Trump’s Spiritual Adviser Compares Him to Jesus at Easter Event

Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain compared the president to Jesus Christ during an Easter lunch at the White House Wednesday afternoon.

“Jesus taught so many lessons through his death, burial, and resurrection. He showed us great leadership, great transformation requires great sacrifice. And Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price. It almost cost you your life,” White-Cain said with the president standing behind her. “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us. But it didn’t end there for him, and it didn’t end there for you.”

White-Cain, who has claimed in the past that the White House is “holy ground” and that “to say no to President Trump would be saying no to God,” went on to connect Trump with the Easter holiday.

“God always had a plan: On the third day, he rose, he defeated evil, he conquered death, hell, and the grave. And because he rose, we all know that we can rise. And sir, because of his resurrection, you rose up,” White-Cain continued. “Because he was victorious, you are victorious. And I believe that the Lord said to tell you this: Because of his victory, you will be victorious in all you put your hands to.”

Trump silently said “thank you” as White-Cain concluded her speech to applause from the room.

The comparison was not well received on social media. Catholic theologian Rich Raho called the remarks “blasphemous.”

“It’s stunning to see a US Bishop standing right there on the stage while Paula White compares Trump to Jesus Christ,” Raho said, pointing out that the Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Robert Barron, was standing onstage not far from Trump.

The Reverend Benjamin Cremer also called the comments “blasphemy,” saying, “This is what it sounds like to take Jesus’ name in vain.” Jesuit priest James Martin said that White-Cain crossed a big line.

“Asking God, in a public prayer, to help a political leader make wise decisions, care for the poor, seek peace, foster harmony, and try to include all those who feel excluded? Yes. Comparing a political leader, in a public prayer, to the sinless Son of God during Holy Week? No,” Martin posted on X.

The event was supposed to be closed to the press, but the White House mistakenly uploaded the video to YouTube before removing it Wednesday evening. Do Trump and Republicans agree with Trump being fêted and deified like this?

On Wednesday, representatives for Kristi Noem said that the former homeland security secretary was “devastated” and “blindsided” by the news that her husband Bryon liked to dress in drag as a large-breasted “bimbo” woman in his spare time. On Thursday, one of the models who said Bryon was her client told The Daily Beast there was “no way in hell” his wife didn’t know.

“There is no way in hell that she did not know for that long. He didn’t just wake up two years ago and start talking to cam girls about wanting to be a woman,” webcam performer Lydia Love said. “A lot of the wives know—and either they’re in denial or they have a really secretive partner.”

Love claims that she knew Bryon was married but was unaware of his political status, and he would only show his face momentarily during their sessions. “I’m not saying that he gave me any information like his name or exact location but him showing his face was part of the arousal of ‘getting exposed’—it’s super common,” Love said.

Love said she would instruct Bryon to wear leggings, bend over, and spank himself while he donned a T-shirt stuffed with either balloons or a silicone chest plate.

The news of Bryon’s bimbo fetish, first reported by The Daily Mail, was shocking given his conservative values and proximity to Trump. The strong, God-fearing husband of ICE Barbie telling online models “You turn me into a girl,” wearing leggings, and stuffing massive balloons into his shirt transcends the ironic. And if The Daily Mail
could find this out so easily, how could Noem really just not know for that long?  

“Where my problem is, is that this is a conservative family who publicly shares values that are entirely opposite to what’s happening behind closed doors,” Love continued. “They’re building careers by pushing beliefs that they themselves don’t follow, and it’s extremely common in these circles. I hate the hypocrisy of it all. I like when people stand in what they believe in.”

The British tabloid also reported that Bryon’s messages contained a confession that he knew about the alleged affair between his wife and her former DHS aide Corey Lewandowski, raising even more questions about his fetishes—and Noem’s knowledge of it. When requested for comment, Bryon told The New York Times, “I will at some point. Today is not the day. I appreciate your heart.”

Now that the situation in Iran is thoroughly complex—enough that it could take months or even years to solve, according to some analysts—Donald Trump is attempting to convince the nation that America doesn’t need Iran, the Middle East, or the Strait of Hormuz at all.

Per Trump’s speech Wednesday night, the $25 billion sum spent on the war thus far has instead been in an attempt to “help our allies.”

“We’re now totally independent of the Middle East, and yet we are there to help,” Trump said. “We don’t have to be there. We don’t need their oil. We don’t need anything they have. But we’re there to help our allies.”

Beyond the nickels and dimes, the war has cost the lives of more than 1,937 people in Iran, including dozens of political leaders, according to Al Jazeera. At least 13 U.S. soldiers have also been killed in the war, and more than 300 have been wounded. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Monday that the conflict would be resolved in the coming weeks, though military officials have indicated that the war could rage for months or even years.

Even before Trump initiated American involvement in the war, Iran—and the Middle East at large—accounted for less than 10 percent of U.S. oil imports. Most of America’s oil, approximately 60 percent of it, comes from Canada.

But the price per barrel has nonetheless shot up, particularly after Iran sealed off the Strait of Hormuz, which serves as the single most important energy transit point in the world. (Oil prices are set globally, not by the individual countries that export it.) Situated between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, the strait funnels approximately one-fifth of all crude oil shipments.

Most of that oil would head toward China or India. In 2024, the U.S. imported roughly 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the strait, accounting for about 7 percent of total U.S. crude imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

On Tuesday, gas prices surpassed $4 a gallon across the nation for the first time since 2022, but Trump’s speech late Wednesday made the matter even worse. Several comments made by the president about potentially escalating the war rattled the markets, sending the price of oil surging by 13 percent.

Trump attributed the preceding increase in oil prices to the “Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict.” He then promised to “hit” Iran “extremely hard.”

The White House mistakenly uploaded Donald Trump’s remarks at an Easter lunch, which was supposed to be closed to the press, to YouTube Wednesday, before realizing its error and making the link private.

In the speech, which Business Insider’s Bryan Metzger uploaded to X in full, Trump fantasizes about being a king, admits there’s no money left for health care or childcare because of the war he started, and daydreams about seizing all of Iran’s oil.

“We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare. You got to let a state take care of daycare, and they should pay for it too. They should pay. They’ll have to raise their taxes, but they should pay for it. And we could lower our taxes a little bit to them to make up,” Trump said. “It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal. We have to take care of one thing: military protection.

“I can’t get a ballroom approved. It’s pretty amazing, right?” Trump also said in the speech. “If I was a king, we’d be doing a lot more. I’m doing a lot, but I could be doing a lot more if I was a king.”

Trump went on to lament that it’s “unfortunate” that Americans don’t have the “patience” to take Iran’s oil.

“We could just take their oil. But, you know, I’m not sure that the people in our country have the patience to do that, which is unfortunate. You know, they want to see it end. If we stayed there, I, you know, I’d prefer just to take the oil. We could do it so easily. I would prefer that, but people in the country sort of say, ‘Just win, you’re winning so big. Just win, come home,’” Trump said in the speech.

Trump also mentioned his address to the country to take place later that evening, saying to the audience, “Tonight I’m making a little speech at 9 o’clock and basically I’m gonna tell everybody how great I am.”

The whole speech seems to be an insight into what Trump actually thinks but isn’t willing to say to the broader public. But the American people deserve to know what the president thinks about them and their needs, even if it’s not very much.

The death of a blind Rohingya refugee who was abandoned by Border Patrol agents in a parking lot has been ruled a homicide, the Investigative Post reported Wednesday.

The Erie County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report, released Wednesday, suggested that the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam was the result of negligence from Border Patrol agents after he “was placed into a hostile environment that he could not reasonably be expected to extricate himself.” Shah Alam, 56, was a blind Burmese refugee who spoke no English.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed that the Tim Hortons in Buffalo where federal agents left Shah Alam was “determined to be a warm, safe location near his last known address.” Video footage reviewed by the Investigative Post, however, showed that the location, which was miles away from his home, had already closed for the night, except for the drive-thru.

The Border Patrol agents drove away after one minute. Shah Alam was found dead days later.

The Medical Examiner’s office said that Shah Alam suffered from a burst ulcer in his small intestine that was precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration.

It was unclear whether Shah Alam had first developed the ulcer before or after he was taken into custody more than a year ago, and charged with trespassing and misdemeanor possession of a weapon. The blind refugee was lost on a walk and using a curtain rod as a walking stick that police alleged he was “swinging in a menacing manner.” He was tased, beaten, and arrested.

Terrence Connors, the attorney representing Shah Alam’s wife and sons, said that he intended to file a lawsuit on the family’s behalf.

“Now that we have the medical evidence and the cause of death, we will look into the filing of the necessary documents to hold the individuals and the entities responsible for his death,” he said.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane announced Wednesday that they had opened an investigation into Shah Alam’s death.

“As more details of this case emerge, I want to be crystal clear: Every individual involved in the death of Mr. Shah Alam must be held fully accountable,” Hochul said. “To ensure a fair and impartial investigation, the Erie County District Attorney must continue his investigation and, if warranted by the evidence, prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James also opened an inquiry into Shah Alam’s death targeting the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, from where Shah Alam was released after Border Patrol determined that his charges did not render him removable. They should have returned him to the holding center where sheriff’s deputies could contact his family to retrieve him, but the holding center called Border Patrol instead.