To hell with Trump's voters - A most righteous rant

[Metaphorical]

26. In 2016

I was prepared to examine my own beliefs, to ask in fact whether the people on the other side of the aisle were just misunderstood in our culture.

By 2020, it had become obvious to me that no, these were not simply salt of the earth people. Some were, sure, but more weren't, and what was worse, the ones who were seemed to morph by exposure to become more bigoted, more judgmental, more narcissistic. The vast majority of the people who supported Trump, however, became, to put it bluntly, jerks if they weren't already. They were people who would screw you over, gleefully, because you didn't belong to their secret tribe, didn't know the magic handshake. They were bullies and thugs, queen bees and gossips, misers and charlatans. It was as if they had been infected by a virus that turned them from decent human beings into troglodytes, and worse, they expected your adulation and understanding even when they did nothing but heap scorn and vileness on everyone around them.

MAGA is a cult. It has all the characteristics of one:
* A charismatic leader or prophet, usually one who emphasizes himself as a hypermasculine ideal - wealthy, powerful, handsome, successful, blessed by the divine
* The elect - those who are racially pure, well-to-do, but not necessarily wealthy, usually male, always subserviant to the prophet but typically with control over others in a hierarchy. Their reward may be spiritual in the end, but the immediate reward is power in the hear and now.
* A creed or code - Project 2025 will do as well as any
* Enemies - the libruls, intellectuals, scientists, experts of any sort, the effete cosmopolitan, City dwellers
* Others - Anyone who isn't white, unless they are part of the elect. Even then they are suspect.
* Misogyny - there may be women in the cult, but they have to be subservient to men in all things. Their primary role is breeders of the next generation of the elect. Trump doesn't necessarily espouse this, but this is Vance all over.
* Controlled media - Members only see and hear the side fo the story that is complementary to the leader or the cult. This serves the role of brain washing.
* The grift - What's yours is mine. What's mine is mine. Here, by some more Trump tschotskies.
* Loyalty Oaths - Those who are not loyal are punished, sometimes terminally.
* The Big Lie (Holy Writ) - Conspiracy theories, the Illuminati, QAnon. The more outrageous the better, because they support the Big Lie.

The challenge that we face is that the only way to shut down a cult is to neutralize the leader and his lieutenants, then to deprogram the followers. This can be a long, painful, and complicated task, because most people, once they have accepted the central premise of the cult, usually lose the ability to think critically (many never had it in the first place). Those who came to the cult late enough, who still had a certain degree of skepticism, are usually the easiest, but the ones who have been enthralled the longest will only really get past it by finally recognizing what had been done to them. Some never do.

I don't necessarily consider Republicans by themselves as cult members - I think many who were already suspicious to begin with followed Trump because of either peer pressure or fear - but others are going to be a lot harder to bring back to reason.