Is Pres. Trump the Anti-Christ--"The Man of Lawlessness"?

Paul, in 2 Thessalonians, speaks about "the man of lawlessness" who will precede the day of the coming of the Lord. This man of lawlessness is generally spoken of as the anti-Christ. I've seen people ask whether President Trump is the anti-Christ. It would be easy to dismiss the suggestion except for the one salient fact--that millions of Christians have made him their idol. And why is this relevant?

Here's what Paul says:

2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, 12 so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Paul says there will be a "rebellion" first.  The Greek word is "apostasia" which can be translated as "apostasy." So this is referring to believers. But apostasy is not necessarily leaving the faith, but it is turning from what one knows to be true and holy, to what is false and sacrilegious. This man of lawlessness eclipses all objects of worship, drawing all attention--devotion--to himself.

The part about the son of perdition taking a seat in the temple and proclaiming himself to be God I suppose depends on how one wants to take that, literally or figuratively. It would seem too obvious if someone literally sat in the temple and proclaimed themselves God, that this is another Christ--an anti-Christ. But perhaps that's what's in store for the world. The temple has not yet been rebuilt so there is no threat that we are living in the time of the man of lawlessness.

But the "mystery of lawlessness" is already present as Paul says.  He indicates that there will be precursors to the true anti-Christ. And, unfortunately, many will be deceived. Do we know anything about who will be deceived?

The condition for deception is not some predestined ledger God created from the beginning of time. That makes no sense. Rather, what qualifies one for deception is that one does not "believe the truth." That's vague, so let's put that to the side. But here's the other condition, they have "pleasure in unrighteousness." Not that they necessarily do the unrighteousness, but that they have pleasure in it--endorsing it, accepting it, justifying it. This seems like a concern that Christian devotees of President Trump have to tackle. Have they become like Esau? Have they traded their consciences for the idol of so-called righteous policies, and sought the unrighteous or the profane or the banal? 

The difference between President Trump's Christian devotees and liberal Christians serious about their faith has to do with this "having pleasure in unrighteousness." When your hands are dirty, you know you have no choice but to cower in the corner of the temple and plead for mercy. I think many liberal Christians are aware that they are "unprofitable servants" (Luke 17:7-10). Although many are absolutely certain that God must conform to a philosophical standard of universal good, thereby declaring that God is not in fact God. I guess when it's all said and done, no one is righteous.

President Trump is not the anti-Christ, but one can't help but feel that his vessel floats down the stream of this mystery of lawlessness that is already at work in the world.