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.