(AFP) – Donald Trump said Tuesday that a Ukraine peace deal could boost his chances of getting to heaven — joking that his odds of making it through the pearly gates are currently low. The 79-year-old U.S. president has previously said he wants to end Russia’s war in Ukraine as part of his bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
But a day after hosting the leaders of Ukraine and several European nations at the White House, Trump said his motivations were not all earthly. “I want to try and get to heaven if possible,” Trump told Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends.” “I hear I’m not doing well — I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole! But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
By traditional yardsticks, the three-times-married, twice-impeached Trump is no saint. The billionaire Republican has been embroiled in a number of scandals over the years and is the first president to have a criminal conviction, in his instance a hush money case involving payouts to a porn star.
But Trump has taken on an increasingly religious tone since surviving an assassination attempt last year. He said at his inauguration in January that he had been “saved by God to make America great again.” Boasting strong support from America’s religious right, Trump has embraced the trappings of faith far more strongly in his second term in the White House.
He has notably appointed an official spiritual adviser, Paula White, who has led a number of prayer gatherings that have seen attendees lay their hands on Trump at White House events. Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday she believed “the president was serious” about his Ukraine comments. “I think the president wants to get to heaven, as I hope we all do in this room,” the 27-year-old Leavitt — who herself holds prayer sessions before her briefings — told reporters.
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