When Donald Trump descended the escalator in 2015, most observers regarded it as political theater. Rabbi Mendel Kessin saw something else entirely: the reincarnation of a biblical patriarch returning to complete unfinished spiritual business. In a wide-ranging interview published this week, Rabbi Kessin presented a framework that casts Trump not as a conventional political figure but as a divine instrument comparable to Cyrus the Great, the Persian king, whom Isaiah called “God’s anointed one” for enabling the Jewish return to Jerusalem.
The comparison carries weight. Cyrus, though not Jewish, was designated mashiach (anointed) in Scripture for his role in Jewish restoration.
“Thus said the LORD to Cyrus His anointed one, whose right hand I have grasped, treading down nations before him, ungirding the loins of kings, opening doors before him and letting no gate stay shut: I will march before you and level the hills”(Isaiah 45:1-2).
That a Gentile ruler could fulfill divine purpose was radical at the time. Rabbi Kessin argues it remains the template now.
Rabbi Kessin began with a question that has puzzled observers across the political spectrum: “Why is this guy hated so much? You disagree with the guy, okay. But presidents have been disagreed with all throughout history…But you know, unless the guy’s a tyrant, then I understand why people hate him.”
The hatred Trump generates, Rabbi Kessin argued, exceeds normal political disagreement. “When you speak to somebody that really hates Trump, you’re mystified. What do you hate the guy so much for? You dislike him. Oh, he’s a poor leader, you know. But your hatred of him is visceral. It’s [from the] gut. You know, the only ones that you hate like that are mortal enemies. And Trump didn’t do anything to you.”
This visceral response, according to Rabbi Kessin, stems from spiritual warfare rather than political disagreement. He identifies the source as the satan, which in Jewish theology refers to the prosecuting angel who defends divine justice. As humanity approaches the messianic era, this force is poised to become obsolete. “The satan can only survive if there is free will in the world,” Rabbi Kessin explained. “As we get closer and closer to the messianic age, he begins to get worried. Why? Because he will be exterminated. You don’t need justice anymore because the Messiah has arrived.”
The Patriarch Who Fell
To understand Trump’s role requires understanding Esau. Most know the biblical narrative: Jacob and Esau, twin sons of Isaac, represented different paths. But Rabbi Kessin offered a less familiar perspective. “Most people do not realize,” he said, “how many patriarchs were there? There was Abraham, there’s Isaac, and then of Isaac and his twin brother Esau. That’s why they’re twins. And therefore, they have four matriarchs that match. The problem is that one of the patriarchs, that’s what he was for 13 years or 15 years, was Esau.”
Esau was intended to be a patriarch, Rabbi Kessin explained, but failed in his mission. “The role of Esau was to go into the world and convince people to worship God, to fight evil. The role of Jacob was to sit and imbibe spirituality, to imbibe holiness. Esau was ish sadeh, man of the field, and to try to promote the belief and trust in God. Those were the two different roles. One was inside, and the other person was for the outside world.”
When Esau succumbed to temptation and Jacob purchased the birthright, the divine plan was altered. Jacob assumed both roles, an impossible burden for one person. Joseph inherited half of Esau’s mission, which explains why Joseph merited two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.
But the story includes a turn: Esau’s repentance. When Jacob returned from Laban’s house, Esau kissed him and declared, “Let that which is yours be yours.” Rashi, the foremost biblical commentator, interpreted this as Esau telling Jacob, “You can keep the blessings. I’m no longer mad at you. Which means he repented.”
Rabbi Kessin argued that this incomplete repentance created a cosmic debt. “God, as part of the divine agenda, says I’m going to bring Esau back, and Esau’s job will now be that he can’t be the former patriarch that he was. Instead, what he will now be is that he will repent at the end of time in the messianic era. He will assist the Messiah.”
The Man on the Escalator
This brings us to 2015. “Somebody comes down the escalator, and he said I’m running for president. And his name, of course, is Donald Trump. Now, everybody laughed. He provided the comic relief. He ran against 16 people with tremendous reputations, governors and former senators, all running for president. Not only that, but also Hillary Clinton, and she’s a world-famous person. And who’s running against them? Donald Trump, a businessman. Impossible.”
Rabbi Kessin said he recognized Trump’s significance immediately. “A thought occurred to me. I said, of course, this man is a reincarnation of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who is a very good friend of Rebbi, Rabbi Judah the Prince, a very good friend. And he is depicted as an individual who is a good aspect of Esau because Marcus Aurelius was the Roman emperor who was very good friends with Rebbi.”
The rabbi made a prediction others dismissed. “I just happened to realize that he’s going to win. Why? Because he has to win because he’s the biblical prophecy that has to assist the Messiah. That is what God has granted Esau, that he’s going to come back to teshuva (repentance) and assist the Messiah, and he’s going to be wonderful to the Jewish people.”
Trump’s victory vindicated that prediction. “It was a miracle. I mean, the fact that he won was a miracle because there were people that hated him then. He wasn’t even president yet, and he was already hated. He had no political history. He already was being vilified. They gave no odds. The fact that he won against so many different people and world-famous people, is a miracle. It’s just astounding that he won.”
Divine Protection and Presidential Purpose
The July 2024 assassination attempt provided, in Rabbi Kessin’s view, unmistakable evidence of divine intervention. “That bullet was a quarter of an inch away from his brain and it should have killed him. When God made the miracle, he made sure that Trump would know it was a miracle and not normal. How? Because Trump said he never looks, I forgot which way, right or left… he looks to one side only. And not to the other. Only at the end of the lecture does he ever look the opposite way. At that moment, it was the only time he ever looked the opposite way. Because he looked that way, the bullet missed him.”
Trump acknowledged this himself. A reporter, at Rabbi Kessin’s suggestion, asked Trump during a press conference why God saved him. Trump’s response surprised the rabbi. ”Trump said, ‘I believe the reason why God saved me is because the world is going downhill. He wants me to save the world,’ which is messianic. That’s a messianic answer because he should have said MAGA, make America great again. He didn’t say that. He ignored his own statement, and he referred to the entire world. That means Trump understood intuitively this seems to be something messianic involved.”
The Emperor, Not Just President
Rabbi Kessin made a striking claim about Trump’s actual status. “Trump is not the president of the United States. Don’t make that mistake. There is a reason because he is a messianic figure. Trump is an emperor, not a president. And you see that. His word has incredible influence, power. He gets people voted in just by his recommendation. No president ever had that type of influence, that type of prestige. He’s not the president of the United States. People don’t understand they’re looking at an emperor of the world.”
“This emperor status brings responsibility. Trump has survived legal challenges that would destroy others. He’s escaped every single legal case miraculously. The time the US government was against them. Do you have any idea of the unlimited resources under Biden? Department of Justice, everybody was against them. New York was against them. The Justice Department was against them. The Attorney General, everybody, and they have unlimited money. He escaped and he’s escaped death.”
The Danger of Missing the Mission
Here, Rabbi Kessin’s tone shifted to warning. Trump faces a danger he may not recognize: the temptation to prioritize legacy over mission. “Trump does not have a legacy. Trump has made a lot of money, knows a lot of people, and so on. But there’s one thing that he’s missing, and that is a world-famous legacy like George Washington. He doesn’t have that. Too many people hate him for that. Yet he has that position in the world. He knows that, and that’s what he wants. He wants to go down in history with a real legacy. That’s his bribery. His bribery.”
The Nobel Peace Prize represents this temptation. “He wants the Nobel Prize. That’s a legacy. Because if you get the Nobel Prize, you got it. That’s it. They’re not going to argue with you about the Nobel. He should have gotten the Nobel Prize for the Abraham Accords. The Nobel Committee, I mean, where does this woman from Venezuela do anything close to bringing the Abraham Accords? But he’s getting enamored with the Arabs, Qatar, and all these guys, because he thinks that if he makes peace with them, even to throwing in a towel with them, that’s going to help his bid for the legacy. But he’s making a big mistake. They’ll never give him Nobel Prize. They hate the guy.”
Rabbi Kessin identified Trump’s critical error: operating without understanding the divine plan. “If you assign a job and it’s a divine job, you better make sure you understand the plan of God. He doesn’t. He does not understand the plan or the agenda of what God wants. Therefore, he needs a mentor. Every king of Israel had a prophet, whether it be Jeremiah or Isaiah, whatever. They had, you know, they all had their prophet because they had to know what does God want me to do.”
The absence of prophets in the current era makes this challenging. “The problem of course, now is that there is no prophet. But I would imagine there are people who seem to know where God wants to take the entire world. He does not avail himself of that, or he may have Christian leaders. I don’t know what he’s got, but he needs a mentor to tell him what they think at least God wants him to do, and he’ll listen, and he’ll decide whether he agrees or disagrees, or at least have some indication. He doesn’t.”
Can Trump Fail?
When asked whether Trump could fail in his mission, Rabbi Kessin responded candidly: “I believe so because he still has free will.” Divine appointment does not eliminate human choice. The kings of Israel had prophets precisely because even divinely chosen leaders can stray from their mission.
Yet Rabbi Kessin maintains hope. “I don’t think God wants Trump to fail, even though potentially he could fail. There will be a divine intervention to help him. I believe that God will assist them because Trump is really in many ways a very good person, and he deserves, in terms of the goodness that he’s done to people, to deserve that.”
The stakes extend beyond Trump personally. “The satan needs to dispose of him. People don’t understand. He’s the greatest enemy the satan has ever known because if Trump helps the Messiah, if he brings peace to the Middle East, that’s the beginning of a messianic age.”
The Cyrus Parallel
The comparison to Cyrus carries particular resonance. Cyrus permitted Jewish return and Temple rebuilding not from personal conviction but as an instrument of divine will. His recognition came through Isaiah: “I call you by name, I hail you by title, though you have not known Me” (Isaiah 45:4). Cyrus served God’s purpose without necessarily understanding it fully.
Trump’s relationship with Israel, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, his brokering of the Abraham Accords, and his strong support despite political cost all mirror Cyrus’s unexpected role. Both gentile leaders. Both wield unprecedented power. Both serve purposes beyond their full comprehension.
Rabbi Kessin pointed to Trump’s unique position in American history. “Trump was voted a second time, which has only happened once in American history. I think it’s Benjamin Harrison or something like that. It only happened once… and nobody predicted it. I predicted it. I said he would win twice because he has to assist the Messiah himself.”
The Messianic Framework
Rabbi Kessin located current events within a broader messianic timeline. “We have entered a period of time called messianic. We are really in the last throws of civilization. I think in a certain sense everybody feels it in their bones that we’re in the last period of time.”
In Jewish understanding, the messianic age represents the revelation of what angels continually see: the reality of God. “God wants to reveal the reality that angels see every day, every minute of their existence. We live in a shifting reality. And the messianic age is the age of the earth, in which we see the same reality as what the angels see. Imagine living in the world of angels. Literally, not figuratively, but living in the world of angels, where you see not only angels, but you see the presence of God as you see the presence of the sun at 12:00 noon on a clear day.”
This requires removing tumah, the spiritual contamination introduced by Adam’s sin. The messianic process involves two figures: Mashiach ben Yosef, who fights evil directly, and Mashiach ben David, who brings spiritual redemption. Trump, as a reincarnation of Esau, who was meant to “go into the world and fight evil,” serves as a precursor to Mashiach ben Yosef.
“Trump’s job is to make the world more righteous,” Rabbi Kessin explained. “This world is terribly physical. Everybody’s involved in pleasure. Religion is really in many ways on the way out, which is unfortunate. So his role is to fight the evil of the world in trying to get rid of them, which is really, if you want to look at it in today’s terms, it’s the left, the progressives, the liberals. These are the evil parts. His job is to neutralize the formal message of the left.”
Europe’s Collapse and America’s Role
Rabbi Kessin contextualized Trump’s significance in relation to Europe’s demographic collapse. “Other countries are falling. France is dying. Islam is taking them over. England, unfortunately, is dying. They are being taken over by Islam, Spain, and Italy. In fact, in less than 20 years, Europe will be gone. That’s not normal. Europe’s been around for 2,000 years, and it’s going to disappear basically because the replacement rate is much less than it should be. That threatens the entire stability of the world, and the world is going to be very unstable.”
With Europe failing, America becomes the sole Western power capable of facilitating divine purpose. Trump’s emergence coincides with this transition. His unorthodox path to power, his survival of obstacles that destroyed others, and his global influence beyond typical presidential bounds all point to something Rabbi Kessin sees as orchestrated from above.
The Warning
Rabbi Kessin’s analysis concludes with urgent counsel. Trump must recognize that his role exceeds political achievement. The divine assignment demands understanding of divine objectives, not merely the pursuit of personal legacy. Cyrus succeeded not by seeking glory but by executing divine will, often without full comprehension.
“God doesn’t deal with favors,” Rabbi Kessin emphasized. “He deals with the mission of existence. What I want you to accomplish in existence is to further the redemption. When you’re appointed by a president, that’s a tremendous honor. If you disobey what he’s appointed you for, you’re judged, and you can be evicted. God doesn’t work that way. If God assigns you and sends you signs, I’m assigning you, and you don’t listen, you’re making a big mistake because if you fail to do the mission, that’s your purpose for being.”
The rabbi believes Trump received clear signs of divine appointment. The assassination attempt that missed by fractions of an inch. The legal victories against overwhelming odds. The global influence of this president is unprecedented. The question remains whether Trump recognizes these signs and adjusts his course accordingly.
The biblical precedent offers both encouragement and warning. Cyrus fulfilled his mission and earned eternal recognition as God’s anointed. But other divinely appointed leaders failed when they prioritized their own glory over divine purpose. Saul lost his kingdom. Jeroboam split Israel. The pattern holds: divine appointment grants opportunity, not a guarantee.
Trump stands at the intersection of personal ambition and divine mission. Will he pursue the Nobel Prize through compromises that undermine Israel, or will he recognize that his true legacy lies in facilitating the redemptive process? According to Rabbi Kessin, the answer will determine not only Trump’s historical legacy but also the trajectory of the messianic era itself. Like Cyrus before him, Trump may be an unlikely instrument of divine will. Whether he fully embraces that role or seeks conventional glory instead remains the urgent question of this moment in history.
