As we all know or sense by now, life in the U.S. is spinning way out of control and is getting crazier by the day. A large part of this growing insanity, it seems to me, emanates directly from Donald Trump and his powerful MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.
So, I think it behooves us to examine this potent movement and its vast influence, and determine whether it fits the basic definition of a ‘cult’ or not.
This is truly a crucial question, since Trump is MAGA’s incredibly influential, demagogic leader — yet has been found liable for massive business fraud and defamation and is facing numerous criminal prosecutions — 91 criminal counts in all. Meanwhile, the U.S. faces a contentious, brutal, and historically-bizarre presidential election in November.
What IS a ‘cult,’ anyway?
We like to casually toss the term ‘cult’ around, but what does it actually mean? I checked out several sources, and one of the best brief descriptions is found on the VeryWellMind.com website, on a page titled: “What is a Cult? Ten Warning Signs.”
This page/article points out that it’s sometimes difficult to determine if a given group or movement is truly a ‘cult,’ but then it lists TEN major characteristics or warning signs (courtesy of the Cult Education Institute) that usually indicate a group or movement IS a cult.
“According to the Cult Education Institute, there are specific warning signs to look out for when considering whether a group might be a cult. Cults are characterized by:
1. Absolute authoritarianism without accountability
2. Zero tolerance for criticism or questions
3. Lack of meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget
4. Unreasonable fears about the outside world that often involve evil conspiracies and persecutions
5. A belief that former followers are always wrong for leaving and there is never a legitimate reason for anyone else to leave
6. Abuse of members
7. Records, books, articles, or programs documenting the abuses of the leader or group
8. Followers feeling they are never able to be “good enough”
9. A belief that the leader is right at all times
10. A belief that the leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or giving validation
Cults are dangerous because they typically rely on deceptive and authoritarian practices to make members dependent on and obedient to the group.”
MAGA fits the definition of ‘cult’ almost perfectly
Now, since Trump is the founder and active leader of the Make America Great Again movement, and since he is both an authoritarian and a famously narcissistic, paranoid, and unaccountable leader, we can easily check off most of the above warning signs:
* Absolute authoritarianism without accountability — check.
* Zero tolerance for criticism or questions — check.
* Unreasonable fears about the outside world that often involve evil conspiracies and persecutions — check, and double-check.
* A belief that former followers are always wrong for leaving, and there is never a legitimate reason for anyone else to leave — check.
* Records, books, articles, or programs documenting the abuses of the leader or group — check.
* A belief that the leader is right at all times — check.
* A belief that the leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or giving validation — check.
Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to Trump, or observing his rallies, knows that the above warning signs of a cult are ALL present and quite obvious in the MAGA movement.
I left out a few of the warning signs that didn’t apply as much or at all — such as abuse of members — but that still left seven warning signs that DO apply. (#3 might also apply, but it’s not clear if MAGA is even a formal organization with its own finances — so I didn’t include that one.)
That’s seven or eight out of ten signs, folks — meaning that MAGA fits a large majority of warning signs of a cult, so MAGA is by definition a cult.
It’s not a perfect 10-out-of-10 cult — but it’s still very much a cult, and a very dangerous one at that.
A nation on the edge of madness
Last October I published an article with the headline “Is Our Whole Society ‘Going Crazy’?” My contention in that piece was that the U.S. is beset by many highly abnormal psychosocial and super-partisan patterns, and is teetering on the edge of mass insanity and paranoia.
Fast-forward to today, and the U.S. is still very much ‘on the edge’ — perhaps even more so. For we’ve got a confirmed abuser, fraudster, con-man, super-narcissist, and vengeful demagogue on track to be the GOP’s nominee for president — again — who is currently also beating Biden in most polls by several points.
Excuse me, but that’s c-r-a-z-y — totally bonkers.
It’s a very sad and very scary situation — because it shows exactly how out of touch with reality, and how delusional, many Americans have become due to Trump’s and MAGA’s influence.
The crucial thing we all need to remember is that Trump is a pathological liar and manipulator. For him, lying and making up ‘facts’ comes as naturally as breathing — and he does it just like he breathes, which is constantly. To any open-minded observer, it’s obvious that Trump lies (endlessly) and makes shit up whenever his mouth is moving and he’s speaking.
So, the fact that 30–35 % of Americans love this man, and believe every word out of his mouth, is both horrifying and deeply worrisome — to say the least.
The unbelievable success of Trump’s ongoing Big Lie
The prime, and most egregious, example of the Trump/MAGA cult in action is the wild success of his Big Lie that the 2020 election was fraudulent and ‘stolen.’
After the 2020 election, Trump not only refused to concede, but kept insisting and yelling that the election was riddled with massive fraud and was ‘stolen,’ and that he is actually the ‘true’ president. “Stop the Steal!” became a fervent right-wing rallying cry.
Then, over the next couple of years, endless court cases, recounts, reports, and investigations ALL concluded that there was no significant fraud, and in fact found that the 2020 election was the most secure and transparent in U.S. history!
Of course, none of that gave Trump pause (since he’s both a liar and a total narcissist) — or deterred his continual lying, or shifted the MAGA narrative.
A super-successful lie is still … a LIE
Scarily, all these official findings, rulings, and reports made no difference — because by then, the Trump cult and MAGA were firmly entrenched, and the only ‘truth’ most Republicans were interested in was the constant lies Trump and Fox ‘News’ were spouting.
In MAGA-world, truth doesn’t matter, facts don’t matter, and reality itself doesn’t matter — or rather, ‘reality’ is … whatever Donald Trump says it is.
But guess what: that’s proof it’s a giant cult. That’s cult-mandated, slavish ‘group-think,’ by any definition — and shows us for sure that MAGA is a dangerous cult.
In any nation still tethered to reality, Trump’s endless, loud, and ridiculous claims of fraud and constant persecution would have made him a laughingstock and/or a pariah. But instead, the reverse happened — and Trump’s Big Lie became ‘the truth’ for 65–70% of the GOP.
That’s the thing — the immensely dangerous thing — about cults. They lure people into bizarre ‘alternate realities’ — like the ones Trump is constantly inventing — and then convince their ‘converts’ that the cult leader’s beliefs are the one and only truth.
Unfortunately for MAGA devotees (and for the U.S.), most of Trump’s assertions and beliefs are fictitious, paranoid, manipulative — or all three.
We’re in an unprecedented — and very dangerous — time
The truly incredible, unprecedented problem facing the U.S. is that we have a lying, abusive, and vindictive con-man and fraudster leading a popular and super-influential political cult — and this cult leader is vying to become president of the United States for the second time (as if the first time wasn’t disastrous enough).
Let me put that a bit differently: A vicious, lying, super-narcissistic cult leader is controlling one of our two major political parties, the GOP, and is poised to regain the presidency and then wreak vengeance (“I am your retribution!”) on all who have ever opposed him or tried to bring him to justice — democracy and truth be damned.
That’s exactly the way evil despots and unprincipled cult-leaders always talk, and it’s how they think, plan, and abuse their power.
…
The fact that Trump has very successfully persuaded tens of miillions of Americans to think in exactly these same awful, paranoid ways should terrify every American.
The fact that Trump’s fiery rhetoric often supports, and sometimes incites, right-wing violence should terrify every thinking American — for this lying, cheating, manipulative tyrant/cult leader may soon be our top politician and president … and the putative ‘leader’ of the free world.
Heaven help us.
The sick, sad truth is that the U.S. is teetering right on the edge of mass paranoia and insanity — and possibly mass violence — largely due to the influence of Trump and his MAGA cult.
Yet horrifyingly, we are doing very, very little to undo or counteract the madness.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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Photo credit: Colin Lloyd on Unsplash
“Is MAGA a cult? And is It making the U.S. progressively crazier?” Answer: Yes. “The sick, sad truth is that the U.S. is teetering right on the edge of mass paranoia and insanity — and possibly mass violence — largely due to the influence of Trump and his MAGA cult. Yet horrifyingly, we are doing very, very little to undo or counteract the madness.” That was actually a question, framed as a statement (as opposed to the more rhetorically common ’statement-framed-as-a-question’). So, I think if that question was actually framed as a question, it would read more like: ‘What can… Read more »