Is Donald Trump the Antichrist?

Ari Melber yesterday opened his MSNBC show, The Beat, with a fascinating rant comparing Donald Trump and his lawyers to the role Al Pacino plays as Satan in the movie “The Devil’s Advocate.” A movie, Melber notes, that was shot in Trump’s apartment in Trump Tower where the devil lived.

People claiming religious inspiration, and manipulating American political systems for what they say are religious reasons, have become a really big deal during the Trump era. It’s the new Republican thing, even among elected officials.

And they have a lot of money behind them. A Chicago businessman, according to media reports, just gave $1.6 billion — with a “B” — to Leonard Leo (who Clarence Thomas called “the number three most powerful person in the world”) and the organization Leo runs.

Leo, you may remember, was a major force in getting hard-right Christian fundamentalists onto the Supreme Court, which then opened the door to taxpayer money being used to fund religious schools and to coercing students to participate in school prayer.

If there’s a single person most responsible for the end of Roe v Wade, it’s arguably Leonard Leo and, for many working on his project, Christianity is at the core of their activism.

Commentators across the political and religious spectrum are pointing out how “Christian Nationalism,” as promoted in Germany in the 1930s and today by Republicans, is undertaking an effort to rewrite our constitution, our laws, and even our social compact.

Which raises the difficult question: “Is Donald Trump the Antichrist?”

When a caller to my radio/TV show asked this question recently, I passed on drawing a conclusion, but then the lines lit up with a steady stream of people over the next few hours offering their “proofs” that Trump was, in fact, the Evil One come to ravage the Earth. That first caller clearly hit a nerve.

It’s a fascinating question, however, whether put literally or metaphorically.

Asking the question literally requires a belief in the actual reality of a Son-of-God Christ figure and of an Antichrist opponent of nearly equal but opposite power. This sort…