This past weekend, I almost got involved in a discussion that had the potential to go very bad, very quickly. Luckily, I was in a position to quickly and quietly walk away. The discussion, as you might have guessed, involved politics. One MAGA guy was very loud and a little aggressive and his “opponent” was getting a little ticked.
Just before I made my escape, someone said that MAGA is a cult. Thankfully, I didn’t hear the response….. but a few days later, I got to thinking about that remark. You don’t hear the term cult too much anymore, but I’m pretty sure cults are just as prevalent as they ever were — maybe more so.
Anyhow, a bit of extensive research on my part uncovered some interesting information.
Although I haven’t read it, someone by the name of Steven Hassan wrote a book titled, “The Cult of Trump” back in 2019. Hassan describes a “BITE” model of cult mind control —behavior, information, thought, and emotional control. He says that the MAGA movement checks all the boxes of the model. Hassan argues that Trump restricts the information his followers are allowed to accept. He also demands purity of belief (beliefs that can change from moment to moment, as per his whims and needs.) Additionally, he appeals to his followers through the conjuring of primal emotions — not just fear, but also joy. I hadn’t thought about it before, but maybe cult isn’t a particularly bad description for that group of followers. Cult members feel empowered and special — they consider themselves one of the elite and close to the person who has all the answers. Cult members enjoy knowing that they, and their friends, are the ones that are right about everything. A lot of this sounds familiar to me from my younger days when cults like Jonestown were making the news.
My extensive research found that followers of Trump had one source of information they trusted — not the (conservative) media, the clergy or family members — only Donald J. Trump. From what I can tell, no-one can be reasoned, or argued out of Trumpism.
I found one article that was interesting about cult rules…
The first rule of cults is: you’re never in a cult
The second rule of cults is: the cult will forgive any sin, except the sin of leaving
The third rule of cults is: even if he did it, that doesn’t mean he’s guilty
It appears that cults today don’t end by everyone drinking the kool-aid — they probably die out when they can’t continue to recruit members.
I ran across an article that listed phrases that cult leaders almost always use. The list is fairly long, but here’s a few examples…
“Don’t question my authority…”
“This is okay for me to do because…”
“Don’t talk to those people because…
”You need to give me your money because…”
“Outsiders hate me because…”
“If you leave, you are turning your back on me and horrible things will happen to you…”
And the list goes on — I’ll leave it up to you to decide if any of these sound familiar.
I’ve heard it said that almost any cult will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
I guess there always has been, and always will be, cults. When one dies out, another seems to take its place — so whatever is next, we might as well get ready for it…..
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