David Benfell, Ph.D. (he/him/his) on Nostr: I recall that some drew 666 from the number of letters in each of Ronald Wilson ...

I recall that some drew 666 from the number of letters in each of Ronald Wilson Reagan's names.

My view of that era is skewed by the fact that I was in Reno, Nevada, at the time, where ranchers forever wanted to put more cattle and sheep on Bureau of Land Management land, hence the "Sagebrush Rebellion." It was a capitalist libertarian impulse that public land should be in private hands to use and abuse.

I didn't take the Antichrist stuff seriously because I felt then, as I still do, that if the god of Abraham exists as described in the Bible, he is unworthy of worship. My thinking on that has progressed, but the conclusion remains much the same: https://www.disunitedstates.org/p/on-good-and-evil

The description of the Antichrist that sticks with me--I do not recall the source--is of likely a secular humanist with a mass following, leading people away from Christianity. Reagan was misguided in his Christianity but nonetheless a Christian. Trump is no humanist. Neither fits the bill for me.