Is Trumpism a cult?

Yes, but people should stick to the mainstream religions cults like Oprahism or Voodoo.

They believe unless their guy wins an election it must have been rigged.

What they don’t know it that when Trump sold his soul to the devil, for the presidency, that It was only for one term. Where’s a good lawyer when you need them?

Yes, just like Christianity.

Nine warning signs of an unsafe cult or group leader……

1. Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.
2. No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.
3. No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget or expenses.
4. Unreasonable fear about the outside world, evil conspiracies and persecutions.
5. There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving.
6. Former members often relate stories of abuse that reflect a similar pattern of grievances.
7. There are books and broadcast reports that document the abuses of the leader.
8. The leader is always right.
9. The leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is acceptable or credible.

I think Trump checks all these boxes

@flutherother Uh yeah!!!^^

It’s not an -ism. Cult-like? You bet! The cult of personality is a real phenomena. I see cult-like behavior on the left too and to be frank, if you’re on the political fringe in most ways, you’re kind of in a cult too.

Thank you Professor but I haven’t seen any on the left that believe all news is fake,or ready to lay their lives down for their leader,country maybe leader nope.

It IS a cult and a very dangerous one. I mean, does the wild bear shit in the woods? Does the Pope use Holy Water?

Has there ever been a president without a huge overheated cult ego?
Maybe Jimmy Carter… not sure.

Based on @flutherother’s points (source?), I’d say ‘yes’, but which law enforcement agency (ies) have the authority to declare a group a “cult”??

@SQUEEKY2 Bernie Sanders.

Really you think Bernie’s followers would lay down their lives for him?
I don’t see it and radical left yeah true universal health care, free or affordable education, trying to wean off fossil fuels, yeah the guy is a monster.
The only ones that think Sanders is an out of control want a be, is big Pharma, the insurance companies,and the oil companies.
You know the ones that have the lobbyists that dump money in the Republicans pockets.

Amen to that @SQUEEKY2

@SQUEEKY2 Not the point. It’s the blind zeal people have for their chosen one. Sanders had a cult-like following also. Like Trump, Sanders talks big, but never delivers.

Sure, let’s just throw some dismissive, othering words out there, and then we don’t have to bother with understanding these people.

@Blackwater_Park And how can he deliver, the right do EVERYTHING in their power to block, stop, and shut down anything he proposes .
The world will have to turn to alternative fuels, fossil fuel aint going to last forever,there should be a lot more research right now but the right will have none of that.

YES we should turn to alternative fuels… But in your heart do you really think that
as world events unfold, as the pandemic still unfolds, as the economy falters, the
border, china, Taiwan, inflation, food prices, white supremacy, pronoun emergancy,
Biden shaking hands with air people, and trump and mar a lago and parents
threatening school boards on and on.
Maybe we should turn down the climate urgency just a bit?

@WhyNow – everything is important, but climate change is bigger than everything else put together. We are on a knife’s edge when it comes to unstoppable breakdowns of the systems that allow human life. It is not one issue, it is every issue.

@WhyNow if you are under 50 years old and live on the coast, you could be F*&KED !!

The water is rising and is caused by climate change.

If you had lived in the forties, you would have burned books with Germans under the Eiffel Tower!
@WhyNow. Do you agree?

People love a good emergency! I read a book preview and it listed 10 year warnings
that started in the 50’s. Nuclear bombs would annihilate the earth by the 60’s.
No more fossil fuel in ten years, world hunger, global winter, global warming,
the coasts will be submerged, the glaciers will be gone, no more polar bears, whales
will be hunted to extinction, the population is going to be too big to feed, Y2K,
crack will destroy america, trump will destroy democracy, Brett Kavanaugh
will take away our freedoms, guns kill people, people kill people, capitalism
will be gone, america will be gone, gone the movie, the ozone layer
will be gone, hurricanes will increase, overpopulation, 2012…

@SQUEEKY2 Not much point making this an argument but, Sanders will say things he knows he will never be able to deliver even without the right trying to stop him. His followers eat that shit up just like Trump’s followers do. It’s the same mentality.

Sanders has to get elected before he can try to implement any change. And I feel certain that the Republican Lites (Democrats) are as much against that as are the Repubs. Just have to see what develops in ‘24.

If we could by some remote chance have an election that comes down to Sanders vs. Orange Man Sanders will win hands down. If not, then it WILL be time to discuss fake news and stolen elections. Because there would be something very fishy going on.

@Nomore_Tantrums Sanders has been in politics since 1980. What has he done? I like the things he says at times too. Talk is cheap though.

Talk is cheap when you have a dog and pony show posing as a real democracy.

And two similar parties posing as a choice.