MANVEL, Texas – Manvel Mayor Dan Davis wrote a letter to President Donald Trump after the president posted and later deleted an AI-image of himself that appeared to depict him in the likeness of Jesus.
Davis posted the letter to his Facebook page on Monday and said he sent the letter not because of politics, but because of conviction.
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He explains this was a letter he created on his own behalf, not on the behalf of the City of Manvel or the Manvel City Council.
“I spent time praying about it today, even wrestling with whether I should send the letter at all, and whether I should say anything publicly. But Matthew 5 reminds us that we are called to be the salt of the earth and a light on a hill. That doesn’t happen by staying silent when something is placed on your heart,” Davis said in the post.
Davis spoke to KPRC 2 on Wednesday and explained why he felt the need to send the letter.
“As a Christian myself, someone that holds elected office, I felt that it was right for me through a letter and to express my concerns about the image, but particularly about the responsibilities and the seriousness that he has in the office that he holds,” Davis said.
While the president did admit posting the image to reporters, he explained that he believed it was depicting him as a healer or a doctor, not taking the place of Jesus.
“I’ll say I’ve never seen a doctor dressed like that before, but what I know even from the position that I hold is that when we say things, when we post things, when we communicate, there is meaning and there is power behind it, The Bible teaches us that life and death is in the power of the tongue and my hope and my prayer for President Trump is that he surrounds himself with a team that is willing to look at things before they are posted, review things before they are said,” Davis said.
Davis also referenced a previously shared and deleted video from the White House which sparked backlash.
“What we saw previously when the video was posted on his Truth Social page that depicted certain individuals and political leaders as animals I thought was also wrong, my hope would have been from that experience that better safeguards and measures and processes would have been put in place,” Davis said. “As a leader when you make mistakes, and I’ve made many as a leader myself, you learn and you improve, but sadly we see a repeated behavior of that. Politics nowadays is so caught up in being divisive and what can you post that gets the most engagement, what’s going to get you the attention on the news rather than just doing the right thing, bringing unity, bringing peace.”