'Mass delusion fueled by charisma': Expert explains why Trump's followers still believe in him

[justaprogressive]

snip

In an article published by The New Republic on June 2, Poulomi Saha — a professor at the University of California, Berkeley — lays out some reasons why critics of the MAGA movement often describe it as a "cult."

"It's hard to pinpoint exactly when the word cult affixed itself to Donald Trump and his movement," Saha explains. "It may have been as early as 2016, when, weeks before the Iowa Caucus, Trump declared with god-man-like aplomb that he could shoot someone in Times Square and not lose a vote. It may have been mid-2018, when Bob Corker, a Republican senator from Tennessee, fretted as he left office about the 'cultish' turn in the party. Or maybe it can be traced to a New York Times editorial board op-ed, published a few days before Corker’s comments made the news, which nervously noted the rapid transformation of the Republican Party into a machine for devotion to a single mortal."

Saha continues, "Certainly, by January 6, 2021, and the mouth-frothing fervor of Stop the Steal, cult had gone from being a political jab to a term of art, widely employed to describe the apparently invincible thrall in which Trumpism holds millions of Americans."

The UC Berkeley professor describes "Trumpism" as a "mass delusion fueled by charisma, shared grievance, aspiration, and a stubborn rejection of inherited truths" that "bears no small resemblance to…. insular, shadowy communities of faith and heterodoxy."

https://www.alternet.org/rumpism-cult-new-republic/

[JBTaurus83]

1. I've never understood the "charisma" thing that the media talks about

he is about as charismatic as a piece of horse manure. Apologies to horse manure.

[tanyev]

2. At least horse manure serves a useful purpose.