Donald J. Trump exhibits behavior that were your teenage children doing the same, you would ground them for a decade. Any women with a husband who delights in daily lies, insults and cruelty would divorce him in a heartbeat. So how then does Trump get away with it?

The answer, I believe is that he has a cult-like control over his supporters.

To be honest, it’s not the most original explanation but for a decade and a half, I lived in a spiritual community that, while never intending to be a cult, for a few years sank into a cult mentality, the effects of which decades later still haunt and traumatize some members. I lived there during that period and admit to being a true believer. I feel no embarrassment in stating this. It was a learning experience and if anything, allows me to understand why otherwise decent people uncritically follow someone as unsavory and dangerous as Donald Trump. We freely gave our leader omnipotent power and without knowing it surrendered our individuality. Through that process, my community manifested the textbook definitions of cultism and I see it mimicked by those who make up the hard-core followers of the former president. “Trumpism” is truly a cult mentality.

The main tenet of cultism is that the individual surrenders their integrity and authority to the leader. Cult members allow themselves to believe anything the leader tells them no matter how contradictory, immoral, deceitful or irrational. They manifest cruel and insensitive behavior they would have previously considered unthinkable and sanction questionable acts in the belief that the ends justify the means. Trump was correct. He could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still wouldn’t lose voters.

In a cult, you are either a true believer or the enemy. There is no middle ground, no compromise, no grey area. The critical opinions of the outside world don’t exist. Any follower who dares question the ideology of the leader is turned upon and torn apart by their peers. You can see this in the subservience of Republican politicians who knew in their hearts just how destructive and unscrupulous their party leader was and yet submitted to his will.

But cult members aren’t brainwashed. Adherents surrender their individualism due to blind adoration, misplaced love, naïve trust or just because they resonate with the message of the cult leader.

A charismatic cult leader gets his energy from his followers. They are his battery. This is why Trump flies off to his rallies whenever he can. He needs to suck the adoring fervor of the crowd in order to replenish his ego and psychic strength. Shut off that battery and Trump would shrivel and shrink.

One aspect of cultism that is rarely talked about is its lack of humor and creativity. Cult leaders can’t laugh at themselves and for the followers to do so results in shunning if not outright expulsion. The only jokes allowed or expressed are those which degrade and humiliate the enemy. Hence, cult followers are moody, suspicious and always on the edge of paranoia. Obama, Biden, George W. Bush Jr. and even Reagan had a good sense of self — depreciating humor. Trump has none. Accordingly, the only creativity allowed is that which extols the leader. Paintings and flags portraying Trump could have been designed in North Korea or Stalinist Russia. Christian conservatives compare him to Jesus.

Fortunately, no cult lasts forever. Members of my community eventually regained their autonomy and shook off their unquestioned devotion to the leader. More important, they began to challenge his increasingly abusive behavior. In doing so, they rediscovered their self-worth.

How former adherents evaluate the cult experience depends on their personal level of integrity. The more aware admit to it and make sure such a moral surrender never happens again. The less wise refuse to take responsibility for their actions and blame it all on the leader. We’ve seen this dynamic after the 2022 midterms as Republicans are suddenly turning away from Trump. Not for his racism, corruption, deceit or even his attempt to overthrow the government on Jan. 6, 2021. They were fine with that.

No, they spurn him because they lost. Several religious leaders have complained that Trump “misled” them, a bogus excuse seeing that any intelligent fourth grader could have read Trump’s true intentions from the get-go.

Trump will hopefully vanish into the dustbin of history but his poison remains. As 2024 approaches, it’s up to the American people to decide just how pervasive that poison is.

Daniel A. Brown lived in Franklin County for 44 years and is a frequent contributor to the Recorder. He lives in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico with his wife, Lisa and dog, Cody.

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