#apparently it's considered something of a cult classic or at least above average | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

diannelamerc · 4 years

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How does Trump keep getting away with everything?

[I can't be the first person that has made this argument, but I've not heard it, and I feel the need to get it out of my head.]

Discussing Trump's Superbowl Party antics (here, if you missed it) someone asked me for the umpteenth time how someone who constantly lies, breaks promises, makes outrageous statements on Twitter every day, and generally acts like a 3yo with ADHD in public when he thinks he's lost people's attention, keeps getting away with it. Is still so popular that he has the Senate too scared to stand up to him and has a serious chance at re-election.

I've taken to simply say it's a cult. But I'm not sure people realize that I'm using that term literally, as a comparative religions historian.

I think that there is a connection to a general drop in religious obedience and reverence for rules handed down from on high in recent decades. Many churches are being forced to accept that many of their rules restrict freedoms, are overtly prejudiced, and in other ways need to be updated in order to not only stay relevant, but to keep true to the points of their actual beliefs.

This is important. This is good in the long run. In the short run, it is Change. Change in things that a large number of people, especially older people, have based much of their lives and identities.

That's scary as hell.

Cults [as defined in a literal scholarly sense] traditionally take advantage of people who are stressed, are confused as to their role in life and the direction their lives are going, and uncertain what they should think about complex and abstract issues in the world. (Thus the classic and traditional place to recruit being among students on college campuses.)

People wonder how an intelligent person can get involved in what they see as a clearly bizarre and dangerous situation. But it's actually quite easy to understand when you stop and think carefully about it. For all that people reflexively think that they want complete independence in their own lives, there is an incredible, seductive comfort and peace in being told exactly what to do, how to think, and what path their lives should take in order to reach ultimate happiness.

It's no accident that most cult leaders are called "Father" or "Mother" by their disciples. For most children, life is very simple.

Most people regularly find at least some assistance in dealing with the complexities of adult life in religious or philosophical doctrines and communities. I think that, at the moment, a large number of people don't feel that their church or perhaps even their religion is giving them that guidance. They want instruction. They want someone to make them feel good, confident, strong in the face of "outsiders" who would persecute them, and--above all--they want to feel right. They want clear, solid instruction in what is right and what is wrong and what they should be doing and thinking in a confusing and insanely complex world.

I don't blame them. That would truly be a glorious thing to have; especially in hard and confusing times.

Donald Trump has all the qualities of a good cult leader: A personality and presence to inspire fervent enthusiasm. Utter and complete confidence in himself and his worldview that at least borders on, if not constitutes, literal narcissism. The insistence that all people under him (and Trump believes all Americans are, simply by the fact of his presidency, under him) unquestioningly accept his beliefs and orders. And the demonizing of those who dissent or question as traitors and enemies actively trying to undermine themselves and their followers.

If you've accepted this; if you base your happiness, security, and identity on this construct, then nothing the Leader can do is wrong. If something sounds like a lie, it is simply a misinterpretation. If they break a promise, they were clearly thwarted in their efforts by the cult's enemies. If you're in deep in that emotional and psychological situation, your own sense of self-preservation and deep community will make you grasp eagerly at anything that will make things o.k. again.

That's why Trump gets away with it all. His most devoted followers have invested much of their sense of self in him and his actions. They find truth and comfort in his words and his beliefs. They will reflexively find ways to accommodate and excuse any perceived "wrongness" on their own, even before they're coached in how to dismiss such things. And they take any attack upon their beliefs or their leader as a grave, threatening attack on themselves personally. Because it is one.

What do you do when a cult leader has taken over the presidency of the country. When his followers are so numerous and loyal that any elected official must consider carefully how to respond to him. When non-elected officials and even private citizens who are seen as a threat to the community are attacked, viciously and without delay?

John Bolton was considered a well respected, very conservative member of the government for decades. He was a regular 'friend' and go-to-consultant for "Fox & Friends" for at least 9 years. But when book rumors hit and he seemed a threat to The Leader and the Community, people took to the internet within *hours* and not only started questioning everything from his well-documented conservative record to his personal motives, but demonized him personally in an unprecedented instant-smear campaign.

This concerted attack, without any concern for truth or facts or reality as most people know it, literally overnight turned him in the eyes of much of America from a respected long-time public servant with a serious concern about Trump's actions to a vicious, venial monster, toxic even to be associated with. (By the next morning "Fox & Friends" was decrying his inherent lack of character and honesty.)

He was not only scum, but by questioning the will and actions of Trump, he instantly and incontrovertibly became a traitor.

If that's not evidence of devotion to a cult leader, I'm not sure what is.

If that's not a clear warning to anyone with any power to question Trump or his actions, I'm not sure what could be clearer.

So, what do we do when nearly half the country has joined Trump's cult? Rational arguments are not going have the effect on a cult member that it might on your average person. Presenting facts that seem to anyone else to clearly disprove their beliefs will not make a difference. There is a reason getting someone out of such a mindframe is called "deprogramming"

It deeply worries me that I have no idea what to do, what can be done. I only know enough that I'm no longer surprised that he can apparently get away with anything.

I'm just left scared watching the consequences. Rumors have been suggesting that not only can he get re-elected, but that if he does he will take action to remove the presidential two-term limit. I'm actually worried we may be watching the beginning rule of the first king this country has ever had.

#Trump the First #the cult of trump #how does trump keep getting away with it #Trump impeachment #trump scandals

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