Yesterday, one of my associates here at Daily Kos; Sammy912; shared his opinion with me that the Republican Party is a cult.
Considering the evidence at our fingertips, that’s actually a fairly plausible conclusion for us to draw. Cults may be very small, or cults may be very large, but they all share certain things in common. One of the chief characteristics of a cult is their insistence on rejecting the research of scientists, investigative journalists and other experts, preferring to embrace the unsupported (and often illogical) proclamations of their cult leaders.
Even when their cult leaders proclamations directly contradict what they said yesterday, the cult followers somehow manage to embrace the cult leaders new talking points without questioning how they could have changed so dramatically from one hour to the next.
Here’s an example of the sort of irrational, cult-like behavior I’m talking about. Back in 2002, Saddam Hussein allowed United Nations weapons inspectors into Iraq to search for any signs of nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, long-range missiles, or anything else that the Iraqi regime was forbidden to have.
Bush complained endlessly about the U.N. weapons inspectors. He referred to their inspections as a game of “hide-and-seek” and strongly hinted that the inspectors should be arresting Iraqi scientists and torturing them to force them to give up all their secrets about weapons of mass destruction.
That was in 2002, and millions of Republicans all seemed to agree with Bush’s assessments of the U.N. weapons inspectors. They mercilessly ridiculed the U.N. inspectors, and peppered Hans Blix with endless insults for not finding the ostensible weapons of mass destruction.
Then in 2003, George W. Bush claimed that he was FORCED to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein refused to allow the U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq. Thus, Bush and Cheney had NO CHOICE, but to invade to protect America’s national security.
Republicans had absolutely no problem agreeing with Bush when he said this.
For four months, Bush’s followers in the Republican Party had no problem insulting and ridiculing the work that the U.N. weapons inspectors were doing in Iraq. Then, in 2003, Bush claimed that the U.N. weapons inspectors WERE NEVER IN IRAQ, and Bush’s supporters had no problem agreeing with that either.
Even when Bush’s lies directly contradicted what he had said a few months earlier, his supporters had no trouble immediately accepting this lie. This is EXACTLY the sort of thing that goes on in religious cults! It doesn’t matter how nonsensical and obvious the lie, it will STILL BE BELIEVED if it comes from a high-ranking leader of the cult.
Well, that was back in 2003. It’s now 2019, and things haven’t gotten any better.
Nowadays, we have millions of Republicans with an unquestioning devotion to Trump and whatever his ideas may be at any given moment. Even when his ideas are blatantly irrational and puerile nonsense.
Consider this recent example. Trump had whipped up his supporters into a frenzy of irrational fear and hatred by repeatedly engaging in hysterics about a small group of poverty-stricken Central Americans, fleeing poverty and violence, who are hoping to come to the U.S. border and apply for asylum.
Refusing to allow these poor, frightened, hungry, huddled asylum-seekers into the country would be bad enough, however, Trump and his accomplices have concocted bizarre fear-mongering propaganda out of thin air and invented conspiracies about who is behind this group of impoverished migrants.
Pete Hegseth, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Newt Gingrich, Greg Jarrett, Tomi Lahren and other leaders of the Republican cult have been over at Fox “news” Channel referring to this group of frightened migrants (mostly women and children) as “an invasion” and “an act of attacking the United States' sovereignty”, planning to “storm our border” and “a threatening invading force.”
These migrants, many of whom are women and children escaping grinding poverty and violence in Central America, are tired, frightened and hungry. They are refugees, seeking asylum.
Trump refers to these asylum seekers as "very bad people" and "an invasion of our Country" and warns that "our Military is waiting for you!"
These are frightened women and children.
And Trump told his followers that American soldiers will gun them down if they attempt to enter this country and apply for asylum.
This is like a doctor calling it "an invasion" if wounded people try to enter a hospital to seek medical attention, and warning that sheriffs and armed security guards will form a barrier around the hospital to stop them from entering.
Congressman Matt Gaetz (another leader of the Republican cult) joined in on the fear-mongering and propaganda and publicly asked if Democratic donor George Soros was funding the Central-American migrants.
The question is pure childishness and propaganda, however, childish propaganda spreads like wildfire in the Republican cult, and other members of the Republican leadership have taken the absurd notion and run with it. The notion that Soros is the dark mastermind behind all kinds of movements is now deeply embedded in the Republican cult. He’s become an all-purpose boogeyman. Republican cult leader Steve King has taken it a step further and has accused Soros of backing a grand scheme to systematically introduce foreigners to replace “Americans” (in other words, whites) with “somebody else’s babies.”
These paranoid fantasies about impoverished, tired, frightened women and children being a threatening, invading force make no sense, however, millions of Republicans have embraced these fantasies and are cheering the notion that U.S. soldiers may gun them down if they attempt to cross the border and apply for asylum.
And even though illegal border crossings are the lowest they’ve been in decades, Trump claims that there is a “crisis” at America’s Southern border, and has declared that his failure to build a massive barrier between Mexico and the United States is a “national emergency”.
Trump’s claims are childish nonsense, however Trump’s credulous supporters accept his claims without reservation.
And even thought it’s Trump’s campaign manager and Trump’s advisers who are the ones being indicted, convicted, pleading guilty and sentenced to prison time, Trump’s supporters chant “lock her up” whenever Trump shows up for one of his angry, hate-filled rallies. This is exactly how people that belong to a cult behave. They reject reality and live in a fantasy world created by their cult leader.
This is not rational behavior. Embracing paranoid fantasies, embracing irrational hatreds, embracing irrational fears and rejecting the evidence of your own eyes is demented and cult-like behavior. And yet, this is exactly what we see with MILLIONS of Republicans in America today.
I get it. Sammy912 is absolutely correct. The Republican Party is acting more and more like a cult and less and less like a legitimate political party.