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In a matter of days, MAGA media figures have gone from defending President Donald Trump as God’s chosen president to making the case that he is actually the antichrist.
The accusations reached a fever pitch on Sunday night, after Trump posted an AI-generated image depicting himself dressed in a white robe and red sash and placing a hand radiating golden light on a man in a hospital bed. The image, which Trump deleted from Truth Social after around 14 hours, seemed to invoke Jesus Christ, and it outraged some supporters who likened Trump’s behavior to the antichrist—a figure in Christian theology who opposes Christ and whose appearance many believe could augur the end of time.
Major figures in the MAGA universe quickly spoke out. “It’s more than blasphemy. It’s an Antichrist spirit,” former congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene posted to X on Sunday.
“In 18 months I went from hesitantly voting for Trump to thinking there’s a decent chance he’s the antichrist,” added Clint Russell, host of the right-wing Liberty Lockdown podcast.
“I genuinely believe Trump is currently demon possessed,” far-right Texas pastor Joel Webbon wrote on X. Hours later, Webbon hosted a livestream chat titled “Is Donald Trump the Anti-Christ?”
The Knights Templar Order, a Christian organization based on a medieval military order, wrote of the post that they had “no other choice but to condemn it wholeheartedly and ask for 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 posted on Easter Sunday—have caused a major schism among his supporters that could have lasting effects for him and the Republican Party.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. During a Monday news conference, Trump denied that the image portrayed him as Jesus, telling reporters that he thought the image depicted him as a doctor. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better,” Trump told reporters.
Several MAGA influencers have been claiming that Trump is the antichrist for some time now. Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, in a 43 minute-long opening monolog on his show last Monday, suggested that the administration’s war in Iran was also a war on the Christian faith. Carlson made the video in response to a Truth Social post from Trump on Easter where the president threatened to destroy significant infrastructure in Iran. (“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell,” Trump wrote. “JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”) Despite his never saying the word “antichrist” during the video, people ranging from MAGA media figures 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. Though he has become more critical of the president and his administration recently, Carlson has long used religious language supportively when it comes to Trump. At the 2024 Republican National Convention, Carlson claimed that Trump survived the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, by “divine intervention.”
Trump also claimed divine intervention after the incident, as did many of his allies. Robert Jones, the president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute, tells WIRED that Trump’s frequent portrayals of himself as a messianic figure have helped bring MAGA to a breaking point. “The reason why people have reached for [the antichrist label] is because Trump has actually set the stage for that himself,” says Jones.
