Creator of 'blasphemous' Jesus image is 'riding Trump's coattails' as MAGA troll: expert
After Donald Trump faced swift backlash for posting an AI depiction of himself as a Jesus-like figure aglow against a patriotic sky as he heals a sick man, the original source of the image came to light while the president explained away the now-deleted post as a misinterpretation of himself as a doctor.
Nick Adams, the alpha-male MAGA influencer recently appointed as Trump’s special presidential envoy for American tourism, exceptionalism and values, originally shared the since-deleted image on X back in February with a message about Trump “healing this nation.”
The controversial image that angered conservatives and liberals alike, and was deemed "blasphemous," is just one of many exaggerated AI images and posts about Trump — with sexist, manosphere and anti-“woke” posts scattered in between — from Adams, who for years prompted Reddit threads wondering if his accounts were actually satire or just another example of MAGA trolling.
For instance, there’s his image of Trump teaching Ronald McDonald how to make hamburgers.
Trump stylized as Mr. Clean, renamed “Mr. Tariff.”
Trump teaching Tiger Woods to golf.
Trump as King Midas, Thomas Edison and Indiana Jones.
A dramatized story about the “Melania” documentary.
“He makes no bones about the fact that he's a MAGA supporter, and he is hyper-masculine, but yes, the way he sometimes uses his account, can put it in the gray zone,” said Paromita Pain, an associate professor of global media at the University of Nevada, Reno, after being asked if Adams is actually laughing at MAGA.
“I can see why there is confusion.”
Adams is “100 percent” a troll, and his posts are “engagement bait,” intentionally up for interpretation to elicit a reaction — that’s the point — said Jamie Cohen, an associate professor at Queens College, CUNY, who specializes in memes and digital culture.
“Because we cannot be Nick Adams, we can't know fully whether or not he's playing an earnest role or a completely satirical role because when it comes to engagement [bait], the goal is always engagement, so it could be literally both,” said
Adams did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
‘Over-the-top’
Adams’ posts may be “better understood as extreme performance” but are not necessarily satirical, “given that he is so unambiguous in the politics that he supports,” Pain said.
“His online style relies heavily on exaggeration,” she said.
“There is often rather over-the-top praise of Trump, which can sometimes make his content appear ironic or like parody at first glance. Now what we as an audience must be aware of is that this is not parody. This is not satire. Nick Adams is very clear about his politics.“
The Trump-as-Jesus image “mimics the absurdity typical of satire, but it also functions as pretty important symbolic political messaging,” Pain said.
Adams’s X account with more than 635,000 followers and a prolific 55,600 posts, “seems like a fan page,” Cohen said.
“But, when it's reposted by the president, it takes on a whole additional meaning.”
‘Sycophantic’
The audience might mistake Adams’ posts “as satire because it seems so unbelievable,” but “whether you think it's satire or you do not, it is effective media,” Cohen said.
“Nick Adams is part of a cadre of Trump-supporting engagement baiters, who basically are people that are not just sycophantic but are very good at riding Trump's coattails to their own success,” Cohen said.
Trump nominated Adams to serve as ambassador to Malaysia last summer, but Adams faced backlash for his “divisive rhetoric" through alpha-male and Islamophobic posts. Trump dropped the nomination before appointing him as senior adviser and special envoy.
Adams calls himself “President Trump’s favorite author” on his website after Trump called him "one of his favorite authors and also one of my favorite speakers” in the foreword to his book, “Alpha Kings.” Some of the other books Adams authored include “From Mar-a-Lago to Mars: President Trump's Great American Comeback” and "Green Card Warrior: My Quest for Legal Immigration in an Illegals' System," which Trump promoted.
The Trump administration’s backing of an internet provocateur like Adams and posting the “blasphemous” AI image is concerning, Cohen said.
“The Internet is everywhere at once, so we should take this very seriously,” he said.
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