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These are people who have a deep need for grandiosity, to be the center of attention, who need to control others, and who lack empathy and lie without hesitation. I have a chapter in the book on malignant narcissism as a characteristic of destructive cult leaders. Sean IllingĪnd how do you distinguish a cult leader from what we’d normally consider a charismatic leader? Steven Hassan And above all, they think they made a conscious decision to do all these things all on their own. When people are being brainwashed, they think they’re making their own decisions, they think they’re doing God’s work, they think they’re saving the world. No, most people would laugh at the idea of being in a “cult.” But that’s crucial to the sort of mind control you find in a cult. Sean Illingĭo the majority of cult members recognize themselves as being members of cults? Steven Hassan And there’s almost always a core deception at the center of the cult, which is that the leader is the only who has the keys to saving the planet, who has access to the truth. There are differences, but the core influence techniques are basically the same no matter the purpose or structure of the cult. Sean IllingĪre there meaningful differences between a political cult and a religious cult (or any other kind of cult)? Steven Hassan That’s what you might call an ethical cult.Īnd then on the unethical side, there are cults that are essentially based on authoritarian pyramid structures, usually with somebody at the top that claims to have total power and total wisdom, and they use deception in recruitment, which is crucial.
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#Trumps cult animosity shows sign up free#
There can be cults where people know what they’re getting into and have access to alternative opinions and are free to leave without threats. I define cults along a continuum of what I call ethical or unethical influence. Our conversation, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity, follows. Readers can decide whether or not to buy the argument. Although he makes some interesting points, especially about how our conception of cults needs rethinking, Hassan’s argument about Trump strikes me as thin in some crucial places, and I pushed back during our exchange. If Trump is, in fact, a cult leader, I really wanted Hassan to explain how he’s different from other political figures. I reached out to Hassan to talk about what defines a cult and why he thinks Trump qualifies as a cult leader. The president, he writes, “employs many of the same techniques as prominent cult leaders and displays many of the same personality traits.” Hassan is convinced that Trump is more than just a manipulative, charismatic politician. Hassan has studied cults for years and is himself a former member of the “ Moonies” cult, an offshoot of the Unification Church of the United States led by Sun Myung Moon that made headlines in 1970s. At the same time, calling it a cult seems too easy, a way of avoiding a much scarier truth about our politics - namely, that Trump isn’t all that exceptional.Ī new book by cult expert Steven Hassan, called The Cult of Trump, is the first serious attempt to argue that Trumpism is a cult. On one hand, there is something cult-like about the hold Trump has over his supporters and the Republican Party. It’s a provocative claim that I’m not sure is entirely convincing. Even former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci has likened Donald Trump supporters to a cult. And yet more and more people, like veteran Republican strategist John Weaver, are comfortable saying, “Yes.”įamed CBS anchor Dan Rather made the case most recently on the CNN show Reliable Sources. The question almost feels like a provocation.