Donald Trump Is Now 'Orange Jesus' According To An Unnamed House Republican, Leading To A Surge In Memes
Representative Liz Cheney, the chairwoman of the House Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection, has shared in a recent interview that some of her colleagues reportedly called former President Donald Trump “Orange Jesus.”
Cheney shared that hours before the storming of the Capitol in 2021, Republican members of Congress were signing sheets of paper objecting to ballots for each state that Trump falsely claimed he won. She stated that she heard one of them sigh “the things we do for the orange Jesus!” as he signed the sheets.
The “orange Jesus” nickname has since been taken up by many online since the interview aired yesterday, who now use it to refer to the religious-seeming devotion that many Republicans show towards Donald Trump. The orange hue of Trump's hair and skin has previously been memed many times before, as has the fierce devotion shown to him by supporters.
Others found the butt of the “orange Jesus” joke to be not Trump, but Republican politicians who continue to support him in public while despising him in private. Reporting from Washington beat correspondents like Mark Leibovich has shown this to be a recurring pattern throughout the Trump saga: The majority of elected Republicans seem to “get the joke” (a phrase reportedly used by many Senators) that Trump is "crazy" and "not a good person," but display unwavering devotion to him in public because it helps them get reelected and offers them access to power. Many online seemed to mock these members of Congress following the news.
Many also merely joked about the new nickname in general, connecting it to the famous “orange Julius” beverage.
The inclusion of “Jesus” in the nickname also seemed to underline Trump’s draw for an unlikely constituency — evangelicals. Several commentators on Twitter and elsewhere pointed out that many Christians seem to have embraced the former President in seeming contradiction to the values their religion professes, purportedly replacing "Jesus" with "Orange Jesus."
"Orange Jesus" himself appears to be in increasing legal trouble as of late. The Special Master appointed to look over top secret documents seized from Mar-a-Lago appears skeptical of the argument that Trump could "declassify" all the documents and of his legal team's strategy overall. Meanwhile, the former President seems to be increasingly interacting with QAnon content, according to reports.