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Great Escape
The Trump Cult?
A charismatic leader, mind control, and other telltale signs
On October 23, 1863, when the expected apocalypse failed to occur, an estimated 100,000 followers of breakaway Christian prophet William Miller descended from their rooftops in what the mainstream media assumed would be disgrace and embarrassment. “When the world stubbornly refused to come to an end last Spring,” a condescending Pennsylvania Statesmen mused, “notwithstanding the ingenious and elegant calculations of Mr. Miller, we indulged in the hope that the whole affair would be laid on the table, or indefinitely postponed.”
But despite having sold all their worldly possessions in the belief that they would be meeting Jesus Christ and swept up to heaven, the followers were undeterred. They simply set new dates for doomsday and committed even more steadfastly to their cause. Newspapers such as the Herald Expositor considered it their responsibility to dispel “this and similar delusions,” but to no avail. As if invigorated by disappointment, Miller’s followers later went on to establish the Seventh-Day Adventist movement, now 25 million members strong.
In their increasingly patronizing coverage of Trump supporters, the editors of the New York Times and CNN are practicing the same stubborn incredulity, trooping out to Trump country every time the president is caught in another big lie to ask how the hell folks can still love this guy. But if the Trumpists’ commitment seems surprising in the wake of ever-mounting scandals, that’s because mainstream journalists still haven’t grasped the Trump phenomenon for what it is: a cult.
First, a disclaimer: This piece is not about politics but the deeper motivations of the Trump constituency, how they are reinforced, and how they reflect the higher, almost spiritual ideals informing nearly a third of Americans right now. Further, Trump is hardly the only politician to have exploited the dynamics of cults; the Clintons and Obamas also leveraged the cultish devotion of their followers.
But Trump’s particularly loyal core constituency — his ability to joke that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose the support of his base, or to convince surrogates to endorse an ever-changing assortment of conflicting…
