Donald Trump made an unannounced stop at a couple’s wedding at his Mar-a-Lago resort, where he jokingly pointed to one guest as “the guy who’s going to get me into heaven.”
On Friday, Nov. 14, the 79-year-old president dropped in on the private wedding celebration of investment banker and Stormwall founder Mike Wilkerson. In a video posted on Instagram by conservative radio host and author Eric Metaxas, Trump can be seen greeting and congratulating the newlyweds in the ballroom.
Spotting Metaxas, 62, in the crowd, Trump reached out to shake his hand and told the bride and groom, “He’s going to get me into heaven.”
Metaxas could be heard responding, “I want to talk to him about getting into heaven… but not here. Not here.”
The Is Atheism Dead? host described the exchange in the caption of his Instagram post, writing, “Last night, at my friend Mike Wilkerson’s wedding at Mar-a-Lago, the President showed up. As he walked in, he pointed right at me and joked, ‘This is the guy who’s going to get me to heaven…’ ”
He continued, “I laughed and told him, ‘I’d really like to talk to you about that… but another time.’ ”
Metaxas later said he has met Trump on several occasions and that “every single time he tells me that he watches my show all the time,” referring to his Socrates in the City radio show, which explores “the Big Questions — life, God and other small topics,” according to the show’s website.
“I’ve teased him about it, but he insists,” Metaxas added. “So I assume he’s aware of my Christian faith and has heard me talk about it a fair amount on the show, which was what prompted him to say I could conceivably play some role in bringing him to a deeper faith.”
Trump has spoken publicly before about wanting to be “heaven-bound.” In August, during a phone interview with Fox & Friends, he said one of his motivations for brokering a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is a desire to reach heaven.
“If I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that’s pretty — I want to try to get to heaven if possible,” he said at the time.
“I’m hearing that I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole,” he added, prompting laughter from the Fox News hosts. “But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
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Later that day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters she believed Trump’s comments were “serious” rather than purely a joke.
“I think the president wants to get to heaven — as I hope we all do in this room as well,” she said.
Trump revisited the topic of his eternal prospects while speaking to the press aboard Air Force One on Oct. 12. Asked about his August remarks on trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, he said, “I’m being a little cute.”
He then quipped, “I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in heaven. I really don’t. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One.”
“I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make heaven,” he added, “but I’ve made life a lot better for a lot of people.”
Over the summer, Trump even appeared to tie fundraising to his spiritual aspirations. His campaign sent out emails asking for donations that read, “I want to try and get to Heaven.” The emails, which reportedly began on Aug. 23, asked supporters to donate $15 during a “24-HOUR TRUMP FUNDRAISING BLITZ” to the president, according to reports from the Independent, Snopes and Newsweek.
