For the MAGA-controlled Republican Party, however, it’s Trump or bust—and there’s no room for dissent.
Recently, I told a dear relative that I was concerned that in her unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump she might have crossed over into unofficial cult membership. She replied that she was concerned that I might have become a member of the anti-Trump cult.
Initially, I was too stunned—and amused—to reply. “The anti-Trump cult”? That must be like the anti-Jim Jones cult, or the anti-Moonie cult, or the anti-Charles Manson cult. So, according to that theory, anyone who does not unreservedly support a given offbeat—and in many cases dangerous—sect is, by default, a member of the “cult” that resists them.
Trump or Bust
A cult is by definition, “a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.” MAGA is bound together by its incontestable veneration of Donald Trump. If tomorrow, Donald Trump were to die from a Big Mac-triggered heart attack, MAGA would be lost. MAGA has no Plan B. Everything in MAGA world begins and ends with Donald Trump, their Alpha and Omega.
Conversely, when Joe Biden’s age issues portended a high probability of a loss to MAGA’s messiah, Democrat leaders convinced him, for the good of the nation, to step aside and allow a more formidable candidate to oppose Trump. Democrats still liked Biden, but they were not going to risk losing the presidency over cultish devotion to one person. For the MAGA-controlled Republican Party, however, it’s Trump or bust—and there’s no room for dissent.
Meanwhile, those who oppose MAGA are as disparate as universally unique snowflakes, which is, of course, the label MAGA folks attach to anyone who challenges their racist, misogynistic, self-absorbed messiah-leader. Anyone who dares to think for himself or herself rather than invest their entire identity in a nonrefundable ticket to board the MAGA train to perdition is a snowflake. Anyone who refuses to conform to the bogus America-first, no-room-for-mercy-regarding-illegal-immigrants policy has sold his or her soul to the satanic, socialistic anti-Trump cult.
A Politically Powerful Cult
Author Thomas Wolfe said, “A cult is a religion with no political power.” That’s no longer an accurate statement. Trump and his MAGA-cult followers have taken over the Republican Party and have a good chance of retaking the White House in just a few weeks. They have political power. Or, more appropriately, Trump has political power, for no on in this new Republican Party is willing to challenge him; they saw what happened to the likes of Mitt Romney, Justin Amash, Jeff Flake, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Joe Walsh who dared to show the world that they still had a spine.
Until now, the most devastating result produced by a cult was World War II, when Germany’s worship of Adolf Hitler brought about the deaths of 50 million human beings. If Trump wins in November, the entire world will see and feel the fury of a cult leader who feels he has been wronged and abused and who will command a military capable of decimating the entire planet in a matter of hours. And this is a man who would do just that before admitting to making a mistake or forgiving a perceived enemy.
This is a man who has been labeled a dangerous malignant narcissist by many of the world’s leading mental health professionals. Yet, according to my dear relative, we who stand in opposition to a malignant narcissist who commands the unwavering loyalty of his followers—we are the cultists. MAGA truly has brought us into a topsy turvy world where nothing is as it seems. Okay, then, I am a proud member of the cult of normal.
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