Donald Trump doubts his role in Israel-Gaza peace agreement will get him into heaven

President Donald Trump has taken to justifying his policy agenda by invoking his hope of reaching heaven after he dies. But his quest for eternal paradise is doomed to come up short, the president said Sunday.

“I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in heaven,” Mr Trump told reporters en route to Israel on Air Force One, after being asked if the peace deal he helped broker between Israel and Hamas has boosted his chances.

“I think I’m not, maybe, heaven-bound.”

Mr Trump has insisted on his divine purpose, particularly after an assassin’s bullet grazed his ear in July 2024.

“I was saved by God to make America great again,” Mr Trump said as he accepted the Republican nomination for president five days later.

He has spoken for a decade about his renewed Christian faith, sometimes stumbling over key tenets of the religion as he sought to shore up support among evangelicals, a key GOP voting bloc.

And for the past two months, the 79-year-old president has repeatedly pondered the afterlife - by turns reflective, melancholy and even self-deprecating. (On Sunday, Mr Trump allowed that he was being “a little cute” about his recent fixation on the hereafter.)

He has invoked it as a reason to make peace abroad.

“I want to try to get to heaven, if possible,” Mr Trump said on “Fox & Friends” on August 19, explaining his efforts to broker a deal between Ukraine and Russia.

I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”

He has cited it as a reason to be good at home.

“If you’re not a believer and you believe you go nowhere, what’s the reason to be good, really?” the president wondered two days later on conservative commentator Todd Starnes’s radio show.

“There has to be some kind of a report card up there someplace. You know, like let’s go to heaven, let’s get into heaven.”

And he referenced it when asked about his decision to launch a new White House-backed prayer initiative last week.

“I want to be good because you want to prove to God that you’re good, so you go to that next step, right?” Mr Trump told reporters.

“So that’s very important to me.”

Mr Trump has not always proved his bona fides to Christian leaders on Earth. Pope Francis, who died in April, and his successor, Pope Leo, have both criticised his administration’s treatment of immigrants.

Some religious leaders have also condemned his inflammatory rhetoric, his crackdown on cities, his use of immigration enforcement in hospitals and schools, his efforts to weaken federal safety-net programs, and a White House depiction of Mr Trump as the pope, among other perceived transgressions.

Watchdog organisations have further denounced Mr Trump for whittling away at America’s long-established boundaries between church and state.

The White House has sometimes rebuked religious groups that have criticised Mr Trump, and other spiritual leaders, such as the Rev. Franklin Graham, have been staunch defenders of the president. Conservative Christians also remain his most faithful supporters.

In a September 11-15 Washington Post-Ipsos poll, 82 per cent of White evangelical Protestants said they approve of Mr Trump’s performance as president, nearly double the 43 per cent of all adults who supported him.

And while other politicians and world leaders may have little sway at the pearly gates, they have called for Mr Trump to receive Nobel gold for his efforts to make global peace. Israeli groups on Monday called Mr Trump a lifesaver for his work to end the regional war.

Administration officials maintain that Mr Trump’s preoccupation with the great beyond is serious.

“I think the president wants to get to heaven, as I hope we all do in this room as well,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in August.

Christian leaders have long offered instruction on how to reach the promised land, often with a simple message: Ask for forgiveness and place your faith in Jesus.

“You repent and you believe, believe in Christ,” Billy Graham, Franklin’s father, said in a 1993 sermon.

Mr Trump, who a decade ago told a conservative Christian audience that he had never asked God for forgiveness, said Sunday night that he was focused on other forms of bliss.

“I may be in heaven right now as we fly an Air Force One,” Mr Trump told reporters. “… I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make heaven, but I’ve made life a lot better for a lot of people.”

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