Fake enemies, loaded language, grandiosity, belittling critics: Cults expert claims Donald Trump's tactics are taken straight from playbook of Sun Myung Moon, David Koresh and Jim Jones
S E E D E D C O N T E N TIn his upcoming book The Cult of Trump , noted mind control expert Steven Hassan claims Trump has copied dictators and cult leaders throughout history
Trump has exploited the cult leader playbook: 'absolute confidence, grandiosity sowing fear and confusion, lying about the facts and belittling critics’
‘The question is to what extent does Trump exhibit a similar malignant narcissistic profile of a destructive cult leader just like Moon’, asks the author
Trump uses the same arsenal of indoctrination techniques to grab attention and devotion – ‘shunning, shaming, expulsion'
Hassan maintains the president sounds like cult leader Jim Jones, who directed a mass suicide and murder of more than 900 followers at Jonestown in Guyana in 1978
In his dying breath, Jones said it was ‘all the media’s fault. Don’t believe them’
Hassan says the clichés Trump uses and the loaded language fan fear and implant phobias
Trump uses rallies that he ostensibly attends to help other Republicans get elected as charging stations where he can demonize his perceived enemies
Hassan writes that the Trump presidency can be evaluated by studying the psychology of mind manipulation and influence from these past cult leaders so that we don’t ignore the lessons of history – of Jonestown and other destructive groups --- at our own peril.
It is fear that defines Trump’s philosophy, his personality and his presidency, according to the author.
One of his first campaign issues was to build a great Wall along the Mexican border to ‘insulate, isolate and elevate America’ from the rest of the dangerous world.
The concept of the Wall allowed Trump to play on images of murderers and rapists gathering at the southern border -- instilling fear in people’s minds of the danger posed by these presumed unruly and hostile immigrants – and that included Mexicans and even Muslims -- all part of the vast migrant caravan.
He pumped up the immigration crisis at the border trying to get funding for the wall and belief in the fear he conjured up.
Trump’s other enemies include globalists, radical left-wing Democrats, socialists, Hollywood actors, and the liberal media.
According to him, they all want to destroy America.
Trump has copied dictators and cult leaders throughout history with his fear mongering and playing on existing fears, amplifying those fears and distorting them with competing versions of reality and then using the tag line, ‘Trust me’, or ‘Believe me’.
He now sounds like cult leader, Jim Jones, who directed a mass suicide and murder of more than 900 followers at Jonestown in Guyana in 1978. In his dying breath, Jones said it was ‘all the media’s fault. Don’t believe them’.
Trump is a master media manipulator who never played by traditional political rules.
He called media outlets to insult his opponents, brag and lie about his own accomplishments while getting billions of dollars worth of free publicity because of the outrageous things he was willing to say.
The clichés he uses and the loaded language from ‘lock her up’, build the wall, and insulting nicknames for his opponents from Crooked Hillary and Pocahontas are all for mind control – to fan fear and implant phobias.
He consciously lied about questioning President Obama’s birth certificate – to grab headlines.
All of these techniques are just another bullying behavior of an impulsive, incompetent president who rants on through his barrage of daily tweets sowing confusion and distorting reality, according to Hassan.
Trump uses these rallies that he attends to help other Republicans get elected to office as charging stations where he can demonize his perceived enemies.
He exhibits the same sense of entitlement in evading paying tax, just like Sun Yung Moon, as well as a serious lack of empathy after Puerto Rico was wiped out by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and he refused to send money but instead went down and tossed out rolls of paper towels.
He expressed envy when he witnessed the massive number of people admiring North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un and Russian President Putin under their regimes.
‘He knows the cult playbook tactics’, writes the author.
He uses false enemies citing the Mexicans, Muslims and media to reinforce the us-versus them thinking.
He sets up mass rallies with supporters wearing slogans on wardrobe and chanting slogans and he continually fans fear and implants phobias.
Lies are standard operating procedure and by 2017, Trump had told 2000 lies but that number climbed to 10,000 two years later, according to the Washington Post that’s keeping a close tab.
Again, lies are ‘right out of the Cult Leader Playbook’, writes Hassan, and are used to stoke fear and hold onto power – just a business strategy to keep people watching.
Trump has reinvented himself many times, and the latest from being a brash and controversial reality TV star to the most powerful person on earth, solely thanks to the Apprentice.
He had no ideal ideology other than the one he had as a businessman – which was winning.
Fred Trump first rescued his son and took him under his authoritarian wing when his cold mother cared little about her children.
Cult leaders Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh all had an absentee mothers and that created ‘insecure parental attachment’ as well as narcissism, writes Hassan.
Fred exposed his son to religion through Norman Vincent Peale, considered a cult leader when Peale claimed he was God’s salesman.
Fred regularly took Donald into NYC to hear Peale speak and it was a highlight of Trump’s youth spent in Queens.
‘If you believe in yourself 100 percent and pray for financial success, God will grant you blessings’, Peale preached.
Peale used repetition and rhythmic vocal cadences as well as vivid imagery in his preaching and that effect remained with Trump all his life that he regurgitated for use with ‘the Wall’ and ‘dangerous foes’.
Fred Trump pumped up Donald by telling him, ‘You are a killer. You are a king’.
But when the little ‘king’ who was an aggressive little bully started collecting knives, Fred packed him off to military school where he continued to bully other kids and teachers as well.
One teacher from his military school recently remembered Trump as a troublemaker in school: ‘Even then he was a little sh*t’.
Trump wanted to be recognized as handsome and charming but those two descriptions never came up in his profile description.
He had always been fascinated with Hollywood and movie making and desperately wanted to attend USC but he was rejected because of lousy grades so he turned to Fordham University in the Bronx, a Jesuit school.
After two years, he transferred to the Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated without honors.
From there it was business with dad who had a longstanding reputation for being a swindler who went after mid and low income housing in New York’s outer boroughs.
Fred had a reputation of being mobbed up and made use of mob-owned construction companies.
He was pals with Roy Cohn, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief council and fixer during his communist and homosexual witch hunts in the ‘50s.
Cohn became Trump’s lawyer and fixer in the early eighties when he was looking to escape his father’s outer-boroughs empire and move into Manhattan’s real estate world.
But first Trump had to borrow more than $60 million from dad to start his business in New York, hang out at trendy nightclubs and bars with models – and learn the ways of Cohn.
Cohn had a reputation for attacking, never apologizing, stopping at nothing to reach his goals, distracting his opponents as well as lying and cheating.
‘Those are the rules of war. Donald learned that from Roy’, stated Trump adviser and Cohn protégé, Roger Stone.
When Trump was cast as host of the Apprentice, he was labeled as a D-lister. He was a clown-like figure who couldn’t be taken seriously.
‘We knew Trump was a fake...but we made him out to be the most important person in the world, made the court jester the king’, stated the show’s supervising editor, Jonathan Braun.
The smoke and mirrors rehabbed Trump’s image into a ‘Master of the Universe’ and the show was the single biggest factor that put Trump in the national spotlight.
Damaging racist and sexist remarks are purported to be on those Apprentice tapes that have been secreted away.
Shows were also reportedly heavily edited because Trump was not articulate.
Trump ran with the notoriety of the show after fourteen years to promote his self-branded companies and seek out licensing deals.
Following the cult leader profile, Trump is known to lie, cheat and steal with no empathy, no conscience in his own businesses.
‘The question is to what extent does Trump exhibit a similar malignant narcissistic profile of a destructive cult leader just like Moon’, asks the author.
He uses the same arsenal of indoctrination techniques to grab attention and devotion – ‘shunning, shaming, expulsion and physical punishment’.
Trump has more than 3500 litigations in the courts that he has used to harass and discourage people. He was the plaintiff in 1900 cases.
Tony Schwartz, Trump’s ghostwriter, wrote, ‘Trump felt compelled to go to war with the world. It was a binary, zero-sum choice for him: you either dominated or you submitted. You either created and exploited fear or you succumbed to it’.
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The 11 cult leader tactics Trump uses
1. Absolute confidence
Cult leaders come across as self-assured and all-knowing, leading their followers to have confidence in them too.
2. 'Only I can fix this' grandiosity
Trump follows the pattern by teasing secret information or playing up the problems his supporters have, then uses the tag line, ‘Trust me’, or ‘Believe me’ to instill faith in him.
3. Sowing fear and confusion
Trump has copied dictators and cult leaders throughout history with his fear mongering and playing on existing fears, amplifying those fears and distorting them.
4. Lying about the facts
Lies are standard operating procedure and by 2017, Trump had told 2000 lies but that number climbed to 10,000 two years later.
Again, lies are ‘right out of the Cult Leader Playbook’, writes Hassan, and are used to stoke fear and hold onto power – just a business strategy to keep people watching.
5. Belittling critics
Trump is known for coming up with insulting nicknames for his opponents such as Crooked Hillary and Pocahontas for Elizabeth Warren.
6. Commanding devotion
Trump uses the same arsenal of indoctrination techniques to grab attention and devotion – ‘shunning, shaming, expulsion and physical punishment’.
His supporters wear his gear, copy his phrases and are vocal about their admiration.
7. Claiming he's misunderstood
Trump rails against the media for not understanding him.
Jim Jones, who directed a mass suicide and murder of more than 900 followers at Jonestown in Guyana in 1978. In his dying breath, Jones said it was ‘all the media’s fault. Don’t believe them’.
8. Praising his followers and boasting about how much he loves them
9. Use of music, vocal patterns, repetition of phrases
Trump's clichés and the loaded language from ‘lock her up’, build the wall, are all for mind control.
10. Us vs. them mentality
Trump uses rallies where he can demonize his perceived enemies, from the media, globalists, radical left-wing Democrats, socialists, Hollywood actors, and the liberal media.
11. Sense of entitlement
Trump exhibits the same sense of entitlement in evading paying tax, just like Sun Yung Moon, as well as a serious lack of empathy after Puerto Rico was wiped out by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and he refused to send money but instead went down and tossed out rolls of paper towels.
Wow-- every one of those on that list fits him so well!
ARRIVALS AT TRUMP RALLY
fear mongering and playing on existing fears, amplifying those fears and distorting them.
Things Trump haters do on a daily, in addition to lying and making stuff up.
Lying and making stuff up is Trump's MO.
No one made up this breaking news:
What's newsical about it. Did Giuliani approach them or vice-versa.
What exactly does this have to do with Trump.
Another nothing burger with neither meat nor bun?
Is there any good reason Biden and his boy should not be investigated?
Old Joe is far from being a boy scout.
Nope. Investigate away. Keep Trumplethinskin going. I love it. I absolutely love it. It speeds up his public melt downs. Asking China and Ukraine to do the investigating by holding financial boondoggles over their head. Why does Trump have to cheat at anything? I thought he was the hugest, bigliest, smartest president who's done more for our government than anyone else in the history of the United States and he has to go threaten-beg other countries to find out the scoop on Biden?
I think then the Liar-In-Chief's children will shortly be investigated as well. Hmmmm. Wonder if Ivanka has had time to get her product line out of Chinese manufacturers' hands. I mean, a lot of time is wasted with Trumplethinskin chasing her around the desk trying to 'make time' with his little girl. You know the one ... the thin one. The one he wants to date. The one he tells Howard Stern he can call "a piece of ass."
He'll make sure nothing by throwing Giuliani under the bus. It's getting crowded under that bus.
But Trump supporters ..and perhaps more importantly Trump himself..would never, ever do anything like that...would he?
/sarc
Actually I believe Trump is now on his 20th bus (since he first took office!)
If you kiss enough Trump ass you could win a free trip to Trump's new Guyana golf resort.
The Donald serves the best Fool-aid there.
Giulani takes his orders from Trump. Those two took their orders from Giulani. This has everything to do with Trump and his breaking the law.
Did Giuliani approach them or vice-versa.
It'a not like they stood on the side of the road with a sign......Will interfere in US elections for food. I think a third party was involved that put them and G together.
Funny, I bet you believed every one of trumps 12,000+ lies too.
You know he does.
That's awesome. Now the whiny protesters will all have dates when he could very well have made them bring their own. Whatta guy huh?
The lemmings must be right behind them.
"fan fear and implant phobias"
Sounds politically normal.
I was able to catch grandma when the republicans threw her off the cliff. Whew....was I lucky I was at the bottom !
Got rid of those ol' cat food cans she supposedly had, and bought her some REAL food too.
Grandma was sooooo grateful.
Fear and phobias been used to even Birth this country !
Just look at this article and what it's trying to accomplish. "fan fear and implant phobias" .
Someone is out to get you somewhere.... so Vote !
I think they have forgotten all about the election coming up quickly. They seem to be proceeding on the mistaken assumption that Trump will be removed from office
The "Left" sure does like to "fan fear and implant phobias" to get what they want.
"OMG".... "Vote for us" .... "Trump has just literally, in front of our eyes, torn the "Constitution in half" ….. 7 times.....Literally !
"That Bastard" !
If fulfilling their Constitutional mandate as the body responsible for holding the actions of the Executive branch accountable for abuses of power committed during their tenure conjures up "fear and...phobias" perhaps your fears and phobias are misdirected.
Their "Constitutional Mandate" is to make things go smoothly so the "American Citizens" can get their own things done. Not their own Election/Re-Election hopes and dreams.
Take all the time you need citing that passage from the Constitution.
The best way to "make things better for the "American Citizens", is to impeach and remove this POS potUS.
Bottom Line
Period
Mike Pence for President ?
The Entire Constitution would be a bit long to post here word for word. It spells everything out in a very smooth way, how a country can smoothly work.
We shall see soon enough. Although here's a partial list of people who Trumplethinskin replaced for the former administration's 'swamp dwellers':
Nice that he drained the swamp, though ... isn't it.
The left wing liberals and Dems are the ones shredding the Constitution into tiny pieces.
No presumption of innocence, no due process, no letting the accused question his accusers, secret sessions behind locked doors with no legal representation.
.
Aw. That's cute. Ha!!!
he had to drain it to more easily find the best of the worse, to install in his cabinet that dishes out more corruption than a GOP Volcanic eruption, and as the aftershocks continue, the glass ceiling begins to be fogged by smoke crack ling fish broiling lungs via family jewels spewing contaminants and vaporizing ethix and morals,
but they would just burden Trumps administered administration, more violation for a violated nation...
Secret sessions behind closed doors are standard operating procedure during criminal investigations. Grand juries often meet secretly to indite criminals. And, no, criminals can't face their accusers until they get tried in court. Since Trump supposedly can't be indicted, the impeachment inquiry has begun.
Right now, it's a Congressional investigation (impeachment inquiry). When Trump gets impeached he will have to opportunity to face his accusers when he is tried before the Senate (which will act as his jury). BTW, Trump already has plenty of legal representation.
I suggest you take a peek at the part of the Constitution that deals with impeachment. You'll see that it's constitutional.
You wish. They will be out in droves come election day. They have not come this far to become complacent.
Aw c;mon...enough already with that all paranoid "Deep State" bullshit!
I needed a /s at the end of my statement ? Even after giving a full sarcastic explanation ?
The "I wear my sun glasses at night" emoji didn't do it either ?
The color of that card is perfect. It is the same as Trump.
For the record the last time i seeded from the Daily mail, John complained for days it was a fake news site.
Amazing....lol
Thats a fucking lie.
So you are the only John here? That's strange. Methinks the man doth protest too much.
So you're saying that fish didn't say that about John Russell? Well, that's refreshing to hear. Cool ...
Sorry, John. Just Jim just admitted that you didn't say it was a fake news site. Another John said it. So I guess everything stands corrected.
We rarely expect the truth from the John in question. Just more lies and hysteria and ranting
We do expect more truth from you though.
Sorry. You're talking about the wrong John. Just Jim said so.
So why do you stop in? I'll never get that. Never. Why don't you consider it a waste of your time like I do when I scroll past articles that are too damned cold to stop into? It's never ceases to amaze me how cold a few snowflakes can make an article. I just say "brr" as I breeze on by.
It's a cold and snowy day here after being 80 yesterday...and I have nothing better to do right now.
You know who I was referring to and the description is accurate. He rants and whines and complains about everything.
Are you calling Just Jim a diversion responder? A demi-liar? Wow. Nice talk about one of your president's supporters.
I could find lots of things to do with fresh snow.
I haven't seen another one here.
The Donald combines 2 popular snow activities.
He loves to make "golden snow angels".
He's looking for a John?
Then provide any comment he made in that regards. The proof is in the pudding and there is always room for Jello.
You forgot one, John. Trump mentioned a "coup." That's a third world country dictator's word. Oh wait. I guess that would be right. Despots think and talk just like that.
By the way, did anyone show up to his tank and troops parade? I don't think even Fox covered that little piece of ego rub for the Traitor-In-Chief.
They sure did..........in inclement weather no less...........
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/crowd-at-trump-july-4-event/
There are always gawkers even at accidents involving fatalities. I saw no coverage on it. Not even on Fox. At least fatality accidents get news coverage.
The rain was god's way of pissing on him.
And---------Ivana, the Trump's first wife and mother to the three eldest Trump spawns, stated in interviews that the Trump kept copies of Mein Kampf and Hitler's speeches at his bedside. Which proves to the naysayers that the Trump does indeed read.
They are probably pop up versions.