Despite Donald Trump's erratic behaviour, his fan base has formed a loyalty ‘cult’ around him. Yet Elizaveta Gaufman and Adrian Favero explain how it is precisely his transgressive behaviour that is feeding Trump's charismatic authority. And this cult-like devotion of Trump loyalists, they argue, is reminiscent of darker times in US history
The kind and number of Trump’s administrative gaffes, his incessant daily lies, his boorish behavior, his total and complete doing the exact opposite of what he said he would do to restore the lives of all those disaffected voters in those four states...
12 Warning Signs of a Cult and Psychological Manipulation | Amen Clinics Amen Clinics
Cults have always been a source of fascination. Groups like NXIVM, children of God, the Manson Family, David Koresh’s Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate, and Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple have spawned dozens of books, films, and cult documentaries. A recent Netflix docuseries called Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult has brought this form of
This seems to be a growing phenomenon. Maybe it’s an extreme emotional reaction to the election results, but this seems to be happening all over the nation. �Many people are breaking their ties ...
On the fourth episode of Now & Then, “QAnon, Cults, and Cutlery,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the recent FBI assessment of QAnon as a violent domestic terrorism threat. They also reflect on the historical relationship between cults and the government, from the Salem Witch Trials, to the utopian Oneida Community, to the […]
Dr. Janja Lalich: A Cultic Studies Lens on Trump/Trumpism
An excerpt on cults and where Trump/MAGA fits into the definition.From the full course: "The Impact of Donald Trump on America: A Cultic Studies Perspective,...
Projection: When Someone Accuses You Of Doing What They’re Doing | Narc Info Hub
Many of us experience this in toxic communications we have with others in our life, but we don’t quite have the right word or definition to describe it.
You tolerate no criticism of Trump. There must be absolute and complete loyalty to him. Any disagreement or questioning is perceived as disloyalty. You are either for him or against him. There is no middle ground.
3) You will turn on your friends and family members if they do not support Trump. He becomes the dividing line, to the point that if your own pastor does not support him, your pastor becomes suspect. Perhaps he is bought off by the elites? Perhaps he is a secret leftist?
You tolerate no criticism of Trump. There must be absolute and complete loyalty to him. Any disagreement or questioning is perceived as disloyalty. You are either for him or against him. There is no middle ground.3) You will turn on your friends and family members if they do not support Trump. He becomes the dividing line, to the point that if your own pastor does not support him, your pastor becomes suspect. Perhaps he is bought off by the elites? Perhaps he is a secret leftist?
By this point, the outsider is the enemy. They are not just inferior, but they are the enemy. Then speaking to [the insider] becomes both fruitless and dangerous. Fruitless because outsiders just don’t get it, but also because other insiders are creating social pressure that discourages conversations with outsiders. Dangerous because insiders could become infected by the poison of whatever the outsider view is. So as insurance, most cult leaders discourage communication between the insiders and outsiders.
By this point, the outsider is the enemy. They are not just inferior, but they are the enemy. Then speaking to [the insider] becomes both fruitless and dangerous. Fruitless because outsiders just don’t get it, but also because other insiders are creating social pressure that discourages conversations with
In a cult, you are either a true believer or the enemy. There is no middle ground, no compromise, no discussion. The critical opinions of the outside world don’t exist. Any follower who dares question the ideology of the leader will be turned on and torn apart by their peers
In a cult, you are either a true believer or the enemy. There is no middle ground, no compromise, no discussion. The critical opinions of the outside world don’t exist. Any follower who dares question the ideology of the leader will be turned on and torn apart by their peers
Think twice before saying ‘cult’ — Harvard Gazette
Cults manage to shift people’s beliefs rapidly away from the broader society and away from the beliefs they had before they joined. The second thing I emphasize is that cult members act against their own interests and their families’ interests quite strikingly.
Another one is how dissent is handled. Cults often prevent people from coordinating against the leader by making it really hard for anyone to dissent or to find other people who disagree. It’s not acceptable to say anything against the group or criticize the group in any way
Cults manage to shift people’s beliefs rapidly away from the broader society and away from the beliefs they had before they joined. The second thing I emphasize is that cult members act against their own interests and their families’ interests quite strikingly.
@@@ OK CHOSEN Donald Trump's cult: The radical right
Art by Geena San DiegoPicture a group of people devoted to one all-knowing, omnipotent leader, who has been chosen by God to lead them, who channels the word of God, and who, eventually, becomes their God. Their beliefs encompass every aspect of their lives. They would turn on their own morals to heed their leader, shelter themselves from any criticism of their practices, show disdain for non-believers, and rely wholly on the word of their leader. According to sociologist and author Janja Lalich
Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind a book by Robert Draper
One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of 2022 The disturbing eyewitness account of how a new breed of Republicans--led by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, and Madison Cawthorn--far from moving on from Trump, have taken the politics of hysteria to even greater extremes and brought American democracy to the edge The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a terrible day for American democracy, but many people dared to hope that at least it would break the fever that had overcome the Republican Party and banish Trump's relentless lies about the stealing of the 2020 election. That is not what happened. Instead, "the big steal" has become dogma among an ever-higher percentage of American Republicans. What happened to the Republican Party, and America, during the Trump presidency is a story we more or less think we know. What has happened to the party since, it turns out, is even more disquieting. That is the story Robert Draper tells in Weapons of Mass Delusion. Through his extraordinarily intrepid cross-country reporting, Draper chronicles the road from January 6 to the 2022 midterms among the Republican base and in the U.S. Congress, rendering unforgettable portraits of how Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ilk came to shape their party's terms of engagement to an extent that would have been unimaginable even five years ago. He also brings to life the efforts of a dwindling group of Republicans who are willing to push back against the falsehoods, in the face of a group of ascendent demagogues who are merrily weaponizing them. With a base whipped up into a perpetual frenzy of outrage by conspiracy theories--not just about the big steal but about COVID and vaccines, pedophilia and Antifa and Black Lives Matter and George Soros and President Obama, and on and on and on--the forces of reason within the GOP are on the defensive, to put it mildly. The book also benefits greatly from reporting conducted in Texas, Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, and other bellwether states in the country of the mind one might call a fever of undending conspiracies. Robert Draper has been a wise, fearless, and fair-minded chronicler of the American political scene for over twenty-five years. He has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. He has never seen it this ugly. Ultimately, this book tells the story of a fearful test of our ability, as a country, to hold together a system of government grounded in truth and the rule of law. Written on the eve of the 2022 midterm elections, Draper's account of a party teetering on the precipice of madness reveals how the GOP fringe became its center of gravity.
