MIAMI — A group of religious leaders dedicated a 22-foot golden statue of President Donald Trump at Trump National Doral Miami golf club last week. Pastor Mark Burns presided over the ceremony.

Trump called in during the event and described the statue as "beautiful." He had originally been scheduled to attend in person but changed plans after posting and later deleting an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ, according to Burns. The gold-colored figure has drawn online comparisons to the biblical "golden calf."

The statue was conceived by a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts who support the president and who used its creation to sell a meme coin called $PATRIOT.

Burns later denied on social media that the statue represented a form of idol worship. Speaking about his involvement in the project, he said, "The first thing the Lord told me was to show the world that this man's not a racist."

That comment followed remarks Trump made on December 9, 2025, in which he said Somalis are "stupid people" with "low I.Q.s." Burns is the senior pastor at the Harvest Praise & Worship Center in Easley, South Carolina, and founded the internationally broadcast NOW evangelical television network. He is a longtime supporter of the president.

The Doral dedication is not the first gilded depiction of Trump to appear at a political or religious event. A gold statue displayed at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2021 showed Trump in sandals, shorts and a suit jacket while holding a wand-like object and the Constitution. AI-generated images depicting Trump in quasi-messianic or heroic roles have circulated heavily across pro-Trump social media spaces in recent weeks.