The faithful are those that flee when they see the abomination statue. The unfaithful stay in "Jerusalem" and are subsequently taken over by "Gentiles"/ non Christians. The faithful are gathered in the wilderness where they had to flee to.
In our US analogy, let's say Trump gets assassinated (as the news propaganda is preparing us for this event) and heals from his mortal head wound. This would cause a major rift in US politics, a civil war between Republicans and Democrats. The economy is in shattered pieces, Putin comes in with the new banking system, a digital banking system with a microchip.
Let's say that this happens before the elections in November.
Republicans would rally around their martyred candidate. If the nation were suffering from other major disasters at the same time, the economy would be ruined, possibly going into martial law. The 10 FEMA governors could conceivably just make Trump our president by appointment instead of election, thus making him not a "real" president.
Putin along with the UN, in charge due to wielding economic might, could come in and co-rule in some manner with the martial law US run by the illegitimate candidate turned president. Putin would appeal to the socialist left and Trump would appeal to the fascist right - the worst of both worlds, but would have enough air of legitamacy to pull it off.
The faithful would be those that would still fight for freedom and US values, which potentially appeals to certain people of any political ideal in the US. Not all Democrats endorse Communist dictatorships, and not all Republicans would endorse a Hitler style fascism. So, these 2 groups could find a common ground. Just like the Trump / Putin combo finds a common ground following. But these 2 pairs would be diametrically opposed.