President Donald Trump 在 4 月發布一張將自己描繪成耶穌基督的圖片後，招致許多基督徒批評，包括天主教徒與新教徒。已皈依天主教的副總統 JD Vance 在 8 月下旬接受福音派播客主持人 Bryce Crawford 採訪時為特朗普辯護，但 Crawford 仍直言那張圖片極具冒犯性。

Crawford 告訴 Vance："I'm a Christian, I saw the photo — it made me upset. I'm not going to lie, it made me upset."

Vance 並未為那張圖片本身辯解，但他也刻意避免直接批評總統。

"I hear you, and I know the president didn't mean any offense,"《Hillbilly Elegy》的作者告訴 Crawford。"Obviously, he loves Christians, and politically, has done a lot of good for religious liberty, and certainly didn't mean anything by it. I'm biased because I see this from the inside. So, it's like, 'Did Donald Trump mean to post a meme of himself as God?' No."

特朗普發布這張將自己描繪成耶穌基督的圖片，是他在網上猛烈抨擊教宗 Leo XIV 的一部分。教宗 Leo XIV 已公開批評這位美國總統在移民及其他議題上的立場。這起事件發生之際，特朗普與部分宗教保守派之間本就關係緊張；對他們而言，將政治權力與宗教象徵結合的影像尤其敏感。圖片引發強烈反彈後，特朗普將其刪除，並稱："I thought it was me as a doctor."

Crawford 不接受這種說法，對 Vance 表示："I don't know how he thought he was a doctor in the photo. He was (wearing) a white robe with a red sash on it, you know — and that makes me upset as a Christian."

不過，Crawford 也說，他"did appreciate"特朗普把圖片移除。

Vance 繼續為特朗普辯護，堅稱總統無意冒犯基督徒。這位副總統表示，特朗普太忙，無法花很多時間瀏覽社群媒體，而且"people will bring him stuff"，並稱那張圖片就是例子之一。

Crawford 回應："Sometimes, he'll like chuckle at it — and sometimes, if he really thinks it's funny, he'll have somebody post it. And that's exactly what happened here. He did not mean to like, mock or mimic God. That's just not who he is."

Vance 在 2016 年美國總統大選期間曾是特朗普的強烈批評者，但後來轉向全力支持 MAGA，並成為特朗普的重要盟友，在他擔任美國參議員期間積極為其政策辯護。