GOP Downfall: Remarkable Rise of the MAGA Cult
It’s axiomatic to state that those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. The Republican party is living that axiom right now. The GOP is in a downfall.
Back in May 2021, Dr Chaim wrote about how we Republicans need to get over the obsession with Donald Trump. For a while, it seemed like the message was starting to get across. Then something happened.
The Red Wave That Wasn’t
Our party got thoroughly humiliated in the 2022 midterm elections losing the Senate and many governorships, and holding on to the House by only a narrow margin, not anywhere near the anticipated “red wave” that many Trump-loving “MAGA” adherents predicted.
This was a time to do some some serious introspective soul-searching of why the conservative message hadn’t resonated with people. After all, Biden’s approval rating was rather low during 2022 – the lowest approval rating according to Reuters’ interactive chart was about 36% in July 2022. Shouldn’t we have easily captured both the Senate and the House in addition to more state governor’s mansions?
But instead of soul-searching and reflection, many of the leaders of the party dug in to radical right-wing trench warfare, making our party appear in toto exactly like neo-fascist goosestepping isolationists.
The Blame Game
Instead of wondering why this happened and what we as a party did wrong and how we can improve, the butt-hurt leadership blinded themselves to the problems in our party, and instead chose to blame the American public for not voting for them, and also blamed so-called “RINOs” for sabotaging what should have been a “red tsunami.”
Where did that whole concept come from?
In simple terms, it comes down to one person: Donald Trump.
The Benefit of Hindsight
Back in 2014 and 2015, it was clear that the Republican party was at least in disarray, if not in impending meltdown. The fractured state of our party had been brewing since before the days of George W. Bush, who was overall a disappointment to the party’s established platform. But by all metrics, the 25-35% of the GOP voter base who felt most put out by the so-called “establishment”, was the very base that Trump tapped for his “Make America Great Again” rhetoric.
And it’s that same base of GOP-registered voters, who make up this “MAGA” following to this day… primarily because the rest of the party is too intelligent to believe Trump’s ego-inflating crap.
The Message, Tailored To The Gullible
Looking back, it’s clear now how Trump used his admittedly excellent grasp of shady business dealing and slimy salesmanship to “sell” his message to this relatively small group of voters.
The message that resonated with them was that Washington was a “swamp” full of extremely wealthy elites (they ignore the fact that Trump himself is a self-proclaimed billionaire), that America was “broken” (but he never seemed to completely identify exactly how), that we needed to put “America first” (a haunting reference to a well-known racist and white supremacist group), and that only through believe in him, could America “be great again.”
Red Flags Everywhere
The rhetoric and symbolism itself should have been a huge red flag to everyone that Trump wasn’t trying to save the Republican party, he was trying to send America down a dictatorial road with himself as the head, and his faithful believers as the army (sound familiar?):
A self-proclaimed billionaire trying to tell everyone that he’s different than the fat-cat elites in the “swamp” that he wants to drain – ignoring the fact that he’s one of those “fat-cat elites”.
Using the Woodrow Wilson-inspired “America First” concept to endorse a wholesale isolationist policy for the US, in a world economy that’s impossible to remain completely isolationist anymore.
The consistent references to “America First”, coupled with Trump’s subsequent contacts with well-known white supremacists including Nick Fuentes and antisemitic figures such as Kanye West.
The constant impression to his followers that Trump is the only salvation for this country – indeed, as the New Yorker reported, he actually said the words “I am the only one who can save this nation” during a recent speech.
His attempt to overthrow and circumvent the established political process for certifying an election because he personally didn’t like the outcome, by impressing on his followers to interrupt the process (and possibly even execute the Vice-President).
Trump the Messiah?
This messianic cult behavior persists to the present day. On the Trump-supported Truth Social, he was seen sharing a post that proclaimed him second only to Jesus Christ. Not only on Truth Social, but also on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), many MAGA believers are regularly seen posting memes comparing Trump to Jesus Christ – I’d post some of them here, but it’s easy to look for yourself – there are way too many to link, unfortunately.
Also just look at (or attend) any of his infamous “rallies”. Throughout the years, they have gotten more cult-like with spontaneous chanting “Trump!” as if the attendees were all being brainwashed into a cult.
The whole look and feel of the rallies – from the first ones, all of the way through to the present, are that of Hitler’s Nuremberg Rallies in the 1920’s and 1930’s – highly scripted, heavily dosed with propaganda and Nazi hate rhetoric against anything and anyone they disagreed with. The fact that Trump continued these rallies even after he became president, further reinforces the concept that the rallies were deliberately used to perform specific Nazi-like propaganda functions.
The Making of MAGA
It’s all of this deliberate mind-control on Trump’s part that has made him into the messiah of the MAGA cult – and make no mistake: by every accepted definition, MAGA qualifies as a legitimate cult.
So how does MAGA operate as a cult for Donald Trump? Here are a number of the definitions of a “cult” and how MAGA fits those defnintions:
Absolute authoritarianism without accountability
It’s clear that Trump controls the group, and that the group eagerly gives him this control. No one else is permitted to question his policies. In fact, he has made moves to take control of the Republican National Committee itself, and may actually be successful – in which case the Republican party will cease to be the party of its tradition, and instead become exactly as the Nazi Party was Germany.
Zero tolerance for criticism or questions
A cursory browse through many social media posts from people who identify as MAGA shows this concept very easily – they hurl abuse and insults at anyone who questions anything Trump says.
Lack of meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget
The fact that Trump himself refused to follow protocol by disclosing his tax return records is evidence enough of this point. Add to this the fact that recent reports that Trump-involved PACs have been misappropriating campaign donations to pay Trump’s legal fees, without any outcry from MAGA adherents who made those donations for his re-election, not his legal fees.
Unreasonable fears about the outside world that often involve evil conspiracies and persecutions
Again, this is all too easy – and massive – to document. Just the whole ultra-isolationist “America First” rhetoric would be sufficient to prove this point. Add the whole psychotic “QAnon” conspiracy-theory tale to the mix. Don’t forget all of the claims from supporters that Trump has suffered persecution for no good reason (they ignore the actually good reasons). Oh, and don’t forget the COVID pandemic-related conspiracy theories from Trump himself about the origin and intent of the virus, and subsequent vaccine “dangers”. These are all eagerly echoed and endorsed by his followers, despite the fact that none of them are actually factual. The whole “anti-vax” movement is primarily peopled by MAGA cult members pushing false information about COVID19 and the vaccines.
A belief that former followers are always wrong for leaving and there is never a legitimate reason for anyone else to leave
This is easily shown in how much abuse that people who leave the MAGA camp – or who have never been fervent supporters of Trump – endure on the part of the MAGA cult. I’ve personally seen this on X, when MAGA cult members accuse me of being “RINO”, “liberal”, or “communist” because I disagree with Trump and his rhetoric. It’s clear that it’s not just me, as anyone who voted for Trump in 2016 and has since regretted it, can tell you.
A belief that the leader is right at all times
With all of the terabytes of data all over social media, as well as news stories from everywhere – left, right, and center, over the last 9 years proving this, do we really need to say much more? Trump consistently claims he’s right about things he says. The MAGA followers believe he can do no wrong. Trump himself and the MAGA faithful scream back at the charges of corruption, rape, fraud, etc., by claiming he didn’t do anything wrong, despite two successful rulings against him already (and hopefully more on the way). The MAGA minions dismiss this as further “liberal persecution” of their messiah (see previous).
A belief that the leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or giving validation
The quick and easy pointer proving this? His own made-and-endorsed social media alternative to (then) Twitter when he was banned from it before Musk reinstated him some time ago. “Truth Social” claims to be “America’s ‘Big Tent’ social media platform that encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating on the basis of political ideology”.
But the fact that the platform is solely a vehicle for Trump’s propaganda, along with the name itself, pushes an ridiculous and erroneous notion that they are the only social media outlet that will tell you the “truth”.
However, it’s all too clear that it’s simply a vehicle for MAGA supporters to laud praise on Trump. The “Trump is telling the truth” rhetoric is splattered all over that platform. At the same time, anyone who dares raise even the most innocuous question about Trump’s motives and actions is severely abused and insulted by MAGA members of the platform. Think of Truth Social not as a decent alternative to X, but as the social media that the Moonies would use if they had one.
Fake Republican
Let’s get one thing straight: Donald Trump is a FAKE Republican. The records indicate that he changed his party affiliation multiple times since 1987, the earliest date known for his political affiliation. By that measure, I’ve been a member of the Republican party far longer than he has – and I have never changed parties since I originally registered many decades ago – not once.
His consistent use of attack rhetoric any time someone questions the extent of his self-stated wealth is evidence enough of the fraud that Trump uses to maintain his mystique among his believers.
His well-known narcissism prevents him from letting anyone else share the spotlight with him (see the next post about his relationship with Steve Bannon).
Narcissist-In-Chief
This same personality defect makes him convinced that he is the center of the universe, and why he can’t admit to being defeated in the 2020 general election. He continues to insist that the election was “stolen” from him despite absolutely no evidence of any type of voter fraud that would support his claim ever being presented by him or his supporters. This is evidence of the same mental defect that caused him to believe that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote because of “voter fraud” in 2016, despite the fact that he won that election.
From a clinical standpoint, narcissists can’t stand not being the center of attention, being talked about constantly (even if in a negative light), can’t deal with rejection, and can’t reconcile with being shown to be wrong.
Coming Up…
Next time: all of the things that Trump did wrong during and after his presidency, that prove that he is not fit to be POTUS again, or even to be a member of the Republican Party.
Next: GOP Downfall: Trump’s Strange Tragedy of Lies and (Alleged) Crimes
