In dictatorships, people are coerced into collaboration, Applebaum argues, but those who collaborate with Trump do so voluntarily because America remains a democracy. Applebaum thoughtfully compares America’s present situation to past examples of blinkered collaborators and blind loyalty cults, from World War Two to the Cold War and Hugo Chávez’s autocratic socialism in Venezuela. To Applebaum, certain dynamics lead people to compromise their moral or patriotic values by empowering autocrats. In a recent article for The Atlantic, Anne Applebaum offers a lengthy exploration of why Republican politicians, both outside and within the administration, have gone to such lengths to make themselves indispensable to Trump. Trump’s enablers are earning a new share of scrutiny. Berman, the chief federal prosecutor in Manhattan, for investigating misconduct by Trump and his associates. Meanwhile, Attorney General Bill Barr, seeking out new ways to be the president’s most trusted aide-de-camp, forced out Geoffrey S. A sparsely attended rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, had the president seething at his allies afterward, according to The New York Times. Adding to the list of national and international crises since Donald Trump entered the White House, the nation now stands buffeted by a deadly pandemic threatening to hollow out its fragile economy and a popular uprising over police violence. I think we have to question the morality of the Trump followers because their morality is not strong enough to overcome their self-interest of staying in the cult," Dodes concluded.As America heads toward a critical election, much of the world wonders whether Trump loyalists will have a change of heart. They finally say this is not right, as Liz Cheney did. People who have high moral qualities and values do stand up, we sometimes consider them heroic. "I think it has, certainly, a moral quality. Unfortunately, intelligence doesn't help you when you've got these enormous internal and external pressures to stay in line with the leader. "It helps to be stupid, but I think that they're different because there are intelligent people who are members of cult, you know? As much as some of these people who are republicans that don't seem to care about either democracy or morality are odious to us, they may be intelligent. "What is the difference between adherence to a cult and stupidity?" "Doctor, it seems that one defense against cultism, one personal defense that we might all possess - many of us might possess - is intelligence, you're simply too smart to fall for the stupidity of what's the cult is selling," O'Donnell said. O'Donnell wondered about the role intelligence plays in susceptibility to joining a cult. "On the other hand, to stand up against that, therefore, means that you aren't an outcast, you are a pariah." It is a self-affirming system, everyone agrees on the same things and they all follow and worship the leader," he continued. "The advantage of being ins such a group is that you have an echo chamber of people who are admiring you and affirming you. And a part of that, which is important to understand, is that you are also required to deny or ignore or attack those people who challenge the belief system, which is exactly what we see from many of these Trump followers, who simply act as they cannot hear and they attack those people who challenge it, which is what happened to Cheney." "If you are in one, you are required to believe the belief system of the group. "What a cult is - especially a charismatic cult, which is the kind we're talking about here where you have the all-powerful leader, Trump, who is seen as a god-like figure - those cults are self-contained, intentionally," he explained. Lance Dodes, a retired clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard.ĭodes said, "I think the word cult is probably correct. Those quotes raised questions for O'Donnell, who wondered, "Is it a cult or is it stupidity? And what's the difference?"įor analysis, O'Donnell interviewed Dr. "I say to Republicans all the time, take back your party from this cult." "They seem to have reached rock-bottom with their statement that happened on January 6th was normal political discourse," Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said. "You know, the 'C' in RNC doesn't stand for 'committee,' it stands for 'cult.' It's not the Republican National Committee, it's the Republican National Cult," Rep. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell began his examination of the issue with quotes from two Democratic Party leaders. 6 insurrection was " legitimate political discourse" has sparked a renewed conversation on whether Donald Trump's MAGA movement is a cult. The statement by the Republican National Committee arguing that the Jan.
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