Leading Cult Expert Explains How Trump Trained His Followers

[bdamomma]

https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/leading-cult-expert-explains-how-trump-trained-his-followers-to-believe-no-one-but-him-and-why-his-mind-control-cult-now-faces-an-existential-crisis/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4228


This article should be no surprise to DU'ers. We know we are dealing with a cult.

Sorry I can't copy and paste a snip of the article. My PC is acting up.

[StarryNite]

1. This article is spot on!

Excerpt:

"Do members of cults know that the leader is lying but convince themselves it does not matter? Or have the cult members totally lost the ability to think rationally?

Unfortunately, when a person is in a mind control group, critical thinking does not take place. Thinking in a cult does not depend on independent verifiable data. Information about the world — empirical reality — goes through a filtering system where the default is to support the cult identity and the cult leader and what they tell you to believe. The way to escape a mind control cult’s power and influence is for a person to find a way to access who they were before they got involved in the cult. A person in that situation needs to separate themselves from the ongoing indoctrination.

In the case of Trump and his movement, that can be through Fox News, right-wing religious TV or radio shows, the internet, smartphones, etc. Phones are a key part of how these Christian and other religious cults work where they send the members emails and texts. The brain needs a respite from all that communication. To escape Trump’s cult, the members need to regain perspective on reality and develop the cognitive tools to say, “Yes, Trump lied to me.” They need to say that to themselves and realize that Trump is not for the average person. He’s not making America great. He’s making things worse. He’s dividing us. He’s enriching himself. He’s undermining the separation of church and state. He’s undermining the rule of law."

[JHB]

5. That cult-exit strategy, under different circumstances, was jeered at as...

..."treating terrorism as a law enforcement problem," of "fluffing the pillows and leaving a complimentary chocolate" for terrorists. That was (supposedly) why we had to engage in "enhanced interrogation" (torture).

It's been ling enough that I don't remember some of the sources (though the book Age of Sacred Terror comes to mind), but I recall from the late Clinton admin that the most effective way of getting information from Al Queda prisoners was to treat them decently. They were confined, of course, and had regular conversations with the agency (whichever agency it was) guys, but nobody acted like the monsters they'd been dreading. There were always a few die-hards, but most of the time, once someone had been out of the reinforcement loop long enough, they started to feel a bit stupid about what they'd worked themselves up to and started talking.

The parallels to present circumstances continue to be both unsurprising and maddening.

[flibbitygiblets]

2. Interesting. When tRump started hawking chloroquinine, Jim Jones and the Kool Aid popped into mind

"...and as he and his spokespeople are now suggesting that older and other vulnerable Americans should be willing to risk their lives in order to “save the economy” — and of course to aid Trump’s victory in the 2020 presidential election."

[underpants]

3. 👀 thanks reading later.

[JHB]

4. Trump didn't train them. He was happy to step into the center stage...

...but he's not the one who trained them.

Decades of conservative propaganda, of Republican "hardball", of evangelical preachers spinning endless conspiracy theories that always lead to SATAN, of mashing down on hot-buttons to encourage single-issue voting, of denying such a thing as "loyal opposition" and treating compromise with Democrats as treason...

That's what trained Trump's followers.

He's a con artist. Once he saw easy marks, he went after them.

[dmr]

6. I agree.

I'm not discounting what's in the article as I haven't read it yet, but I agree.

The decades of demonizing the left are what gave Trump easy and willing marks. He capitalized on it, and the rights propagandists and friends enabled and continue to enable him.

They all gain something out of this.

[lindysalsagal]

7. This is exactly where one of my friends is right now.

My friend said all of this on the phone to me yesterday.

My friend said this life doesn't matter. That's why they don't care if anyone dies from the virus.

I think they get a malicious satisfaction from seeing everyone in turmoil.

[lostnfound]

8. Cult deprogramming - it's what's for dinner. 👍🏼