Cults can be political as well as religious

Here in the United States we're watching the Cult of Trump expand its hold on people who used to be independent thinkers and believers in democracy, but now have become total sycophants to a man who stands for nothing except his authoritarian impulses.

This shows that cults come in different forms, not just of the religious variety. Unfortunately, we humans are prone to excessive loyalty toward our own "tribe." When this happens, truth is sacrificed on the altar of self-interest, something that has been on full display ever since Trump appeared on the national political stage, yet is even more clear now that he's become president for a second term.

I won't bother to recite all the crap that Trump has buried the country in during the first week of his presidency. Some examples are:

-- Pardoning all of the January 6 insurrectionists, including hundreds who were found guilty of assaulting police officers.
-- Illegally firing 18 inspector generals in federal agencies whose job is to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, so that Trump and his billionaire buddies can indulge in their own waste, fraud, and abuse.
-- Ordering that all federal health agencies stop communications with both the general public and health workers just as bird flu is becoming a more serious problem.

Nonetheless, I want to believe that most of those who voted for Trump either didn't think that he'd do all the bad stuff that was promised during his campaign for president, or didn't pay sufficient attention to those authoritarian promises, choosing instead to focus on his commitment to bring down the price of groceries, strengthen the southern border, and deport undocumented immigrants.

Last month I wrote several posts about Tim Urban's creative and engaging book, What's Our Problem? A Self-Help Book for Societies. (See here and here.) Today I finished the book. I liked it a lot, even though Urban devotes a lot of pages to criticizing what he calls Social Justice Fundamentalism, as contrasted with Liberal Social Justice, which he favors, and fewer pages to similar excesses by right-wing zealots.

That's because he wrote the book during the Biden administration, when the Cult of Trump wasn't nearly as obvious as it is today. So I enjoyed finding criticisms of Social Justice Fundamentalism that apply equally to the Cult of Trump. I share some of them below because they're a useful guide to cults of all varieties, political as well as religious.

Click on the links to my previous posts about the book to learn, or refresh your memory about, how Urban describes various approaches to truth, ranging from the highest (Scientist) to the lowest (Zealot), and the difference between our Higher Mind and Primitive Mind.

Again, just substitute "Cult of Trump" for "Social Justice Fundamentalism" and you'll see that Urban's criticisms of the latter apply equally well to the former.

I said earlier that my problem with Social Justice Fundamentalism isn't the ideology itself. I strongly disagree with most aspects of SJF, but there are hundreds of ideologies floating around today's world that I don't like. My problem is with SJF's tactics -- the fact that it's an expansionist golem [an entity with strict conformity internally and an Us vs. Them mindset externally] that attempts to spread itself not through persuasion but through bullying, smear campaigns, loyalty oaths, guilt by association, and other coercive measures.

...When it comes to the state of our politics, negative sentiment like grievance and outrage are shorthand for righteousness in SJF, while positive sentiments like optimism and gratitude are taken as a sign of false consciousness, callous privilege, or both. When positivity is shamed out of the conversation, the air ends up filled with gloom, resentment, and nihilism -- not sentiments that energize people to fix problems.

...SJF speaks instead to people's Primitive Minds using the "with us or against us" language of "common enemy" rhetoric -- while stigmatizing common-humanity rhetoric like "there is only one race, the human race" as bigotry. Common-enemy rhetoric creates division and limits the movement's size and ability to make enduring change.

...We talked about the way high-rung politics sees people as a mess of gray complexity, an evolving jumble of virtues and flaws. Through a high-rung lens, all people are worthy of compassion, and no one is above criticism. On the low rungs, people are either perfectly righteous 1s or morally reprehensible 0s.

...The Lower Right and Lower Left both are illiberal. They're both anti-science. They're both hypocritical. They're both authoritarian. They're both bigoted. The political uniform that low-rung movements wear is just a facade under which lies a golem with all the trademark low-rung qualities. If one golem is causing more trouble than the other during any given year, it speaks not to that golem being worse but to that golem having more power to do damage at that time.

...My problem isn't with progressivism or conservatism but the fact that, at the moment, Americans are being deprived of the high-rung version of both by low-rung groups wearing blue and red uniforms.

Comments

[sant64]

There once was a man from Oregon's land,
With pompous TDS that beat the band.
He'd read his books, he'd check his app,
But he couldn't stop shouting, "Trump is crap!"

He'd spin around and blink his eyes,
He was sure his views were wise
But though he said Kamala was pure delection
He couldn't explain why she totally lost the election

“Trump’s the one who messed it all!”
He’d shout, with anger, standing tall.
"Progressive Kamala is the one who glitters
Donald J. Trump is Adolph Hitlerr!"

With endstage TDS, he'd exult
Trump supporters are all members of a CULT!!!
But maybe, just maybe, he'd someday see,
His progressive fancies brought America to its knees

No, Trump supporters aren't a cult
Fact is, democracy was the election's result.
So next time you see a man with TDS,
Know he's short on tolerance, and long on tedious.

Remember—Trump just got more done in a week
Than Biden in 4 years -- winning extraordinary & unique!
So weep not for Old Joe, let not your hearts harden
He's safe now, he gave himself and his whole family pardons.

As for the country, it's doing fine
We've heard these Chicken Little threats about Trump time after time
Or is it the Boy Who Cried Wolf? I can't decide
But I'll be enjoying the TDS tears during Trump's 4-year ride

So while we all may have our views,
Let’s find some peace, not just the news.
This reaction of resentment and recrimination isn't apt
To fix it, maybe Mr. Harris can create a special app.

[Kranvir]

Trump may have a cult following , but I think there's goodness in his heart. Elong musk is the real problem who needs to be controlled. The one person that doesn't have an ideology, who has no reason or purpose is gurinder singh dhillon and definitely relies on a dumped down cult following that are told to accept everything, not to question , surrender everything, stay in line, put up and shut up. He isnt even voted in, and he has set the cult up in such a way that all the rssb business empire is kept in the one mafia family forever. So rssb is a evil cult fronted by a narcissist leader gurinder singh dhillon. This is way more evil than trump's cult following.

[Jimmy]

Trump and Gurunder are perfect examples of imagination creates reality as stated by Neville Goddard.
The facts of the world like Trump are the traps to the infinitely creative mind. You have the power inside you to change what you want. Trump is no threat if you know what you want.
So as you go to sleep choose your goal. Then imagine a friend congratulating you on your achievement. Feeling is the secret so make it a explosion of happiness at this event. Then sleep in that feeling and continue this every night.
Trump and Gurunder are no threats you are God.

[Ron E.]

Yes indeed, cults can be political as well as religious. Cults are strange beasts and many different organisations can spawn cults. A cult often gives people a cause that they can fight for or to give some sort of meaning. Apparently, there is no “type” of person who joins a cult. In fact, many are well-educated, sensible, and logical. It’s often down to the type of leader, how he/she comes across, what they promise – whether that’s enlightenment or life improvement.

There are signs: - Cult leaders show many traits: - Highly charismatic: Authoritarian control: Unable to tolerate being wrong: Narcissism and sociopathy: Unpredictability: Delusional: Sense of Grandiosity: Exploitive: Exaggerated sense of power: Devalues others: Boastful: Manipulative.

I read about cults, cult behaviour and their leaders many years ago at the time I became interested in looking into the various religions and spiritual organisations. I learned that anyone can spot a cult by looking and listening to how followers talk about their particular leader – and more pertinently, being aware of one’s motives and reasons in wanting to join such a group.

There’s a whole lot of intriguing psychology as to why we become attracted to a cult. In fact, it’s equally interesting to see how and why we gravitate to any type of group or activity. I reckon that we can learn a lot about ourselves from our particular wishes and behaviours. That of course, may entail joining a group!

[umami]

So much of the new poitical agenda already is about stamping out sexual freedom. Looking back, I think the AIDS epidemic was the inflection point for the religious right, where they really got something to sink their teeth into. Similarly, distrust of big pharma in the US originated with AIDS treatment breakthroughs in 1996 and a flood of direct to consumer advertising made legal in 1997. I don't know about Middle America, but ads for AIDS drugs appeared all over the subway at that time. Three years later George W. Bush won his first term.

[sant64]

The sky is falling! The dire wolves are coming!

1) All the protesters unjustly arrested on January 6th served plenty of time in prison. I know January 6th is progressives' high holy day, their own holocaust remembrance day. But given that Biden pardoned cop killers and the Democrats encouraged the BLM riots, and for the most part patted these violent fools on the head., Jan 6 is, as I previously noted, the political trope of Chicken Little. So sorry dems, but your interment camp has been emptied.

2) When they came to office both Obama and Biden fired a least one inspector general. Reagan fired 15 of them. Trump fired a few during his 1st term. In all cases, there's no evidence these firings resulted in any of these presidents "enriching their billionaire friends." This accusation is particularly amusing given that Biden did use his political office to enrich his family, to the tune of many millions. But again, no worries, Biden gave blanket pardons to all concerned and they get to keep that money.

3) Websites of health agencies paused in the 1st week of taking office. Oh no, we're all going to die of bird flu. Gosh, this all sounds familiar somehow. Hey, let's all freak out, shut down the schools, and wear masks for another 2 years. That was all so very necessary, wasn't it? Hmm?

Wolf, wolf!

[sant64]

Trump just fired 8,980 Active Duty & 5,727 Reserve Troops who identified as Transgender.

The United States military now has a lot less mental illness.

Don't worry about shortages: Trump just hired back 8,000 discharged because of the unlawful Mandate. And recruitment went sky-high before this happened.

Tulsi Gabbard and RFJ jr. represent a long hoped-for change in foreign and healthcare policy.
Tulsi is anti-war -- dems used to be the anti-war party, what happened?

RFK jr represents a desperately needed change in a failed healthcare system. But it seems dems hate him even more than Trump, if that's possible. But why? Why so angry at a man who wants to fix the horrible American health situation? I thought dems were the party that cared so much about health. What have dems done to address the huge national problem of obesity?

Yes, what have dems done to make the country better? Um....hey, they allowed 15,000 trans into the military. 15,000 trans to serve with, put that on a recruiting poster. 15,000..that did so much for our military and their esprit de corp. But now Trump has reversed that landmark progress. The beast!

Yes, lecture me and the majority of Americans that they're "cult members" because they didn't vote for the career DEI token who failed at everything and instead voted for the guy who proved he could do a great job as president.

In spite of that hubris, in spite of losing the election so badly, dems still consider themselves so very wise, so very elite. Despite not ever getting anything useful actually done, dems consider themselves the Party of Integrity.

Nothing says integrity like 8000 pardons, including half your family.

PS: Leading Democrat Bob Menendez was today sentenced to 11 years in prison.

[umami]

Moral of the story? You can't judge a book by its cover.
https://youtu.be/nITLjXjJaZo?si=9G2RMsnNXYa0tDfq

[um]

@ Santo Ji

Just on our TV an issue about the newly to elect chairman of the FBI and a part of the senat inquiry was shown and the book he wrote about the deepstate and the 60 people that should be prosecuted etc..

Several times I wrote not to fixate on the one that dictates, but on the entourage that history has shown is often far more XXXX that the one that is to dictate.

Its starts witch retaliation at the top but that will set an example to the lower echelons and there they will be even more brutal.

God knows that one day even us that write here are at risk.

[Sunil]

Is there anyone has more information on below please??..found on chat GPT

On January 20, 2025, the Punjab and Haryana High Court addressed a petition filed by Gurinder Singh Dhillon and another individual against the State of Punjab. The petitioners, both adults, were in a live-in relationship and apprehended threats to their life and liberty from a private respondent. They had submitted a representation to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Ludhiana (Rural), seeking protection.

The court directed the Senior Superintendent of Police to decide the representation and provide protection if any threat was perceived. The court clarified that this order did not grant immunity to the petitioners from legal action for any violations of the law and did not express any opinion on the validity of their live-in relationship.

This case highlights the court's role in safeguarding individual rights and ensuring personal safety, especially in sensitive situations involving personal relationships

[umami]

Sunil,

It was probably a different Gurinder Singh Dhillon. There's an Advocate (courtroom lawyer) Gurinder Singh Dhillon named in the following.

"Punjab and Haryana High Court Explains Special Status Of Family Courts"
https://www.verdictum.in/court-updates/high-courts/punjab-and-haryana-high-court-explains-special-status-of-family-courts-1513806

[Sunil]

Thanks Umami

Is there any new update on the case against GSD, it's nearly 3 years no news on next court hearing....Is this case has been settled or put in cold box?

[umami]

Sunil,
No idea. Nothing that I could find either.