There is no question that Donald Trump is a character under a lot of fire by those against his political views. This is expected to come as a person starts to campaign to be the commander in chief of a country full of many people and, therefore, many different interests and views. However, as I saw more and more of Trump and the presence he holds with his followers, the more I've noticed that Trump is reminiscent of a figure I've heard of from Christian mythology: the rising Antichrist - the earthly champion of Lucifer. As I researched more, it became increasingly clear that he is the Antichrist in their shared characteristics. Many have been found within Biblical verse, but here are some prevailing points:

1. Followers are inspired by and flock to him

It is said that the crooked and the sinners will be attracted to his speeches and be heavily motivated by him. The Antichrist has the ability to use his words to create for his followers a great faith in him. He is said to be followed by many passionate people who will use the power from his words to go forth and act against others to create an environment where sin can breed. And where sin is bred, he will flourish, as he is empowered by Lucifer.

One of Trump's defining characteristics is his ability to bring out the passionate, often hateful, sides of his followers. In the past year, he's been able to amass a lot of hatred, disrespect and disdain for Muslims, Mexicans, immigrants, women and largely anyone else who isn't male, straight, cis-gendered, without a disability, most likely white and on his side. He's able to build off of fear to create an army of those who will look to him for some type of order, even if it's laced with hostility and built upon uncertainty.

He has also proven himself and his followers to be close-minded and violent as they have violently "roughed up" and thrown out escorted any dissenter in one of his rallies out of the area, egged on by Trump, himself, to batter and physically harm these people for opposing him. His supporters have also been shown in countless videos on the internet violently degrading those of a different race or religion, growing bolder, increasingly hateful and more violent as his popularity increases. Many carry his name as a standard, only excusing and endorsing his hate.

2. Incredibly prideful and boastful

The Antichrist is said to speak a lot, loudly and primarily of himself and the grandeur of himself. He is incredibly prideful and loves to boast, making himself seem like a great leader and godly.

Another defining characteristic of Donald Trump is his spoken-of love affair with his daughter himself. He's shown that he has put a considerable amount of effort towards making everything about him, including making the death of Nykea Aldridge (before taking the tweet down and expressing faux condolences) and the Orlando shooting about his politics being "correct". He has become very good at avoiding giving concrete, legitimate answers and very good at talking about how he's a winner and will be a winner as a politician while having never actually been one. He loves to repeat the same, self-promoting statements over and over again to distract people into cheering for him when the point of the conversation is forgotten.

3. Claims to be the authority with ignorant power

The Antichrist is said to value himself as the authority of the people. With the support of his followers, he claims to be above earthly authority. He is said to also move toward disrespecting divine authority as he gets more courageous.

By putting himself on a golden throne (literally) with his boastful speeches, Trump has made himself into a person revered among his followers as THE authority. During his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention he assured the crowd that he, alone, can fix this country. Not with the will of the people nor the actions of the people, no - he alone is the only solution to all of our country's problems. By saying this, he concentrated the power on himself without giving any to the people.

The lack of any remarkable backlash from his followers due to this or anything else he's done has only given him more self-assured pride. He has infamously claimed that he could shoot someone in the street and still be loved by his followers (accompanied by his followers' laughter and cheers). He has even gone to the point of saying that he does not and will not ask for the forgiveness of the God he claims to follow because he doesn't see any of his endorsement of hostility and hatred as "wrong".

4. Regarded as a savior, the bringer of a new era to benefit him

The Antichrist is regarded by his followers and himself as a savior. He is a person who will promise to usher in a new era centered on his deeds.

Again, Donald Trump considers himself to be the only person that can fix the country and mend its problems. His loyal followers champion him to be the one to beat the other candidates and restore America back to its good ol' days that the history books must've missed. They say that he will be the one to make America great. By accrediting him solely as the person to do this, they are, again, giving him the power of a political savior. His tax plans have also changed multiple times along the way. However, the one part that has stayed consistent also gives the rich, such as himself, the upper-hand in the economy.

5. Power over economy

The Antichrist is a modern day figure whom must have power over the populus. Along with the persuasive power among his followers, he will have power over the economy so as to spread his power as efficiently and effectively as possible.

It's well known that Trump was born from wealth and he has maintained a spot in the economy as a well-known name. One of the points that some people find appealing about Trump is that he is seemingly a successful business man after multiple bankruptcies and excessive ripping off and abusing of smaller businesses. He seems to be a powerful force as a giant tower dedicated to him stands in New York. He also claims to have a self-funded campaign and is said to be very well-off. In addition, he's also considered to know how business works, as indicated by his presence on shows like Shark Tank, giving him a good position of influence in the economy.

6. He rises from obscurity and weakens us in secrecy

The Antichrist's most striking and possibly most dangerous quality is that he is one of "us" - "us" being the people. His rise to power is not stopped or impeded until he is already powerful. He attempts to paint himself as someone with the people's interests at heart while secretly weakening them.

At the outset of Donald Trump's political career, people thought it was a joke. It seemed like he did, too. All he would do is dodge questions, brag about himself and make jokes at other candidates' expense. He was more of a class clown than anything else. For the longest time, people just laughed him off. Now, many wish they could. Donald Trump became a candidate seemingly out of nowhere and stole the Republican nomination, to this dismay of multiple members of the Republican party as well as national security officials and many people around the world.

Now that he has the nomination, people listen to him and he's only done harm to "the people" as a group. By labeling groups as dangerous only based on their ethnicity and/or religion, he already serves to divide us as a people. By making fun of those with disabilities and degrading women, he's trying to create a power dynamic within the populus. And where there's a power dynamic, there is one group above the other, destabilizing and silencing interests beyond the dominant one. If there's one thing he's good at it, it's distracting us and hurting our ability to talk, understand and change our country - hell, the world - for the better.

Sources for Biblical Text: Here, here, and here.

I want to acknowledge, at this point, that this article is not a joke. Trump is not a joke. Here, I explored the possibility that, if the Christian religion is correct, Trump would be a good candidate for the Antichrist (but nothing more) based off of Biblical scripture that I could find which mentioned the figure of the Antichrist. Not all of those who read this will be Christian - I, myself am not. However, I acknowledge that the figure of the Antichrist is considered to be the servant and conduit for the source of all evil in the Christian mythology.

Seeing that Donald Trump is a candidate for the president of my country while being a source for such powerful hatred and division of the people - just as the Antichrist would - the reason for backing him is lost on me. It's infuriating that he may be in a position to hurt people I care about and my home along with them. Supporting him is supporting the suppression and abuse of marginalized groups of people (including: women, people of color, immigrants, Muslims, Jewish people, LGBTQ+ people, and many, many others) simply by allowing him to do so. Whether you know it or not, these people are your children, relatives, neighbors, friends, coworkers and others you may simply meet on the street. They are important and deserve to be treated as such because we are a country of many cultures, peoples and interests. Don't let your fear be their pain.