The allegations reached a fever pitch on Sunday night, when Trump posted an AI-generated image showing himself wearing a white robe and red sash and holding a hand that radiates golden light over a man in a hospital bed. The image, which Trump removed from Truth Social after about 14 hours, appeared to invoke Jesus Christ, and it angered some supporters, who compared Trump’s behavior to the Antichrist – a figure in Christian theology who opposes Jesus Christ and whose appearance many believe could signal the end of times.
Prominent figures in the MAGA world were quick to speak out. “This is more than blasphemy. This is an anti-Christ,” former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on Sunday.
“In 18 months I went from voting for Trump hesitantly to thinking there’s a good chance he’s the antichrist,” said Clint Russell, host of the right-wing Liberty Lockdown podcast.
“I truly believe Trump is currently possessed,” Texas far-right pastor Joel Webbon wrote on X. A few hours later, Webb posted a post titled “Is Donald Trump the Antichrist?”
The Knights Templar Order, a Christian organization based on a medieval military order, wrote of the post that they had “no other option but to whole-heartedly condemn it and seek a public apology.”
For more than a decade, Trump and his supporters have used explicitly religious rhetoric and images to mobilize his base. But in recent weeks, some of Trump’s actions — from posts about the Vatican to messages about Iran on Easter Sunday — have created a major divide among his supporters that could have lasting effects on him and the Republican Party.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. During a press conference on Monday, Trump denied that the image portrayed him as Jesus, telling reporters that he thought the image portrayed him as a doctor. “There’s an assumption that as a doctor I will make people better,” Trump told reporters.
Many MAGA influencers have been claiming for some time that Trump is the Antichrist. Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson suggested in a 43-minute-long opening monologue on his show last Monday that the administration’s war in Iran was also a war on Christianity. Carlson made the video in response to Trump’s Truth Social post on Easter, where the president threatened to destroy critical infrastructure in Iran. (“Open the fakin’ strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be in Hell,” Trump wrote. “Just watch! Praise Allah.”) Despite never saying the word “Antichrist” during the video, people ranging from MAGA media personalities like Alex Jones to users of the DonaldTrump666 subreddit thought Carlson was insinuating that Trump was the Antichrist.
This rhetoric marks a significant departure for Carlson. Although he has recently become more critical of the president and his administration, Carlson has long been supportive of religious language when it comes to Trump. At the 2024 Republican National Convention, Carlson claimed that Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania by “divine intervention.”
Trump also claimed divine intervention after the incident, as did many of his allies. Robert Jones, president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute, told WIRED that Trump’s persistent portrayal of himself as a messiah has helped push MAGA to breaking point. “The reason why people have arrived [the antichrist label] That’s because Trump really set the stage for this himself,” Jones says.
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