Why would it have to be supernatural. Look at the frenzy over Trump as a minuscule example of what people look to. Anti-Christ is a system of man that serves self, perhaps at end of days to the extreme. Make adversarial man great again.
Christ promoted a system that serves others. You don't see the same frenzy over anyone promoting that. People are leery of things with no strings attached.
Why would it have to be supernatural?? Because of what our Lord Jesus forewarned about it in Matthew 24:24 especially...
Matt 24:24
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
KJV
Firstly, the whole context of the Matthew 24:23-26 verses is about a coming singular pseudo-Christ. The KJV phrase "false Christs" is just the Greek word
pseudochristos, from 2 Greek words --
pseudo meaning false, and
christos meaning Christ singular. This is why Dr. James Strong translated
pseudochristos to
'a spurious Messiah' in his Strong's Concordance (Strong's no. 5580).
Secondly, and markedly, by that phrase in red above our Lord Jesus showed how powerful a deception those "great signs and wonders" are meant. His very elect are sealed by The Holy Spirit for the tribulation, and that means they cannot... be deceived. I know the majority of Churches do not even teach about the delivering up of some of Christ's Church at the end to give a Testimony by The Holy Spirit, but that was well covered by our Lord Jesus there in His Olivet discourse also (Mark 13:9-13; Revelation 6:9-11). Why is this point important you might wonder?
It's because if those great signs and wonders would have to be so powerful as to fool even Christ's very elect, they would believe it would have to be who doing them? And in the Greek the word (
kai - 2532) is there about those being 'very' or 'even' the elect, pointing to a specific preserved elect, suggesting they have a specific duty by Christ in that time. In other words, Jesus has chosen those for a specific job at the end, and they cannot... be turned from it nor be deceived. So if the miracles the Antichrist will do would 'almost'... deceive them, then what will it do to others not sealed? That is pointing to a supernatural working upon the earth that is going to deceive the whole world (excepting those 'sealed' by The Holy Spirit).
This is why the coming tribulation is not going to be a time of all out war, etc., but a time of world peace and prosperity (Dan.8; Matthew 24:6 "... but the end is not yet."). It will be a tribulation in 2 ways -- firstly it will be a tribulation upon Christ's Church here on earth. And secondly it will be a tribulation upon the deceived and wicked, even while it will be a time of world peace and prosperity on earth, simply because their belief on the coming pseudo-Christ will put their souls in danger of hell fire later.