‘They Knew I Was Kidding’: Trump Responds To ‘Fake News’ Over ‘Chosen One’ Jest

President Donald Trump hit back at “Fake News outlets” Saturday who alleged he has a “Messiah complex” after he looked up to the sky and said he had been “chosen” to take on China.

Trump spoke to reporters Wednesday and discussed the trade war with China. At one point, Trump glanced up at the sky and said “I am the chosen one,” joking about how the war had chosen him, not the other way around.

Journalists and media outlets went after Trump for the joke, with MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner tweeting that the president is “dangerously unhinged.”

The president tweeted about “Fake News outlets” Saturday following the blow-up, writing that everyone knew he was “kidding” and “being sarcastic.”

New York Daily News featured the comment on the front page of its newspaper Thursday, and the main photo was the president depicted as Jesus during the Last Supper. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” discussed the comment Thursday as well, and started its segment with a compilation of fictional characters from movies saying that they were “the chosen one.”

CNN’s Don Lemon also discussed the joke with a panel Thursday evening. Author Michael D’Antonio took the comment at face value and suggested Trump had Ivanka, his daughter, critique him as he practiced the phrase beforehand.

“Oh, I think, you know, first he had to write the line ‘I’m the chosen one’ and then he had to practice it,” D’Antonio said Thursday. “He probably had Ivanka come in and critique and tell him how it looked. She said ‘it looks terrific, daddy.’ This is absurd.”