a theological reading of the American president

“And once again, dear Christians, go out and vote; just this time; you will no longer need to do this. You won't need to vote in the future, my beautiful Christian friends. I love you, I am a Christian, I love you; get out of your house and vote. In four years, you won't have to vote again. We'll have everything sorted out, so you won't need to vote anymore. » It was in these obscure terms that candidate Donald Trump harangued his potential voters on July 26, 2024, in West Palm Beach (Florida), in view of the approaching presidential election. What exactly did the billionaire mean by claiming that these were perhaps the last elections the country would experience?

If the supporters of his democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, believed they detected between the lines the ambition of the former president to turn into a dictator and overthrow democracy, the applicant for the supreme office of the United States had insisted on be reassuring: he would not abuse his power “just the first day”time to close the border with Mexico and « fore, fore, fore » ever more fossil fuels.

Others, however, have a very different reading of the candidate's words, seeing in them an allusion to apocalyptic literature from the Judeo-Christian tradition. This is the case of the medievalist Joël Schnapp: “Donald Trump mobilizes powerfully religious rhetoric, with the use of numerous biblical and eschatological themes [relatifs à la fin des temps]to the point that some of his words resemble prophecies from the end of the Middle Ages.underlines the author of Chronicles of the Antichrist. Crises and apocalypses in the 21st century^e century (Piranha blanc, 2023).

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