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How did Charles Manson die? Cult leader's Jesus-lookalike pic with Trump goes viral

Notorious cult leader Charles Manson found himself back in the spotlight after a photo of him dressed as Jesus while standing behind Trump went viral

Charles Manson, the famous cult leader linked to the death of actress Sharon Tate in the 1970s, is currently trending on Twitter, again. This time, his name is trending after people spotted an image of Jesus Christ that looked a lot like Manson. That image also featured Donald Trump, who's been linked to Manson several times before. 

The infamous cult leader has become the subject of many media adaptations. Known for his love of The Beatles, Manson was the subject of ‘Helter Skelter: An American Myth' in 2020. Of late though, he's regularly featured as a comparison to the current state of the Republican Party. Actor Jeffery Wright first compared Trump to Manson in a 2019 tweet. 

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In January 2020, political activist Marianne Williamson was trolled after she tweeted that Trump had pardoned Manson, which she later noted was fake news. Now the Trump-Manson links are back, even though it has been nearly five years since his death, which is itself a controversial topic. 

How did Charles Manson die?

Like his life, Manson's death is filled with controversy. On March 29, 1971, a jury sentenced Manson and his three co-conspirators to death for their roles in the murder of Tate. In 1972, when the death penalty was ruled unconstitutional, he was re-sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. Manson spent the rest of his life at various facilities in California, including California State Prison, San Quentin State Prison and Pelican Bay State Prison. 

In 2017, when he was 82-years-old, Manson suffered from gastrointestinal bleeding while at California State Prison in Corcoran. He was rushed to a hospital in Bakersfield, but doctors ruled he was "too weak" to undergo surgery. It was unclear how he was treated, but he returned to prison shortly afterward. That happened in January. Then in November 2017, he was re-admitted to the hospital. His status was not disclosed by the California Department of Corrections due to medical privacy laws. 

It was reported at the time he was "near death", which turned out to be true. On November 19, it was announced that Manson had died due to a cardiac arrest, brought on by respiratory failure and colon cancer. Following his death, three people staked claim to his estate and body. Eventually, the drama ended after a Los Angeles court ruled that Manson's grandson Jason Freeman was the sole heir. The drama continues though, with pen pal Michael Channels still pursuing his claims in court.

While he may be dead and buried, Manson has returned to social media. That is in part due to an image shared by Patriot Takes, which shows Trump with a figure of Jesus Christ. Twitter quickly noticed that the Christ figure looked a lot like Manson, leading to a lot of trolling.

'I am the chosen one. Charles Manson says so' 

"It's not the first time I've seen Charles Manson and Donald together," one person tweeted, sharing the video comparison of Trump and Manson. Another captioned the photo, "I am The Chosen One. Charles Manson says so!"

One user joked, "Charles Manson is trending so I can only assume that the GOP has just announced their candidate for 2024. No crazier than their last pick." Picking up on that theme, another person tweeted, "I saw Charles Manson trending. I was just glad to see he hadn't come back from the dead to run for Congress as a Republican. He'd be a slam-dunk with this base."

Another user dragged Jake Paul into the debate, tweeting, "First thing came to mind was "Jake Paul challenges the skeleton of Charles Manson to a fight"." One person joked, "If I’d known Jesus was Charles Manson I would have been much more God fearing as a child!!" One person noted, "I'll take Charles Manson over FUPA Trump everytime. Though to his credit, Trump does have a more devoted cult following."

Manson's life briefly became a hot topic following Tarantino's 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood'. The 2019 film ended on the night Tate was murdered, but Tarantino changed the ending to leave Tate alive, and the Manson cult attack stunt performer Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) instead. The film didn't feature Manson, but the presence of his cult did lead to a lot of interest in his life.