BTRTN: Trumpal Infallibility--Republicans Are Better Understood as a Religion Than a Political Party

[reggieandlee]

Born to Run The Numbers on the the Republican need to urgently, formally, and very publicly expel Liz Cheney from her position in the Republican leadership of the House. Actions like these suggest the Republican Party has stopped functioning like a political party and had become something else entirely:

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2021/05/btrtn-trumpal-infallibility-republicans.html

Excerpts: "Sure, I know many people throw the word 'cult' around when describing Trump and the Republicans, and there is certainly a great deal of cult-like behavior. But 'cult' does not come close to capturing the danger that the Republican organization represents to our democracy. The word 'cult' conjures images of Jonestown, Branch Davidians, Manson… tiny, secretive groups at the outer fringes of society that engage in extreme behaviors, are paranoid of outsiders, and don’t even dream of accumulating the critical mass necessary to have a widespread impact. Calling the Republicans a cult is an insult to their ambitions. This party is figuring out how to do cult at scale."

[Thomas Hurt]

1. If you have been around that long and been watching politics....this is no surprise.

The cult part isn't even new. After all, we had "Saint Ronnie".

We have been headed down this path to christofascist theocracy since Ronnie and stealth candidates and the resurgence of the evangelical extremist activism.

Stumbling toward Gilead for the last 40 years and I don't see any tipping point back toward the left.

[andym]

2. His base really believes in the holy Trump

The article is on to something. The holy leader speaks to the base through Fox News, with his apostles Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson amplifying his words. Fox News then skews the news to support the holy GOP.

More from the blog post:
"Which brings us to a second structural element associated with religion institutions: scriptural recording of miraculous events that can only be explained by divine intervention, and which therefore validate the faith of believers."
....
But it was in the election of 2020 that Trump overtly manipulated his power of speaking ex cathedra to his faithful flock to create the monumental miracle of his church. He absolutely, categorically, and unflinchingly refused to accept that he lost the election. He promised his faithful that hundreds of thousands of fraudulent ballots had denied him his rightful second term. He stirred his faithful into a holy crusade to undo the wrong. On January 6, his flock took to arms in Washington to try to prevent Joe Biden from becoming President. The followers believed that the miracle would come to pass.

The followers remain certain that Trump will rise anew.

Beware, Democrats, of disdaining and dismissing the deceit of the “Big Lie.” Be very careful when trying to use rational argument to tell a believer that their miracle is a fraud. Miracles are not the stuff of what can or cannot be proven, they are the articles of faith that bind believers to their church."

[This part of the article is the most frightening:]
"The problem is that for Donald Trump’s base, the supposed “Big Lie” is actually the “Miraculous Truth.” You can try to tell them that it is all just so much Trump BS, but they will not hear your words. No amount of rational explanation, fact, data, or argument means a thing when it is up against the belief in the miraculous."

[Captain Zero]

3. Magical Thinking is both a symptom and a Trump MO.

sadly.

[andym]

4. Yup, Mary Trump has documented just how Trump's magical thinking is a sickness

the problem is that a substantial portion of the GOP base is captivated.

[lindysalsagal]

7. Yuppers.

[andym]

10. GOP as a religion makes more sense of their 1.6 commission rejection

It's about the power and not allowing "sacrilegious" info out there that the election was not stolen.

[FakeNoose]

5. This isn't new, but it is more out in the open now

... especially since Chump lost in November.

Certain ultra-conservatives (the dark money people) who operate behind the scenes are the ones pulling the strings on this. They've learned how low-information voters can be jerked and manipulated, and they can't stop doing it. Chump is the perfect trained seal and the Q-people in his audience have just lapped it all up.

Sure it's a cult, and we've all witnessed that in the last 5 years.

[Nay]

6. The essay differentiates between a cult and a religion -- it warns that Trumpism has become

a religion, and thus is infinitely more dangerous than a mere cult. He expands on the three concepts that make the Republican organization a religion rather than a political party or a cult:

1. The infallibility of the leader -- the party organization conceded on this point by not having a party platform -- whatever Trump says goes, and if he says one thing one day and the opposite thing another day, he's infallible, and the faithful must fall in line. Truth is what the leader says it is, and the fate of the faithful (salvation) depends upon them believing the infallible leader.

2. The notion of miracles -- His 2016 election was a miracle, and unholy forces interfered with his 2020 election, which he really won. More explanation in the essay.

3. The use of excommunication -- the recent ejection of Liz Cheney is the prime example, and he remarks upon the confusion of some still-existing normal Republicans on that action, but we've seen all along that Trump's been excommunicating ANY Republican who doesn't go along with the program.

Read this essay in full. It's so spot on that I've printed it out to keep. The only thing that keeps Trump from being infinitely dangerous is his age and mortality. God help us if he is able to groom/bless a charismatic successor. He's so self-involved that there may never be an anointed successor; but that doesn't mean one can't just show up. However, the successor would have to be nearly as 'charismatic' as Trump himself.

[reggieandlee]

8. the difference between cult and religion

I think one of the main points of the essay is to explain the distinction between a "cult" and a "religion," and why the fact that the Republican Party now resembles the latter is infinitely more dangerous.

[andym]

9. +1 Nt.