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.
The Trump administration has been at odds with Catholics and the Vatican over the last week, as well. Hours before posting the AI-generated picture of himself as a Jesus-like figure, Trump slammed Pope Leo XIV on Truth Social as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” adding, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
While the Pope has never said he wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon, he has been highly critical of Trump’s actions in Iran, calling the war “atrocious” and adding that the leaders responsible for the conflict have “hands full of blood.”
Trump’s latest criticism of Leo comes just days after reports first emerged of a January meeting between administration officials and the Pope’s ambassador to the US, Cardinal Christophe Pierre. During the meeting, the US’s undersecretary of war for policy, Elbridge Colby, allegedly told Pierre that the Vatican should get on board with Trump’s military ambitions or face the consequences—which, The Free Press reported, included a reference to Avignon, implying that the US would exert pressure on the pope. The Department of Defense confirmed the meeting took place but called the accounts “exaggerated and distorted.” The Vatican press office also said in a statement that some of the reported details were “untrue,” and added that the Pentagon meeting occurred “within the regular mission of the Pontifical Representative and provided an opportunity for an exchange of views regarding matters of mutual interest.”
This is not the first time Trump has angered Catholics with AI imagery. Last year, after the death of Pope Francis, Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself as the pope. This time around however, with his approval ratings at an all-time low and Republicans worried about the midterms, the fallout could be much greater.
“It's a very politically risky move for Trump,” Jones tells WIRED. “Every time he's been on the ballot, white Catholics in the US have voted for him about six in 10 … If he alienates Catholic voters, many of whom are his supporters, it could be very detrimental.”
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