The U.S. Marine Corps condemned recent remarks from a discharged Marine and Florida congressional candidate who claimed President Donald Trump is the Antichrist and called for him to be killed.
William Upham, who was medically discharged from the Marines last year and is running for Congress in Florida as a write-in candidate, claimed in a nearly seven-minute video posted to X on Monday that he’s come to believe Trump is a domestic enemy who deserves to die. He cited Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo XIV and his post of an AI-generated photo depicting himself as a Christ-like figure earlier this year.
“I’ve reached a turning point in my campaign. Why? I’ve come to the realization that our country is broken. We are led by a president who’s the enemy of God, and President Trump will never bring us together like God intended,” Upham said while in uniform.
Despite claiming “violence should never be used for evil purposes such as vengeance or plunder,” Upham went on to say: “We are at war with evil. This is a war between God and the Antichrist. There is no doubt in my mind that the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, is the Antichrist. He is a false Messiah, and he is your enemy, and he must be killed.”
Upham claimed Trump fits the description of “the man of lawlessness” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12, which has historically been considered by many theologians to refer to an Antichrist figure who will appear before the Second Coming of Christ. He likened the United States to Babylon in the Book of Revelation and claimed “God and His angels have condemned our country because we are drowning in sin.”
“President Trump is the Antichrist and he will be killed and sent to hell. God will prevail against evil,” he said.
— William Upham (@uphamforflorida) July 14, 2026
After his video went viral, the Marine Corps issued a statement Tuesday accusing Upham of violating his oath.
“The Marine Corps is aware of the disturbing statements made by William Upham, who was medically discharged on May 30, 2025. The comments made by Upham are a direct violation of the oath he swore to uphold and are not in keeping with the service’s values,” it said.
Hung Cao, who serves as acting secretary of the Navy, also denounced Upham for his violent rhetoric on Tuesday.
“Unacceptable. William Upham is no longer a Marine and does not represent our values or ethos,” Cao said in an X post.
Upham served in the Marine Corps from June 2021 until September 2025 and reached the rank of first lieutenant, according to Task & Purpose.
Upham’s theological assessment of Trump has been echoed by figures such as Tucker Carlson, who cited 2 Thessalonians and the Daniel 11:36 during an April monologue in which he suggested Trump exhibits the characteristics of the Antichrist, though he never called for violence and said it remains “unclear” if Trump is that figure.
Carlson condemned Trump at the time for what he described as an increasingly sacrilegious attitude toward Christianity, citing his public feud with the pope and multiple social media posts around Easter that Carlson said were “a mockery of God.”
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