Opinion: Trump’s Loyalists, A Cult of Personality in American Politics

What does every cult leader want?
Is it total physical and emotional devotion from their followers?
Is it the power to have everything you say be seen as truth by your followers?
Or is it the ability to be seen as a divine being capable of doing no wrong?
Many cult leaders in American history have achieved all of this; Charles Manson, leader of the Manson Family Cult, convinced his followers to commit murder for him; Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple, convinced his 900 followers to partake in a mass suicide; and Donald Trump convinced his followers to storm the United States Capitol building and attempt a coup.
Yes. Former President Donald Trump has amassed a cult among us.
His supporters believe he can do no wrong and tell no lie.
In this election, there is no reasoning with the MAGA extreme, there are no facts that can sway their opinion, nor is there any proof they won’t immediately deem “fake.”
That raises the question: How did this New York failed-businessman-turned-reality TV star gain such a devoted following?
During his 2016 Primary run, Trump managed to redefine the republican party, turning a longtime prestigious institution into a circus centered around one man rather than shared values.
Trump supporters have a severe distrust in government institutions and the media.
In order to create the idea where he is the only one to be trusted, Trump increasingly claimed the media, particularly any news station that did not actively voice approval for him, to spread “fake news.”
An article from the Independent said, “through the first week of presidential debates [in 2020], the president has said ‘fake news’ 1,906 times.”
Trump has cultivated a dangerous narrative where he tells supporters that anything critical of him or his allies is “fake” no matter how irrefutable the evidence.
At a rally in Wisconsin, in an interview with Daily Show reporter Jordan Klepper, when asked if they have trust in the Department of Justice convicting Trump of felony charges, one supporter said, “No, it was a kangaroo trial…this is absolute Stalinism.”
That same supporter compared Trump to Nelson Mandela and Gandhi and said, “I put Trump in line with [Nelson Mandela and Gandhi]” because they’ve all been convicted of crimes.
When another supporter at a rally in South Carolina was asked by Klepper if they would like Trump as a King, they said, “Yes, I love him.”
This is no longer ardent support of a political candidate or party, but rather a cult centered around one person.
These supporters of Trump will stop at nothing but his word.
This fanatic support is what caused the attempted insurrection January 6th, 2020 to happen.
Trump fed his supporters lies of a stolen election and repeatedly pressed them to protest the results, even calling out Vice President Pence to reject the electoral results and “send it back to the states,” according to PBS.
Eventually a mob of violent Trump supporters formed outside the United States Capitol building that morning.
Within hours the mob had broken into the Capitol building, attacked Capitol Police, called for the execution of Mike Pence, and hung MAGA flags on the walls outside.
This was not a protest, but an attempted insurrection that was promoted by Donald Trump.
He has also continued to defend the rioters as many of them have been prosecuted for the crimes they committed that day, referring to them as “hostages,” “Warriors” and “Victims” according to NBC.
“You see the spirit from the hostages, and that’s where they are, is hostages,” Trump said, adding that the men were also “unbelievable patriots,” this was said at a campaign rally in march of this year according to the New York Times.
Though many members of the GOP had spoken out against the former president prior to January 6th, Trump’s actions that day caused him to lose some of his most loyal supporters.
In an interview with Fox News, former Vice President Mike Pence said, “I believe anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again.”
Trump does not take kindly to criticism, threatening to have anyone that has spoken out against him imprisoned and brought to justice once he is president again.
In a post on Truth Social just this last Saturday, he said, “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.”
These comments are eerily similar to Stalin’s purging in Communist Russia, or Mussolini’s imprisonment of political opponents in Fascist Italy.
Trump is not for freedom, he is for himself.
He has never been a good person.
In a recording from 2005 Trump can be heard saying multiple vulgar comments about women.
When flaunting how his wealth attracts women, he said, “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait…Grab ’em by the p***y. You can do anything.”
Trump also managed to make lewd comments about his own daughter.
In a 2006 episode of The View he said how “she does have a very nice figure. I’ve said that if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
He has never been a good president either.
As president, Trump did not unify the country; instead, he created a partisan and deeply personal divide within American politics that hadn’t been seen in decades.
According to Pew Research Center, “An average of 86% of Republicans approved of Trump’s handling of the job over the course of his tenure, compared with an average of just 6% of Democrats – the widest partisan gap in approval for any president in the modern era of polling.”
Trump supporters need to look themselves in the mirror and realize that they aren’t voting for a president that will make their grocery bill cheaper or fix the housing market, but a convicted felon, a rapist, and an extremely dangerous man with an even more dangerous fanbase.