Column
What Trump Supporters and NXIVM Followers Have in Common
They both follow misogynist liars whose ‘movements’ are just thinly veiled cults
As I was watching Starz’ Seduced, the second documentary series to come out in recent months about Keith Raniere and NXIVM, I started to understand why pop culture is so engrossed by the story of the the Albany-based “sex cult” that branded women. It’s not just because of the salacious details, or because of Raniere’s wealthy and high-profile followers. Americans are riveted because NXIVM is a cult whose members call it a movement, led by a shockingly misogynist man who lies about being the smartest person in the world.
Sound familiar?
The parallels between Raniere and Donald Trump aren’t always clear-cut, of course. Trump is a consummate boaster and carnival barker; Raniere quietly lets his deputies repeat fabrications and exaggerations about his “genius.” (Both men claim to have the highest IQs in the world.) The president’s sexism is of the coarse, name-calling variety, while Raniere’s is shrouded in his philosophy about gender roles and women’s illogicality. And while both Trump and Raniere’s followers are mostly white, NXIVM members look like upper-middle-class hippies — the kind of women who wear dream catcher earrings and…
