Tucker Carlson dropped a theological bombshell on his podcast last week, suggesting that President Donald Trump might be the Antichrist. The charge, rooted in Christian eschatology and aimed at a sitting president by one of his most prominent former allies, set off a media firestorm.
The passage Carlson read on air from Daniel 11:36 states: “And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done.” (Daniel 11:36). The Sages understood this verse as referring to Antiochus IV Epiphanes — the Seleucid tyrant who desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem in 167 BCE and whose arrogance became the backdrop of the Hanukkah story. It is a historical warning about human hubris before God.
The concept of an Antichrist comes almost entirely from the Christian New Testament — from 2 Thessalonians and 1 John. When Carlson read from those letters on his show, he was operating within a specific theological framework that is not universally understood in the same way by all branches of Christianity.
The trigger for Carlson’s accusation was an AI-generated image Trump posted on Truth Social depicting himself in white robes, healing a man in a hospital bed with a glowing light emanating from his hands.
“It’s Donald Trump, president of the United States, dressed as Jesus, healing a man. You can see the healing power coming off of his right hand,” he said on the show. “It’s mockery. He’s mocking Jesus. He’s making fun of Christianity. The central figure of the religion is being held up for mockery. It’s an attack not just on a specific set of facts, it’s an attack on the idea that there are facts. It’s an attack on truth openly. No one’s hiding this.”
Carlson then posed the question directly to his audience: “Here’s a leader who’s mocking the gods of his ancestors, mocking the God of gods and exalting himself above them. Could this be the Antichrist? Well, who knows? At least that’s my conclusion: Who knows?”
Trump moved to walk the image back after a wave of criticism, including from his own base. “I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross,” Trump said. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better and I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
Trump then went on the offensive on Truth Social, targeting Carlson along with Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones. “I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon — Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs,” Trump wrote. “They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too. They’ve all been thrown off Television, lost their Shows and aren’t even invited on TV because nobody cares about them, they’re NUT JOBS, TROUBLEMAKERS.”
It should be noted that Jewish sages understood the verses in Daniel in a different manner and Judaism does not have a concept of the Antichrist. While The Tanakh — the Hebrew Bible — contains no such figure, it does contain vivid accounts of kings who elevated themselves above God and paid dearly for it. The Bible records those stories with historical precision and moral clarity, but it does not speak of a singular end-times deceiver in the Christian mold.
Islam, on the other hand, has a strikingly similar concept to the Christian Antichrist: the Dajjal, meaning “the deceiver” or “the great liar.” Islamic eschatology describes the Dajjal as a false messiah who emerges at the end of days, claims divine status, performs apparent miracles, and leads vast numbers of people astray through his power of persuasion. The Dajjal, according to hadith — the collected sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad — is a populist figure of immense charisma who seduces nations before being defeated. The parallels to the Christian Antichrist are substantial. The theological traditions are distinct, but the archetype is unmistakably similar.
That parallel raises a pointed question about Carlson himself. In recent years, Carlson has cultivated relationships with governments and voices that sit comfortably within Islamist-aligned political frameworks. He conducted an admiring interview with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has been a persistent critic of Israel and has expressed sympathy for Qatar. His podcast has increasingly featured arguments that dovetail with narratives circulating in pan-Islamist media. If Carlson is in the business of matching political figures to end-times archetypes, his own recent associations raise the question of which theological tradition’s eschatology he has been, perhaps unwittingly, absorbing.
The feud between Carlson and Trump is real and bitter, rooted not in theology but in disagreements over Iran, Israel, and the direction of the MAGA movement. Carlson was fired from Fox News in 2023 and has since built a large independent audience. He was once among Trump’s most influential media allies — credited with shaping the president’s worldview on a range of issues. That relationship has collapsed over foreign policy, and the Antichrist accusation is the most dramatic salvo yet.
Trump, for his part, has long cultivated the language of divine favor. After surviving two assassination attempts in 2024, he told audiences repeatedly that God had spared him. In 2019, during a trade dispute with China, he called himself “the chosen one,” later claiming sarcasm. Evangelical supporters have compared him to King David — the flawed leader chosen by God despite his imperfections. Trump has never discouraged that comparison.
This week’s confrontation is ultimately less about prophecy than about a crumbling political alliance. The Antichrist charge will generate headlines and then recede. The fractures it exposes — over Iran, over Israel, over the limits of the MAGA coalition — will not.
