you make it sound like I am too tough on crime. I'm just saying if Minnesota was going to enact a three strikes your outlaw that you would you might hunger strike it.
Mason Menninga
Acab and the C is actually actually a K for Coke. So when I think of when I think of acab I think of Dan Coke. Because you my friend are tough on crime. No nonsense around.
Dr. Dan Koch
You know what I'm you know what I'm not tough on. You know what I give a real soft time to and I really give it a pass. Crime movies. I'm real weak. I'm soft on crime movies.
Mason Menninga
Yeah, I like a very good one
Dr. Dan Koch
for me to enjoy it.
Mason Menninga
That is fair. I will say Breaking Bad is probably one of my Favorite shows of all time. I can rewatch that over and over and over and over.
Dr. Dan Koch
Oh, yeah.
Mason Menninga
So, yeah.
Dr. Dan Koch
Good.
Mason Menninga
It is a good one.
Dr. Dan Koch
Okay, well, look, obviously things are very bad right now. Like, in some very objective ways, things are bad. They are tenuous. They are anxious. And since Easter and the Iran war, especially ISIS continuing their mass deportations, the economy, because of Iran, is now struggling. Fresh inflation being caused by this precipitous rise in gas prices, especially diesel. And Trump is. I don't know if he's his most unhinged. We're recording this on Tuesday, April 14th. Who knows what he'll do before tomorrow morning. This is the quickest turnaround of an episode ever. And I still have to say, unless something else happens, I feel that need. But he's among his most unhinged, I would say. I don't know that this is, like, truly virgin territory for him, but it's, you know, it's reminiscent of some of the most wild and scary moments of either of his terms. But it is as if the Lord himself saw our plight and has gifted us direct from the artistic inspiration of men who claimed to love him, like Thomas Kincaid. And those over time, God has given us the funny, maybe the funniest thing in either Trump presidency thus far, which is the Trump AI Jesus artwork, various artworks, and these sort of parodies and responses that the originals have caused to be created in, like, fashion using these shitty AI tools. Mason, Just briefly, like, I just. Well, first of all, I want to say. I don't know if it's because things are bad or in spite of the fact that things are bad, that these are funny, but I'm open to either of those explanations. Do you have a take? Do you have a. If you had to pick one.
Mason Menninga
Well, I have to say, first off, the fact that you think it may be arguably the funniest thing he's done in his two terms as president is saying something, because, I'll be honest, I think he's hilarious.
Dr. Dan Koch
Yeah.
Mason Menninga
In, like, a very unintentional way. Like, I'm sure we both have people in our life where everything they say is just really funny. And they don't even seem to be trying to be funny. I think they. They just naturally are that way. And I think Trump's maybe one of those people, like, remember, like, the whole coffee thing that happened in his, like, first term where he, like, spelled coffee wrong or whatever? Like, he just does things or says really funny, and I don't even think it means to be. Yeah, exactly. I just don't think he even means to be funny. Like, I, I don't think he is like the kind of person that actually has like a, like a sense of humor. He just naturally is this way and it's, it turns into like these really hilarious moments. And I do think you're right. Like this, this picture of him sort of looking like Jesus is definitely up there.
Dr. Dan Koch
Well, and I actually, it's sort of the whole thing that's funny. So the basic news order of events is thus. So Trump reposts a AI Sort of. It's supposed to look like a painting, kind of like a Thomas Kincaid, you know, kind of not, not of a enchanted cabin in a wooded glen. Not that kind of Thomas Kinkade, but like just that kind of schmaltzy, kitschy American painting. Like the kind of stuff that would have been on your textbook in the 90s. This kind of artwork, right, of Trump in just. If you had to say, what's the one outfit you'd put a character in to make people think it's supposed to be Jesus? Like let's say it's unclear, what did south park dress Jesus in? White robe, red sash, right? That's Jesus in South Park. So they thought, what's the most obvious way to show Jesus? They chose that. That's what Trump is dressed in and he is feeding. Well, how do you want to describe. I mean, people must have seen it by now. By the way, I'm going to put all of these memes that I'm about to mention, or I guess they're memes or pieces of art, whatever, these jokes, including the follow up ones, I'm gonna post them all to my Instagram stories. When I wake up today, Wednesday the 15th. So if it's still the 15th or if it's early morning on the 16th, go to my Instagram stories and you can see these all visually. I'll put them there. And that link to the Instagram is always in the show notes so people can look at them. But we are gonna also talk through and describe them. Cause that's some of the joy. So will you pick up where I left off in describing this original painting, which by the way was generated maybe like two or three months ago by some right wing guy and eventually it got to Trump and he posted it to his Truth Social account.
Mason Menninga
Yeah. And supposedly like he sort of kind of altered it slightly, but. But for the most part it was like the original.
Dr. Dan Koch
Okay, I didn't see that.
Mason Menninga
Yeah, yeah, there was something where like one of like if you look in the background there, there looks like some sort of, like there's a. Some sort of demon in the background. And to my understanding, that wasn't in the original painting. That was added. Yeah, from my understanding. You know, don't. Don't quote me on that. But from my understanding, that was, like, added.
Dr. Dan Koch
That's where it probably most curious detail of the, of the artwork, I don't
Mason Menninga
want to call it is interesting, but. Yeah, it's kind of. Yeah. Like, I think you did a good job of like, setting the tone of it, but you're right. So it's Jesus or Jesusy. It's Trump in this white robe, this red sash looking thing. And the biggest thing that to me almost makes it Christ like, is there's this man who looks like he's maybe on like a hospital bed, you know, eyes closed, you know, looks like he's about to die kind of thing. And Trump is putting his hand on his head as if, like, he would, like, would be like, miraculously healing him the way that we would depict Jesus healing somebody.
Dr. Dan Koch
At a minimum anointing. At a minimum anointing, but because he appears to have Shadoukan Street Fighter fireballs in each of his hands, balls of healing light, we are, we. We assume you got to think it's not an anointing and it is a healing. He looks like a fucking Marvel superhero.
Mason Menninga
Right? Okay, so what's funny is, and maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but the, the Trump administration had came back and said that he thought it was him depicted as like a doctor or a physician, which, like, this is again, like, if you were to. If you were to like, AI generate this, the. The image that came out, at no point does doctor or physician are those keywords that you put into AI. Like, that's not happening at any point when you're trying to describe this picture to anyone, much less AI either he's
Dr. Dan Koch
the only one that gets doctor from this, if he paid attention at all to it before he posted it, or it's just the most transparent lie. And it's like the closest thing that they could come out. And somebody's like, isn't that the colors of the red cross? So he says, maybe it was like a red. I thought I was supposed to be like a red Cross doctor. Okay, so this is his official response. He took it down, but of course now it's all over the Internet and says, I thought I was a doctor. So this is what has spurred on just some of the most sheer delight. Schoutenfreude delight that I have experienced in the Trump era. So begins. Thus begins the additional memes and artwork generations based on. Based on this statement of his. That. And I'm gonna text these to you as we go, Mason, that we could talk about each of them so that you can pull them up. And then again, listeners, pull up my Instagram if you want. So this one is the first one that I saw that kicked off this cascade of just wonderfulness. The image is. It looks kind of like the pit. Like, it is an emergency room with multiple doctors. Everyone's scrubbed up. It appears that there is a surgery going on or at least being prepped, something like that. And the door to the hallway is open, and there is Donald Trump with his hand on the door. The handle is in the wrong spot. That's fun. Little AI artifact there. But he's standing there in like a Middle Eastern plain white tunic with a red shawl over him, just like this initial painting. And the caption says, sir, can we help you? No, I work here. So this gave me a case of, like, 15 minute case of the giggles. I sent it to so many friends.
Mason Menninga
And that's like the kind of. That's like the kind of meme where there's like so many tiers to this already, where, like, you've already had to know, like, the whole, you know, issue with Trump. You also need to know, like, the. The administrative's response, the administration's response said, you need to know the pit. Like, there's so many levels to this
Dr. Dan Koch
that, like, I think it could just. It just looks like an emergency room. You don't have to know the pit. You just need to know, oh, that's an emergency room or a surge. You know, sur. It's a. What are the. They don't call them theaters. Most surgeries are not done in the theater. Right. They're done in just operating rooms, I guess, is what you would call it anyway. It's. It's an operating room. Yeah. So is that the first one that you saw after? Or did you get.
Mason Menninga
I didn't before that. I didn't see that one right away. I did see some good ones. I'm trying to see if I can, like, find some good ones because, you know, Twitter is pretty good about this. When. Whenever something like this happens.
Dr. Dan Koch
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mason Menninga
This is why Twitter should still exist.
Dr. Dan Koch
Let's go to my one here. We'll go to my next one. So then, keeping on the robed doctor theme, there is an image. What? You know, it looks like one of those really kitschy 60s or 70s, like American Jesus paintings. He's like, he looks like he was born in Iowa and, you know, cornbread white boy with medium brown hair and beard. He's knocking on a door. You've got to imagine this is an illustration from some sort of focus on the family. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Whoever opens, you know, I will join him and he will join me. But the caption is image of my doctor knocking before he enters the exam room. So now I'm, now I'm double giggling at this point. Okay, let's you bring in, you bring in one here, Mason.
Mason Menninga
Okay, so this isn't actually a meme. This is a real thing that happened. I find it hilarious, which is why I'm going to bring it up now. But I can imagine the person who was sort of on the, the receiving end of this wouldn't find this hilarious. So anyway, right, the whole thing happens. A lot of like, conservative Christian supporters, like, you know, influencer people or politicians or whatever, you know, they obviously are a little like, hey, maybe not that Trump.
Dr. Dan Koch
Yeah, he gets immediate backlash.
Mason Menninga
Yeah, immediate backlash from his own base, right?
Dr. Dan Koch
Yeah, from his base. Yeah. So he responds very quickly, takes it down.
Mason Menninga
Yeah, right. One of the people that was like, very vocal and her backlash kind of like went kind of viral was Riley Gaines. The, the like anti trans, like the woman who like got fifth place at a swim meet, who's like, she's like the one that's like pushed back on like the trans women in sports thing or whatever.
Dr. Dan Koch
Okay. She like filed a lawsuit or something. I feel like I've heard the name, but I'm not super up on that.
Mason Menninga
Anyway, she's like, she's fairly close into the like, Trump administration in terms of like, trying to get that type of.
Dr. Dan Koch
She's like a right wing influence now, basically, and stuff.
Mason Menninga
That's her whole thing. Right. So anyway, she, she like makes a post about, about this, about how she, you know, she had like sort of backlash to it, right? She's like, she's very concerned that Trump had this, right? Or that he posted this. And so obviously, like, he ends up taking it down. And there was a reporter yesterday that asked him about Riley Gaines's backlash to him about this post. And his response was, I don't even really like Riley Gaines. And like, I'm just like thinking to myself, I'm like, this is a great moment. Like, this woman has done so much to like, try to get into his circle and has tried to push so much, like her legislation because of him. And, and yeah, for him to just like, come back and be like, I don't actually really like her that much to begin with is just an amazing moment. And so anyway, she like, then responds back and is like, well, even if he doesn't like me, like, I still, like, support the president or whatever. And it was like, you know, she like doubles down and I'm like, she just. He, like, just publicly, like, like, basically.
Dr. Dan Koch
But that's, that's what it takes to stay in the Trump circle. You have to be willing to take. You just have to say, I have no pride or dignity. I will literally do or say absolutely anything that you tell me to do. And, and that's in case closed. That's what it require. That's what is needed to be in Trump's inner circle. So Riley offered it to the Dear Leader.
Mason Menninga
The bowing down to him, even if he doesn't like you, is just mind blowing to me. But anyway, I found that whole story hilarious.
Dr. Dan Koch
That is Aftermath. That is darkly funny and also some schadenfreude. Okay, the one that I am going to next pull up is the caption. This is like a Renaissance painting. I wish I was an art historian. It may just actually be someone put his face on it. It doesn't appear to be as AI generated, but it's like the Ascension of Christ. Okay, so you've seen it. It's probably the more straightforward Renaissance style painting of the Ascension. Probably the one I've seen most.
Mason Menninga
Yeah.
Dr. Dan Koch
Okay, Mason's got a great one queued up next. So this one, it's Jesus ascending to heaven, clouds parting, disciples all looking up at him. And the caption is, here is an image of Trump as a pilot. Oh, so good, so good. Just such an utter buffoon, this man. Wow. I mean, I. I do feel like I'm genuinely. I kind of hope that this is not true, but I feel like I'm entering a new phase in the way I think of Trump and his most vocal supporters. And let me tell you, it's not flattering of me. I'm not sticking to my deepest values where I find myself increasingly going. And I don't know how permanent it will be, but it's getting both dark and really funny in my head. Yeah. Okay. You got another one? Yeah. You had the. This great one pulled up.
Mason Menninga
Yeah.
Dr. Dan Koch
Tell us what this one is, Mason.
Mason Menninga
Yeah, this one. This one actually was posted by Chase Oliver, who was the presidential candidate for the libertarian party in 2024. But it's a Halloween or A spirit Halloween costume bag. And the packaging for it, again, it has, like, not Trump in this, but it has, like, you know, the white tunic, the red shawl.
Dr. Dan Koch
It's a guy dressed as Jesus. It's a Jesus costum.
Mason Menninga
Yeah, it looks like a Jesus costume, but the title for the costume is actually Red Cross worker. So good.
Dr. Dan Koch
We did fail to mention in the initial artwork from Trump that there's, of course, like, a bald eagle. You mentioned the weird demon, alien looking creature with some soldiers as angels, I think is what it's supposed to be. And then just a bunch of really worshipful white people looking at him. That's. That's the way I would describe the rest of the painting.
Mason Menninga
Sorry, I'm just looking at a few
Dr. Dan Koch
of these, but I've got one more.
Mason Menninga
It is a weird painting. It is a weird painting. Like, overall, it does look like something my, like, grandma would have, you know, in her house.
Dr. Dan Koch
But yeah, okay, I've got one more. And then if you have any more things to discuss here about the. The artworks and memes, this one is clearly. Jaron Myers, the Christian standup comedian, has found an illustration of Jesus calming the sea, or calming the storm, depending on how you put it. So the boat is being rocked by waves. There's some lightning in the background. It's very dark sky. And they're on the boat and, you know, he's got his arm out. He's gonna calm the sea, right? And he's wearing a white, white tunic with the red sash over it. So again, and Jaren's caption is. And then the doctor. And then the doctor made his way across the sea to the region of mesothelioma.
Mason Menninga
That's a really good one.
Dr. Dan Koch
He's an oncologist crossing the sea. That is really funny, man. Anyway, I've just been. I had a little break this afternoon. I was like, dude, are you free? Let's talk about this. Let's enjoy this a little bit because, I don't know, there might not be much more enjoyment left here. It may just get worse and worse. I don't know. I can't predict the future, but this just seems like a time to have some fun with.
Mason Menninga
Truly is. And you know, again, Trump and his administration has done a lot of harm in the world. And at the same time, he is very memeable. And I think there's been a lot of laughs because of this administration, so there is that.
Dr. Dan Koch
I also, when you were talking earlier, I would give him credit for being funny on purpose as well. I think He's.
Mason Menninga
You think he's actually funny on purpose?
Dr. Dan Koch
I think he, I think he does have good, often good comedic timing and instincts. They are like, of a.
Mason Menninga
What if that just happens? Like, what if he just falls into it? Like, he doesn't even mean to be funny in that way.
Dr. Dan Koch
No, I think he's. I don't know. I like Paul Bloom, psychologist, who I like quite a bit and who podcasts with Robert Wright regularly. He, he, he has said this consistently. I think he's right that like Trump is genuinely funny. Like he, he will make, if he weren't so despicable a lot more. People would laugh a lot more often. That's how I'll say it. Like he.
Mason Menninga
Yeah, that makes sense.
Dr. Dan Koch
Delivered by a different person. Like a lot of this stuff is funny and that doesn't make it him good. I'm just, you know, just saying, in fact, it kind of helps to explain his appeal for, for why people who are not as morally scandalized as we are, how they might enjoy that. But. Okay, so let's briefly say of all the follow ups, let's each give our favorite. So again, we have. So we've got the original. We're going to let that one be its own kind of classic. Okay, so we've got Pilate. Here is a picture of Jesus as a pilot. The Ascension. We've got the doctor made his way across the sea to Mesothelioma. Okay. And then we've got. This is a picture of my doctor knocking before he enters the exam room, standing at the store. Knock. And then we've got Red Cross worker Halloween costume. Okay, of those four, what's your favorite?
Mason Menninga
Oh, that's a good one. Honestly, the first one that you mentioned with the, with the, with Trump knocking at the door into the operating room. That, that is, that's pretty.
Dr. Dan Koch
Yeah, that's, that's the fifth one, right? No, I know. Sir, can we help you? I work here. Oh, such a good one. Work here is so good. Yeah. Okay. I can't believe I left that one off. And I think that actually is my favorite one too.
Mason Menninga
It's so good. Yeah, I'm glad that you, I'm glad that you saw that one because I did not so. And I like, I still have not seen it. I just, based on you just describing it is hilarious to me.
Dr. Dan Koch
I might, I might tie with. This is a picture of Jesus as a. Or of Trump as a pilot for the Ascension.
Mason Menninga
That's, that's.
Dr. Dan Koch
I just thought I was a pilot. That's really good. Okay, okay. So I do want to bring something up. I want to talk a little bit about, like, left behind and pre dispensationalism and that view of end times that, you know. Were you raised with that?
Mason Menninga
Yeah. I mean, I read all the left behind books for kids because they had the kids version. That's what I read.
Dr. Dan Koch
Thank you guys for doing that. Thank you for traumatizing untold children unnecessarily with bullshit theology that you can hardly make any argument for. But that happened, and we, as a consequence, you know, got these expectations about the future. Right. Growing up with this kind of teaching, like, sometimes it is wild for me, like, I'll just catch a glimpse of, like. Oh, I. I went through my life believing that at any moment the sky might part and I would hear a trumpet and then, like, you know, Earth's atmosphere from no matter who they. Where they are, everybody would see this. I guess they would be a. You know, I mean, with the curvature of the Earth. I didn't really think about that, but that, like, that would happen, and then there would be a seven year, and I would be gone. Because I would be raptured, of course. So I may or may not, you know, it was unclear what I would physically witness. Right. Visually. But of course, I'm afraid that I wouldn't be left behind. And then a seven.
Mason Menninga
I mean, I was excited for. I was excited to witness just all the naked bodies that I had never seen before when.
Dr. Dan Koch
Oh, because everybody would be. Yeah, because the whole thing.
Mason Menninga
Yeah, because I. I just knew a consequence of this was all our clothes would be left behind. So I was just excited to see boobs for the first time.
Dr. Dan Koch
This is incredible. I have never heard anyone identify this as, let's say, the primary. The. The primary, like a sexual awakening characteristic. Yes, yes. I like you.
Mason Menninga
You never had this thought.
Dr. Dan Koch
Listen. No, no, no. I've never heard anybody. I've never heard anybody mention nudity at the rapture. Not in this way that I can recall. But what I'm saying is, like the way that I thought about the movie Airplane that had randomly as one of the gags, a woman running across the screen topless, and then kind of standing in the middle and then running off screen. It's this obviously egregious little sex joke with nudity that is roughly like how you thought of the Rapture. It was like, I'll get to see boobs.
Mason Menninga
I was so excited.
Dr. Dan Koch
Kind of beside the point of the film. Kind of beside the point of the rapture.
Mason Menninga
Oh, yeah. It's like, it's a very unintentional consequence that I was very much looking forward to as a 12 year old.
Dr. Dan Koch
So, really briefly, to wrap this up or to get to my question for you, to finish my long, overly long setup. So we had these expectations that this is how things are going to go, and then over the years, I stopped believing it. I learn about amillennialism, which is the view that within Christian eschatology, the view that we are living in the millennial reign of Christ and we are getting closer and closer to the kingdom of heaven. This was a popular view more like 150 years ago, when sort of continual progress felt more plausible to more people. I would argue, psychologically a little harder to believe sometimes here, unless you're an A.I. you know, like saviorist or whatever, that there's a strand of that anyway, so you stop believing it, and then you go, there's not going to be a fucking Rapture. There's not going to be an Antichrist or whatever. And then Trump comes around, and for me, and I know I've spoken to other friends like this, you do find yourself occasionally going, now, I don't believe in an Antichrist, but like, damn if he's not making a case for himself on the old rules. And so that's. I put it to you, Mason, how many times have you. I'm not. The bar does not need to be truly believed. We don't need to say, oh, I think he is. The bar can be lower. It can be like, wow, that seems significantly more plausible to me in this moment than I thought it might ever. That's the bar. How many of those moments have you had with the idea that maybe premillennial dispensationalism is true and Trump is the Antichrist? How many times have you caught yourself thinking that? Wait, does that sound plausible to me?
Mason Menninga
Yeah. There are these moments where I'm like, wait, am I actually a biblical literalist again? Because when I read Revelation, I'm like, God, like I said, it's not to say I believe he's the Antichrist, but my goodness, you're right. He's making a case for himself. So, yeah. And like, it's funny, like, we're. We're from, like, a progressive Christian view. Like, that's kind of maybe how we think about Trump is like, God, he's really making this, making a case for being the Antichrist. We might not believe he is, but he's definitely making a case for it. And I'm like, I'm thinking, like, what's the secular version of that? And that's just like thinking that Trump might be Hitler. Like, like the. Like, it's like, that's the secular version. U.S. progressive liberal Christians thinking that he might be the Antichrist. Right. Like, isn't there a close parallel to that?
Dr. Dan Koch
Yeah, it's a sort of. Well, either can stand in for kind of like, worst guy. You know, it could just be sort of that. But there's also a kind of mythical, you know, Hitler is for being the worst or having this certain kind of status for us psychologically that if you're, you know, especially if you're secular and you just couldn't believe in an Antichrist, you'd go, well, I shudder plenty thinking about Hitler. Maybe he's as bad as that. And he is, you know, an extremely morally depraved person. So, like, in another time, could he have been as effective as Hitler and as evil as Hitler? Who knows? I don't know. I don't. You know, I'm glad he's not. That's. I'll just. I'll take it. But anyway, I would say my number is two times. And this is the second or kind of Easter, like, when he was, like, when he was the mocking the Pope. This stuff, this recent stuff around mocking the Pope, the Easter, like, praise Allah, we're going to kill everybody. Post the like, like the whole, like,
Mason Menninga
weird, like, where he was going to wipe out an entire civilization, the entire civilization.
Dr. Dan Koch
One, that day was. That was a rough day waiting to see if there would be a ceasefire and, like, just kind of felt like he was kind of holding the world psychologically hostage. I do think that's directly related to why this is so fucking funny, because I am just dying for an alternative to the way that he was able to make Everybody feel for 48 hours. But anyway, so I think. Yeah, I don't. I don't. I would not say either of those times. Like, I believed it. Believed it. Certainly not. I'm saying it rose to a 3% probability in my mind, and I was really surprised by that 5%. I don't know that that's probably too high, 5%. But, like, you know, you, you, you. Then, so then something interesting happens. I'm gonna. We're gonna cut to Patreon only portion of this conversation here, so. And I'll get into some of what I think is interesting about this psychologically. Thank you guys for listening this far thus far. If you're on the main feed, you can always join patreon.com dancoke that link is always in the notes and participate in everything with us. So we'll see you on the other side.
Date: April 15, 2026
Host: Dr. Dan Koch
Guest: Mason Mennenga (Host of A People's Theology)
In this special "Religion on the News" episode, Dan Koch and recurring guest Mason Mennenga dive into the recent viral sensation of AI-generated artwork depicting Donald Trump as Jesus. The conversation takes a humorous but insightful approach as the hosts break down the artwork, the meme proliferation and responses across the internet, and the psychological and theological undertones this phenomenon reveals—especially against the backdrop of escalating world crises and Trump's unpredictable behavior. The latter half touches on childhood experiences of evangelical end-times narratives and how current events can re-trigger those frameworks, drawing tongue-in-cheek but pointed parallels between Trump and figures like the Antichrist or Hitler.
“Things are very bad right now. … But it is as if the Lord himself saw our plight and has gifted us... the funniest thing in either Trump presidency thus far, which is the Trump AI Jesus artwork.” — Dan Koch
"At no point does doctor or physician... are those keywords that you put into AI." — Mason Mennenga [12:08]
“This gave me a case of, like, 15 minute case of the giggles. I sent it to so many friends.” – Dan Koch [14:55]
“The bowing down to him, even if he doesn’t like you, is just mind blowing to me.” — Mason Mennenga [19:22]
“If he weren’t so despicable a lot more people would laugh a lot more often.” — Dan Koch [24:34]
“What’s the secular version of that? … That’s just like thinking that Trump might be Hitler.” — Mason Mennenga [32:29]
“That’s directly related to why this is so fucking funny, because I am just dying for an alternative to the way that he was able to make everybody feel for 48 hours.” — Dan Koch
This episode stands out as a cathartic blend of sharp political satire, theological reflection, and cultural commentary. Dan and Mason deftly use humor to process personal and collective anxieties—with the Trump-as-Jesus AI meme serving as both symptom and salve in a tense sociopolitical moment. The discussion doubles as a case study in how symbols (religious or otherwise) are appropriated, parodied, and weaponized in real time, and how difficult times can push even the skeptics into recalling—or mocking—the apocalyptic language of their upbringing.