Trumpism Is A Cult

 

 

I'm no authority on politics, just a guy with some opinions. So here's a not-particularly-groundbreaking opinion:

 

The United States is in the process of transitioning from a democratic republic into an autocracy based on oligarchy. The rich will become richer, the poor will become poorer, the middle-class will shrink. Justice and opportunity will more and more become commodities available only to those who can afford them or have connections. For some, it's always been this way, but there's been a slow and steady movement over the course of many years to adopt this direction for the nation as a whole. It's anyone's guess whether or not this slide will be halted, or what it will ultimately look like. Obviously the 2024 election could have slowed or even stopped that transition, but instead has accelerated it. We could have gone in a very different direction.

 

I've been reading the various post-election analyses that have tried to fix the blame on where exactly Democrats went wrong. So far I've seen nothing in these reports that I find convincing or compelling, and I don't think that line of inquiry will bear much fruit.

 

Now, to move into a subject that I think I am a bit more knowledgeable about... In addition to having a Masters in Religion, I've informally studied cults for many years. I think my interest in cults began when as a teen I read an article in Reader's Digest about the tactics used by the Hare Krishnas to woo young people. In the 1980's I discovered a man named Walter Martin, who billed himself as "The Bible Answer Man" and wrote a book called "The Kingdom of the Cults." Martin had a radio program that I loved to listen to, in which he dissected religious systems that he deemed as "cults". His primary mission was to explain how neo-Christian denominations like Mormonism (Latter Day Saints) and Jehovah's Witnesses deviated from traditional Christianity. But where Martin's raison d'être was as a Christian apologist, "defending the faith" as it were, I became much more interested in how and why people are swayed into believing ridiculous things and falling under the spell of cult leaders. Another influence in this regard was James Randi, also known as The Amazing Randi, a former stage magician who promoted skepticism and made a career out of debunking supernatural, New Age and occult shysters.

 

So I've long been fascinated by religious cults such as Jim Jones' People's Temple, Scientology, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna's), The Unification Church (Moonies), Heaven's Gate, Branch Davidians, and the rest. Parallel to this, I've long had an interest in propaganda and in trying to understand how and why it is so influential. I've spent countless hours over the years studying this stuff.

 

There are certain tried and true characteristics of cults. These include:

*Authoritarian Leadership. Most cults are founded by a charismatic (and often quirky) individual who displays all the hallmarks of malignant narcissism and sociopathy. The cult leader is manipulative, abusive and demanding of absolute loyalty. There is a lack of accountability (leadership is not to be questioned, critiqued or challenged).

*Dogmatic/Extremist Beliefs. Cults often present a happy front but underneath are legalistic and extreme, and expect zealotry from their members.

*Opposition to Independent Thinking or Questioning or Disloyalty.

*Fear. Most cults profess themselves to be the solution to an existential problem that only the teachings of the cult leader can save humanity from. Cult members are conditioned to adopt unreasonable fears based upon conspiracy theories and catastrophic scenarios created by the cult leaders.

*Guilt. Members who fall short, or express doubts are accused or disloyalty and failure. The threatened consequences for falling away are dire (such as eternal damnation or demonic possession).

*Modification of behavior, values and identity. Individual identity, values and behavior are transformed to conform to those of the group.

*Internal "cult jargon". Most cults develop a litany of special terminology. This creates a sense of belonging and specialness among members. Perhaps the most profound example of this is Scientology, which is rife with thousands of unique terms and acronyms. It is fascinating to listen to Scientologists speak their specialized nomenclature invented by L. Ron Hubbard.

*Exclusivism. Cults foster an "us vs. them" mentality. People outside of the cult are hopelessly misled at best and dangerous enemies at worst. Cult members are encouraged to limit or cut ties with outsiders.

*Thought Terminating Cliches. This is a technical term for idiom that are used to immediately dismiss doubt, dissent or critique. These are, according to Charles Bufe, "thought-stopping phrases..., especially repeated phrases, (used) to ward off forbidden thoughts." Although extremely common within cults, they are commonly used outside of cults as well. Examples include statements such as "Lean not on your own understanding", "God works in mysterious ways", "Just pray about it (or meditate on it)", "Trust the plan", "Boys will be boys", "Things have always been that way", etc. Within cults, however, these thought terminating cliches are very intentionally ingrained in order to cause members to police themselves against exploring ideas that could lead to doubt.

*Labeling and scapegoating. Those on the outside of the cult are referred to by labels that reinforce their inferiority to those on the inside. Likewise for those on the inside of the cult who display disloyalty. The recipients of those derogatory labels, and their arguments, can then be summarily dismissed.

*Love Bombing and Confirmation Bias. Followers are told what they want to hear and what makes them feel validated. This often includes flattery, manipulative affection, offers of comradery, and grandiose promises.

 

We often think of cults as being religious in nature, since that's where we find the most egregious examples. But other areas of life, such as business (multi-level marketing organizations like Amway, for example) and politics can also be "cultish". And this "cultishness" can exist to varying degrees.  Organizations might be mildly cultish or somewhat cultish or full-blown cults.

 

Which bring me to my point.

 

I remember, in 2017, seeing newly minted White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on TV, claiming that Trump's inauguration was “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe”--despite clear proof to the contrary (Spicer later expressed regret at allowing himself to be pressured into making that statement). I remember Trump's Counselor Kellyanne Conway subsequently defending Spicer's demonstrably false claim as being "alternate facts".

 

I remember Trump's televised Cabinet meeting in 2017 in which his staff, from Vice President Mike Pence on down, went around the table taking turns heaping praise onto a smugly smiling Trump.  Since then we've witnesses so many examples of cult-like behavior in Trumpland that's it's difficult to keep track.

 

And now Trump is to once again be President of the United States. What I find compelling--chillingly so--about our present situation, is this: Trumpism is a cult. I don't mean that in the pejorative sense, as a cheap insult. I mean it in the technical sense: that the MAGA movement, which has overtaken the Republican party, bears all of the hallmark characteristics of a cult. You can go back through the list of cult characteristics I've provided above and consider how Donald Trump and the MAGA movement ticks all the boxes.

 

Trumpism/MAGA is a cult. We're talking Jim Jones/People's Temple. We're talking Heaven's Gate. We're talking Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (aka Osho). We're talking L. Ron Hubbard/Scientology. We're talking fanatical followers of a narcissistic authoritarian leader who have their own internal terminology and thought-terminating-cliches ("Fake news!", "He's just a RINO!", "She has Trump Derangement Syndrome!"), their own specious set of beliefs, their own extremism and zealotry, their own confirmation bias, their own culture and clearly marked boundaries of who is "in" and who is "out".

 

Like many cult leaders, Donald Trump isn't a mastermind. But he is a master manipulator of people. Like many cult leaders, he's not well educated or terribly intelligent. The troubling thing about Trump however is that he has a cadre of people behind him who are very intelligent and have very specific agendas. They are more than happy to use Trump to further their ends--be they amassing personal wealth or instituting social and political change (such as creating a White Supremacist Christian Nationalist theocracy).

 

Those of us who haven't been indoctrinated into the Trump cult have watched over the years as friends and family members have been transformed; as they've adopted ridiculous conspiracy theories; as they've opened themselves to propagandic "news" outlets; as they've jettisoned the values (such as the teachings of Jesus) that they once held dear; as their perception of reality has become skewed. This is what cults do to people.

 

We find ourselves in a time where a cult has managed to take over the government of our country and the minds of tens of millions of citizens. Who knows where that will lead. As with any cult, there are degrees of involvement. There are those who orbit on the periphery and there are the true believers and there is the inner circle. Perhaps, two years from now in the midterm elections, enough people can be pulled away from the cult to enable Democratic majorities in the House and Senate in order to thwart the MAGA/Project 2025 agenda. Perhaps not.

 

One possibly hopeful aspect is this: more often than not cults fall apart, or at least diminish greatly, after the charismatic leader dies. Usually there is no one among the cult leader's coterie of minions who is able to take on the mantle (there have been exceptions, such as Brigham Young succeeding Joseph Smith). Trump is 78--the oldest person to ever be elected President. Will he live (or remain functional) long enough to complete his four-year term? Those who adore him seem far less enamored with his Vice President or anyone else in his circle of minions and sycophants. Perhaps that's when the cult of Trump will sputter to an end. In the meantime, how much damage will be done? We seem to be in uncharted territory.

I've known several transgender people in the course of my life. You quite possibly have too, and may not even know it. They're not freaks or perverts. They're just people trying to live their lives, like anyone else. That's their agenda: to live a full life in peace.

I was reading an article this morning in The Guardian about how some trans people in the U.S. are buying and learning how to use guns because they feel (with good evidence) that their lives will be increasingly in danger in the U.S. I'd seen statistics in the past indicating that 80% of transgender adults have seriously considered suicide, and 40% have attempted it. Being trans is difficult long before you pile on the social and religious and political hatred that has been ginned up by Republicans (many of whom think of themselves as Christians).

In a recent excellent conversation between historian Heather Cox Richardson and Daily Show host Jon Stewart, Cox Richardson made this point regarding the recent election:

"The way I think about it is if you have ten people in a room, eight of them just want to get by. They just want to put food on the table and have a good time and have their friends and have a nice life. But there are two people who want to control everybody else. The way that they get that power is to get six people to turn against the two at the bottom. The way that you do that is through the stories you tell. If you can tell those people in the middle that those two people at the bottom--and you can pick them at random because of the clothes they wear or the color of their eyes or the skin or whatever--then you can get power from those other six. That would explain to me anyway, why people of color will turn against other groups of color or why white women will vote against their own interests, because they are hearing stories that say, You must turn against those two people at the bottom, or we're going to turn against you. It's why I do what I do: because I think the stories we tell about who we are and the communities we are, are the way that you garner power."

We know from campaign rhetoric which "two at the bottom" the Trump/MAGA/Republicans chose: undocumented immigrants and people who are transgender. Here in Texas, Ted Cruz's ads were all about how acceptance of transgender people poses a threat to teenage girls and to the U.S. military.

How remarkably, and cynically, different this is from the Jesus who they claim to worship, who said, "Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me." The Jesus depicted in the Gospels was constantly defying social and religious norms in order to lift up and make a place for those "at the bottom" that Cox Richardson spoke of in her analogy.

It's just another example of how Trump/MAGA/Republicans claim Christian piety, but their words and deeds show them to be quite the opposite. They're much more akin to the Pharisees of Jesus's day who opposed Jesus and ultimately conspired to have him murdered--all the while proclaiming their own godliness. Jesus referred to such folks--who claimed to be among God's chosen while simultaneously being heartless to "the least of these"--as "fools," "hypocrites," "blind men," "vipers," "sons of perdition," "whitewashed tombs (appearing clean on the outside but filled with death and rot)," etc. In fact, they're the only group of people in the Gospels who Jesus held in utter contempt.

Several years ago, when I was an evangelical Christian and was trying to understand LGBTQ+ people (many of whom very graciously helped me by telling me their stories) I attended a conference of the Gay Christian Network in Chicago (I was relatively nearby, in seminary, in Indiana). I have rarely encountered Christian acceptance and hospitality like I did at that conference, as a straight man surrounded by LGBTQ+ followers of Jesus. But the most profound experience I had there was participating in worship. It was the deepest, most heartfelt, most Spirit-filled worship I have ever encountered. I felt the presence of Jesus in their midst. That's when I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there was nothing "wrong" with these folks, or threatening about them.