Trump Claims He Would Have Won California If 'Jesus Christ Counted The Votes,' Calls State Election System 'Rigged'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) US President Donald Trump intensified his long-running attacks on US elections on Wednesday (May 20) by claiming he would have carried heavily Democratic California if“Jesus Christ” personally counted the ballots.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before departing to deliver a commencement address to the United States Coast Guard Academy, Trump alleged that California's election system is fundamentally corrupt.

“If we had Jesus Christ come down and count the votes, I would have won California because I do great with Hispanics. But it's a rigged vote.”

Trump specifically targeted California's widespread mail-in voting system, claiming that elections in the state are“very dishonest.”

“You have all the mail-in ballots, everything else. Very hard to win because the elections are very dishonest.”

He further alleged that millions of ballots were improperly distributed.

“They sent out 38 million votes. Nobody knows where they're going.”

California losses contradict Trump's claims

Trump's comments stand in contrast to the results of the last three presidential elections in California, where Democrats won by overwhelming margins.

In 2024, Kamala Harris defeated Trump in California by approximately 20 percentage points. Trump also lost the state by roughly 29 points to Joe Biden in 2020 and by about 30 points to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Despite those margins, Trump has repeatedly claimed that Democratic-leaning states engage in widespread voter fraud, particularly involving absentee and mail-in ballots.

Comments came during discussion of Los Angeles politics

Trump made the remarks after being asked about Spencer Pratt, the former star of the MTV reality series The Hills, who is reportedly running as a Republican candidate for mayor of Los Angeles.

“I heard he's a big MAGA person. He's doing well.”

Trump quickly pivoted back to his claims about California elections.

“You have a really rigged vote in California.”

Republican primary victories

Trump-backed candidate Ed Gallrein defeated Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, one of Trump's most vocal Republican critics in Congress.

At the same time, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy also lost his GOP primary contest after opposition from Trump.

Trump also stirred tensions within Senate Republican circles by endorsing Ken Paxton over incumbent Senator John Cornyn in Texas' upcoming Senate primary.

“They want to win. I know how to win. Some of them don't know how to win.”

This is not the first time Trump has invoked Jesus. Trump's comments also come amid escalating tensions with the Catholic Church and Pope Leo XIV.

In recent weeks, Trump has shared multiple AI-generated religious images depicting himself in Christ-like imagery. One now-deleted image showed Trump wearing robes and healing a man while standing among patriotic American symbols including the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial.

Asked about the image, Trump defended it by saying:“It's supposed to be me as a doctor making people better, and I do make people better.”

On Wednesday, Trump reportedly posted another AI-generated image showing Jesus embracing him, accompanied by the message:“The Radical Left Lunatic might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!!”

Pope Leo criticizes war

Relations between Trump and Pope Leo deteriorated further following disagreements over the conflict involving Iran and Israel.

During a recent Palm Sunday address, Pope Leo criticized leaders who invoke religion to justify warfare.

“God rejects the prayers of those who wage war.”

Trump later attacked the pontiff publicly, calling him“very liberal” and accusing him of being weak on foreign policy.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

The pope responded by defending his position as rooted in Christian teaching rather than politics.

“My opposition to the war was rooted in the Gospel, not political ideology.”

He added:“I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”

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