--- title: GOP Congressman Compares Trump to Jesus Amid Impeachment description: A Republican lawmaker compared President Donald Trump to Jesus Christ during a debate on the House floor about impeachment. canonical: https://time.com/5752453/trump-jesus-comparison-impeachment-debate/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-12-18T21:20:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T07:56:49.212Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republican Congressman Suggests Trump Is Being Treated Worse Than Jesus Amid Impeachment Debate og:description: The comparison was swiftly met with criticism and jokes on Twitter og:url: https://time.com/5752453/trump-jesus-comparison-impeachment-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdf2fb2ed540650a/698a07c9929fadcfa0bf56f3/barry-loudermilk-trump-impeachment-jesus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2811 og:image:height: 1581 og:image:alt: Trump Impeachment og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republican Congressman Suggests Trump Is Being Treated Worse Than Jesus Amid Impeachment Debate twitter:description: The comparison was swiftly met with criticism and jokes on Twitter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdf2fb2ed540650a/698a07c9929fadcfa0bf56f3/barry-loudermilk-trump-impeachment-jesus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republican Congressman Suggests Trump Is Being Treated Worse Than Jesus Amid Impeachment Debate > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 18, 2019 9:20 PM UTC  Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., speaks as the House of Representatives debates the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., speaks as the House of Representatives debates the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. The Associated Press by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 18, 2019 9:20 PM UTC A Republican lawmaker compared President Donald Trump to Jesus Christ during a [debate on the House floor](https://time.com/5752292/pelosi-trump-impeachment-debate/) ahead of a vote on two [articles of impeachment](https://time.com/5746997/articles-of-impeachment-donald-trump/) expected to take place Wednesday evening. Amid hours of contentious debate between lawmakers, Rep. Barry Loudermilk made waves when he claimed Jesus was treated more fairly before his crucifixion than Trump has been treated throughout the impeachment process. “When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers,” said Loudermilk, who represents Georgia’s 11th congressional district. “During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than the Democrats have afforded this President in this process.” The comparison between Trump and Jesus was swiftly met with loud criticism and jokes on Twitter. > [](https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1207391176665550851) > [](https://twitter.com/girlsreallyrule/status/1207385412714606594) White House counselor Kellyanne Conway also commented, while telling reporters she hadn’t specifically seen Loudermilk’s claim. “I think the President is being treated very unfairly and I wish that weren’t the case,” she said, adding, “I don’t like many Jesus comparisons.” Hyperbolic comparisons continued throughout the debate. Following Loudermilk’s comments, Rep. Mike Kelly drew a connection to the attack on Pearl Harbor as he accused Democrats of seeking impeachment against Trump because they are “blinded” by “hate” of the president. > [](https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1207386979744116736) “On December 7, 1941, a horrific act happened in the United States, and it’s one that President Roosevelt said, ‘This is a date that will live in infamy,'” Kelly, a Republican representing Pennsylvania’s 16th district, said. “Today, December 18th, 2019 is another date that will live in infamy.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5752453/trump-jesus-comparison-impeachment-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5752453/trump-jesus-comparison-impeachment-debate/"},"headline":"Republican Congressman Suggests Trump Is Being Treated Worse Than Jesus Amid Impeachment Debate","datePublished":"2019-12-18T21:20:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T07:56:49.212Z","description":"The comparison was swiftly met with criticism and jokes on Twitter","url":"https://time.com/5752453/trump-jesus-comparison-impeachment-debate/","keywords":["Congress"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdf2fb2ed540650a/698a07c9929fadcfa0bf56f3/barry-loudermilk-trump-impeachment-jesus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdf2fb2ed540650a/698a07c9929fadcfa0bf56f3/barry-loudermilk-trump-impeachment-jesus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump Impeachment","caption":"Trump Impeachment","creditText":"The Associated Press","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5752453/trump-jesus-comparison-impeachment-debate/","name":"Republican Congressman Suggests Trump Is Being Treated Worse Than Jesus Amid Impeachment Debate"}}]}] ```