Vice President JD Vance tried to spin President Donald Trump’s now-deleted Truth Social post depicting himself as Jesus Christ in an AI-generated image.

Asked by Fox News’ Bret Baier on Monday about Trump’s recent clashes with Pope Leo XIV and the AI image, Vance defended the Jesus post and attempted to explain why the president eventually took it down.

“Well, first of all, Bret, I think the president was posting a joke,” Vance, who is Catholic, said. “And of course, he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren’t understanding his humor in that case.”

Vance then tried to paint Trump’s unorthodox use of social media as a positive attribute.

“I think the president of the United States likes to mix it up on social media, and I actually think that’s one of the good things about this president, is that he’s not filtered. He doesn’t send everything through a communications professional. He actually reaches out directly to the people,” Vance said.