I recently read “The Cult of Trump” by Dr. Steven Hassan, which was published in 2019—before Mr. Trump was first elected president.
Hassan was actually in a cult in the early 1970s: The Unification Church, nicknamed “The Moonies,” so named because its leader was Reverend Sun Myung Moon, a South Korean “religious” leader who claimed to be the Messiah.
Rev. Moon had started claiming he was the son of God in North Korea, but was imprisoned by Kim Jung II, the then dictator of Communist North Korea that claimed to be God Himself. (I guess that God and the Son of God had a falling out.) In North Korea, Moon was tortured and brainwashed, but he escaped to South Korea and started up his cult there, using the same mind control techniques that he had been subjected to in North Korea.
After an indoctrination period into “The Moonies,” the young Steven Hassan rose to leadership levels before a tragic car accident that gave his parents the opening to hire professionals to “deprogram” him. The experts taught him about the brainwashing used in North Korea and after much study and weeks of denial, he understood that the leader of The Moonies who claimed to be Jesus was also lying to everyone just like the dictator/god of North Korea.
From that experience, Hassan realized that anyone can be seduced into a cult and he wanted to help others, so he studied cults and he has written many professional books about cults and helped hundreds of victims get out of cults. Here are some salient points that I learned from “The Cult of Trump.”
Cults are different than other groups because:
1) Their leaders lie to their members. They reject facts if the leader tells them to do so. Examples: Over 30,000 documented lies during Trump’s first term; recently “Gas prices are not going up”; “I negotiated with the drug companies and prices will be slashed 400%-600%.”; and “Global warming is a hoax.”
2) Cult leaders can do no wrong. Their supporters make an exception to their normal moral standards for their leader. Examples: Trump has declared bankruptcy six times; he has cheated on all three of his wives; and said of women in general “I can grab them by the p____.”. He is a convicted felon; has been impeached twice, and his name appears in the Epstein Files over 38,000 times.
3) Cult Leaders are malignant narcissists, a highly destructive form of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It combines classic grandiosity and a lack of empathy with cruelty, sadism, and antisocial behavior. Malignant narcissists actively seek to harm, control, and humiliate others for their own gratification. Examples: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”;
Trump calls himself a “stable genius.” He repeatedly says “I alone can fix it.” and “My IQ is among the highest in the world.”
And then there are the memes he has posted of himself as Jesus. Do you remember when he had thousands of undocumented children detained in jails? He uses cruelty as a tactic.
4) Cults reject independent sources of information and use buzzwords that discourage critical thinking. Examples: Trump’s use of the phrases “Fake News”; “Make America Great Again”; “…an enemy of the people….”; and “People are saying….”, and the way he demonizes the free press.
5) Cult leaders enrich themselves at the cost of their members. Examples: Trump University, Trump coins, watches, wine, etc. According to Forbes Magazine, his net worth increased by three billion in 2025. Try googling ‘Trump Corruption.’
5) Cult leaders instill fear of the outside world of supposed “enemies.” Examples: Antifa, immigrants, and “libtards.” From Time Magazine: “Donald Trump’s rhetoric frequently utilizes apocalyptic imagery and crisis-oriented language to motivate his base and highlight perceived threats to the country.
His messaging often frames political and social issues in existential, life-or-death terms. More examples: “This is an invasion”; “You won’t have a country any more.”; “They are poisoning the blood of our country,” “Immigrants are ‘vermin.’” Finally—and most importantly—after establishing that MAGA is indeed a cult, Hassan argues that these folks are our friends and neighbors, and that they will continue to have a say in how our country is run. In order to help them see the truth, direct confrontation and arguing are not effective. (Many of us have already tried that.) I am reminded of the truism “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
All of us have been hurt by Trump’s policies (gas prices, reducing funding for rural hospitals, ICE abuses, the Iran war, hiring unqualified people to run federal agencies, etc).
At some level, most Trump supporters understand that they have made an egregious mistake, and they needn’t be reminded of it. It’s hard for anyone to admit that they were deceived, but as I mentioned in the beginning, Hassan himself joined a cult. Anyone can be tricked into joining a cult.
A personal example of Hassan’s approach: I was estranged from my sister for many years due to her defense of Mr. Trump’s policies. She lives in Central America and her family exports many products to the United States, so last year when she was bemoaning the Trump-induced tariff chaos which had hurt their business, I just listened. No need to rub it in.
We are all in this together!
