Remember when the left proudly hailed former President Barack Obama as a “Lightworker?” Timemagazine was so in awe of Obama that they even compared him to Jesus, complete with halo pictures. Children of liberals were inducted into performing songs of praise for Obama that sounded as if they were singing about a Great Leader in Pyongyang. And yet Reza Aslan, former host of CNN’s Believer, is now squawking about The dangerous cult of Donald Trump:
I am not the first person to point this out: There’s been a cultish quality to President Trump’s most ardent supporters.
Throughout the campaign, and in personal appearances since then, Trump has harnessed the kind of emotional intensity from his base that is more typical of a religious revival meeting than a political rally, complete with ritualized communal chants (“Lock her up!”).
As we approach the one-year anniversary of Trump’s election victory, the zeal of some of his followers seems increasingly akin to a full-fledged cult.
I use the word “cult” in its pejorative sense, meaning a deeply insular social group bound together by extreme devotion to a charismatic leader. Such groups tend to exhibit a few common characteristics.
They are usually formed around an individual whom they’ve elevated to prophetic and near divine status.
One of the ways a cult leader maintains his unquestioned authority is by creating a siege mentality among his followers and presenting himself as the antidote. In Trump’s view, the country is a wasteland of empty factories “scattered like tombstones” and crime-ridden cities that are more dangerous than war zones. “Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show,” he declared during the campaign. And as Trump has often said, “I alone can fix it.”
Soon after that tweet Aslan was fired by CNN. So sad. No more dining on filet of human brain nor pretending that JeZus of Hawaii made the slightest bit of sense. Yes, Trump the Great and Powerful destroyed poor Reza’s television career.