Part I – Who Is Donald Trump?
Though a lot is known about Donald Trump and how he operates, not a lot is being done with that knowledge. For example, we know Trump counter-punches. When Biden made a big speech about how Trump and his MAGA followers are dangerous for democracy, Trump comes back with three counter-punches: “Biden is an enemy of the state”, “Biden and his crew are the real dangers to democracy”, and moreover, “the FBI and Justice Department are, with the help of the media, ‘monsters’ out to get him and all the other good people”.
We know that when Trump is attacked, for real or in his mind, he counter-punches. It’s what he does. And his counter-punches are often stronger and more viscous than the original attack. They may change the subject, too, and/or be personal. His technique is well known, yet people keep punching at him without having a plan for dealing with his counter-punches. If Biden has answers to being called an ‘enemy of the state’ and to the ‘FBI-Justice-monsters’ counter-punches, I have not heard them or read about them. Thus, Trump wins the exchange.
Another example of Trump’s counter-punch technique is the Special Master appointment. Feeling attacked in the Mar-a -Lago raid (he’s right, it was a ‘raid’), Trump hunts and finds a Trumper judge to appoint a Special Master. That judge has the Justice Department stymied and dancing to her tune. The Feds will be occupied for some time with the Master but not with the case they wanted to pursue. Again, Trump wins. Trump’s ‘Master’ move was predicable; the Justice Department should have done it first so they could control it. Now it’s too late; Trump wins. One has to think ahead to deal successfully with Donald Trump.
Counter-punching is one thing Trump does; insulting opponents personally to upset and disarm them is another. Most people are polite and nice, not used to being blatantly and rudely insulted, so when they are, they are flummoxed and simply don’t know how to react. Remember the Republican ‘debates’ before the 2016 election? Trump insulted the appearance of fellow candidate Carly Fiorina. A decent person, she was shocked to silence. She should have insulted him back, clearly but nicely. Of course, he would have counter-punched again so she would have had to be ready with a rebuttal to that. One has to be very quick and tough to deal successfully with Donald Trump.
Counter-punching and personal insults are two of Trump’s modus operandi, truth squad-like propaganda is another. Remember the Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s 1984? Their mottos were “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery,” and “Ignorance is Strength”. It’s not “If you build it, they will come.” It’s if you say it and say and say it, and . . . they will believe. A lie is simply an “alternative fact.” Just keep saying it. In the book 1984, the lies were called “doublespeak”, and they were used ad nauseam to control the narrative, to become the people’s reality. Trump’s has his own Ministry of Truth media platform called “Social Truth”.
Trump uses the Ministry of Truth method. “The election was stolen,” for example. He started with that even before the election, and just keeps on with it. “The FBI’s raid was a travesty of justice.” (He says this in various ways.) “Biden’s an enemy of the state. You want to know the truth. The enemy of the state is him.” With the help of the media, Trump is able to flood the ‘news’ coverage with his many statements. His doublespeak is ubiquitous on the networks and cable channels. He is his own Ministry of Truth.
In a free society (still), one with a free press (still), there isn’t much we can do about this, is there? But actually, there is. However, someone has to step up, someone with the clout to get the media’s attention. Maybe a respected celebrity, or a prominent business person, or a moral leader, if we had one. This ‘someone’ I am imagining has to counter Trump’s statements with truthful, newsworthy, attention-getting statements of his or her own. “The travesty of justice was an ex-President, who lost the election, stealing documents, some classified, from the White House. He had no right! Those documents are yours and mine. Who does he think he is – God?”
To neutralize Trump’s ‘Ministry of Truth’ technique, someone has to make his drumbeats a public debate; then the debate is the news rather than Trump’s doublespeak. Who is it going to be? It was the U.S. Army took on Joe McCarthy in 1954. If he were alive, Martin Luther King could have done the job of answering Trump. King said, “’It’s not the words of our enemies that we will remember. It’s the silence of our friends.” Surely in this nation of 330 million, there is someone to step up and counter Trump’s lies with truth?
Another of Trump’s methods is the not-so-veiled threat. “If they indict me”, he says, “bad things will happen.” Like, say, riots in the streets, or attacks on the Justice Department. He thus invites his supporters to carry out the threat, but retains deniability for himself.
Part II – Trumpers
A cult is a group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charismatic leader or ideology.
That’s a generic definition from a Google search of ‘What is a cult.”
Remember the cults we have had? The Manson Family, the Moonies (The Unification Church, Sun Myung Moon), Jonestown (The Peoples Temple, Jim Jones), the Branch Davidians (David Koresh) . . . Now we have the Trumpers (Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump).
Members of a cult follow blindly, fervently, sometimes almost worshipping the leader. They embrace the leader’s ideology fully, single-mindedly. They are True Believers.
Acquaintances of mine once lost their apparently normal teenage daughter to the Moonies. I don’t know how it happened but she went to live with the cult, and wouldn’t even talk to parents or former friends. The parents hired private detectives to forcibly kidnap her back, and then hired psychologists to ‘deprogram’ her. It took nearly a year, but she is leading a normal life now with little recollection of her time with the Moonies. Cults leaders have a powerful hold on their members.
Members of cults are exploited by their leaders. Sometimes it’s for sex, often for money, or just to polish the leader’s ego, or fulfill his need for power. Whatever the purpose, though, members of cults are exploited.
Many people join cults because they believe they’re being offered absolute answers for unanswerable questions such as good vs. evil, religion, the meaning of life, or . . . politics. Cult leaders provide messages that are simple and seem to make sense, the exact opposite of the confusion and complexity we’re provided with in real life. Leaders seem to have it all figured out.
Cult Leaders: Google something like ‘cults leaders’, and you get this:
• He has a grandiose idea of who he is and what he can achieve.
• Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, or brilliance
• Demands blind, unquestioned obedience.
• Requires excessive admiration from followers and insiders.
Remind you of somebody? Of course; the definition describes Donald Trump to a T. He’s a consummate cult leader.
He has another quality, though: he’s not well-read (not read at all?), and not at all smart. He just follows the narcissistic instincts of a cult leader.
Cult leaders don’t usually start out to form cults. They are just who they are — see the bulleted list of four traits above – and certain people are attracted and become followers. Thus a cult is born.
Most of the people who follow Trump — I call them Trumpers – don’t know they are in a cult. But they follow the leader for sure. They got there by voting for Trump in 2016 when he beat Hillary Clinton. At that time, they were hurting financially, their jobs gone, their homes and lives demolished. In my hometown in the rust belt, every third house became vacant and was torn down. Their way of life was lost. Hillary called them “deplorables,” and wouldn’t even visit. That’s why she lost.
They weren’t deplorable; they were hard working, honest folks who were raising families, taking care of themselves and their property, and contributing to the nation’s prosperity. They had lives, a culture. It was the culture of the Greatest Generation.
But along with their jobs (and homes), they saw their culture disappearing, too. Then Donald Trump got himself nominated to run for President. He didn’t play nice, he spoke his mind, called things as he saw them, and importantly didn’t kowtow to the elites. He gave hope to desperate people. They voted for him. He won.
As President, he did a lot. There was a big tax cut, he quit the Paris Climate organization and stopped other environmental actions, he appointed conservative judges, including to the Supreme Court, he materially helped foster religious freedom and anti-abortion causes, he got a Covid vaccine developed, he cut down on bureaucratic regulations, he snubbed the Obamas, he made immigrants wait in Mexico for their number to be called, and on and on. The cult members, who became known as his “base”, loved him. Two hundred or so GOP Congresspeople joined the cult. Many otherwise intelligent conservatives chose to ignore his personal qualities because they liked his political accomplishments.
Then he lost! After all that he had done, he lost. The man with a grandiose idea of who he is and what he can accomplish, lost. The man preoccupied with unlimited success and brilliance, lost.
Losing was unacceptable. He could only lose if the election were stolen. He declared this even before the election was held. He had to have been devastated, frantic. How could this have happened to him? Unacceptable.
How could it happen? The Big Lie explains how. He declared it, and declared it, and declared it . . .. and cult members believed. They became election deniers. Some of the cult was summoned to Washington where they violently raided the Capital trying to overturn the election. He wanted to help them, but he couldn’t They failed. He lost.
Court challenges to the election failed. He lost.
Cult members stuck with him, loyal and obedient. Even though they are exploited — for money, votes, and political gain, they support him. A politician wants his blessing, meaning the support of the cult, then they must deny the election results. Or else get ‘primaried’.
Trump is gravitating to QAnon, a cult that supports him. He’s been seen with a QAnon lapel pin that declares the “storm” is coming. (The “storm” is the event when Trump regains power and opponents are executed.) QAnon has no known leader; maybe Trump will take it over?
____________________________________
What does the future hold? It looks like Trump’s running again! Who can beat him? Not bland old Biden, not vacant Kamala Harris, not any Democrat in sight.
But then, oh-oh: the damned documents at Mar-a Lago. What are they? What the hell were they doing there? Why wouldn’t he just give them back when he was asked nicely?
He’s up against the Justice Department now. But he’s punching back . . . so we shall see, eventually. As I write this, no-one knows what will happen. Predictions: He’ll lose some of the ‘minor’ Court cases that are after him, but he’ll survive. The January 6 Committee will scald him, but he’ll survive (and punch back). Some Mar-a Lago documents will be found, some not, but the Justice Department won’t prosecute, so he’ll survive. If Trump can’t make it, Ron DeSantis will be the Republican nominee for President (and lots of people will regret what they wished for.)
Donald Trump will keep punching back, punching, punching, punching, — and keep up with the propaganda machine – saying it, saying it, saying it . . .
If he’s not President, he will survive — as a cult leader. Just Sayin’.
John R. Dixon 