The most basic an obvious reason why he is not the antichrist, is that the antichrist will be universally loved and adored.
First pic from another world with life?
Thinking out loud here, but Marial Law is to put civilians under military control. With SpecOps teams engaging enemy forces and many people home for the holidays or locked down, its possible this level of control is not needed over civilians.
You are right, but I think he is a white hat actor. To me the technologies he is pushing out are all MAGA aligned. That's my theory anyway. He used to really piss me off too, like an obvious rich boy shill. But I was looking at him as more of a Richard Branson then, whereas I see him now more as a Tony Stark.