(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Opinion: Hillary Clinton Was Right to Suggest Trump is a Cult Leader [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-23 A deep dive into the mind of Donald Trump with mental health experts: In June of 2023, Hillary Clinton suggested former President Donald Trump was the leader of a cult. This was not the first time she has made this suggestion, nor is she the first person to. Clinton also suggested Trump was a cult leader in May of 2023. Then in October, 2023, she said that the Trump’s cult members need a “formal deprogramming.” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), then the House speaker, also compared the Trump-supporting base to a cult in May 2022. Even former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has said “There is absolutely a cult of personality around Donald Trump.” According to The Washington Post, Trump’s base has all of the hallmarks of a cult. There is even a book, titled, The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control. The book was written by Dr. Steven Hassan, an expert in psychology with a focus on cults. The book is an in-depth analysis of former President Trump and explains how under the correct circumstances, sane, even rational, well-adjusted people can be persuaded to believe the most insane ideas. Sound familiar? Could the cult of Trump explain why so many people on the political right believe the outlandish idea that Hillary Clinton runs a child-trafficking sex ring? Could the cult of Trump be why so many on the political right believe in the ominous deep state? According to that laughable conspiracy theory, the deep state is a network of members of the federal government working in conjunction with high-level financial entities, industrial entities, and leaders, to exercise power alongside or within the United States government. Could the cult of Trump be partly why so many on the political right fell for the Clinton body count conspiracy theory? That disproven theory asserts that former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, have had their political opponents murdered. Could the cult of Trump be why countless people on the political right believe the Birtherism conspiracy theory? That disproven conspiracy theory says that former President Obama was really born in Kenya. Could the cult of Trump be why so many Republicans today believe the Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory? That disproven conspiracy theory asserts a number of false allegations that President Joe Biden, while he was vice president, withheld a loan guarantee to pressure Ukraine into firing prosecutor general Viktor Shokin to prevent a corruption investigation of Ukrainian gas company Burisma and to protect his son, Hunter Biden, who was on the board of that gas company. Could the cult of Trump be why so many on the political right believe the Spygate conspiracy theory? This disproven conspiracy theory promulgated by Trump asserts that the Obama administration put a spy in his 2016 presidential campaign for political purposes. Trump has also spread the baseless conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton spied on his campaign. Hopefully, Trump does not really believe all of this, otherwise, he is very paranoid. Although it makes sense that he would think these things given malignant narcissists can have paranoid ideation. Forensic psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee has written a book titled, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. Gail Sheehy, Ph.D., a mental health expert, writes in that book: “The narcissism and paranoia are issues, but the bigger concern is that Donald Trump trusts no one. This will be his downfall — maybe ours.” (p. 75). John D. Gartner, Ph.D., a mental health expert, writes in that book: “Trump is a profoundly evil man exhibiting malignant narcissism. His worsening hypomania is making him increasingly more irrational, grandiose, paranoid, aggressive, irritable, and impulsive. Trump is bad, mad, and getting worse. He evinces the most destructive and dangerous collection of psychiatric symptoms possible for a leader. The worst-case scenario is now our reality.” (p. 107). Betty P. Teng, M.F.A., L.M.S.W., a mental health expert, writes in that book: “Looking through the lens of trauma treatment, it is of particular concern that we find ourselves in a perfect storm where we have, as our U.S. president, a narcissist fixed on broadcasting his own unilateral and inconsistent versions of reality in a climate driven by Internet media channels that produce information so quickly that they privilege falsehoods over truth. It is a tenet of trauma therapy to validate our patients’ truths.” (p. 229) … “Thus, it is traumatizing to have, in the White House, a president and an administration intent on confounding full communication by manipulating the truth to serve their own ends.” (p. 230). Elizabeth Mika, M.A., L.C.P.C., a mental health expert, writes in that book: “The tyrant’s narcissism is the main attractor of his followers, who project their hopes and dreams onto him. The more grandiose his sense of his own self and his promises to his fans, the greater their attraction and the stronger their support… Through the process of identification, the tyrant’s followers absorb his omnipotence and glory and imagine themselves as powerful as he is, the winners in the game of life. This identification heals the followers’ narcissistic wounds, but also tends to shut down their reason and conscience, allowing them to engage in immoral and criminal behaviors with a sense of impunity engendered by this identification.” (p. 305). Craig Malkin, Ph.D., a mental health expert, writes in that book: “When it comes to the question of whether or not someone who’s mentally ill can function, danger is the key — to self or others. This is where pathological narcissism and politics can indeed become a toxic, even lethal mix. When peace at home and abroad are at stake — not just the feelings of coworkers, friends, or partners — pathological narcissism unchecked could lead to World War III.” (p. 60). Former President Trump There is a clear consensus within the expert mental health community that Trump exhibits the hallmark signs of pathological narcissism. According to many mental health experts, most cult leaders have narcissistic personalities or some form of psychosis. Could the cult of Trump explain why so many on the political right believe the disproven conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen? There are countless more disproven conspiracy theories Trump has promoted and many of his loyal followers believe. Frank Yeomans, MD, PhD., a famous mental health expert with a focus on personality disorders explains why people would want to follow someone like Trump in a video titled, Why People Follow a Trump (or a Hitler): Malignant Narcissism & Simplicity. In that video, Yeomans said that he hopes people can integrate rather than split. “By splitting, I mean just seeing the other as different and bad,” he said. “So, take the United States when Obama was president. It looked like there was more integration, first time we have an African American president, and it seems like all kinds of minority groups are feeling more part of the whole fabric. Then we get somebody, who says, ‘You know we’ll be great again,’ — I’m simplifying because there is so much more to the story, but — ‘We’ll be great again if we just keep the Mexicans out. You know, the Mexicans are the badness that is making society bad. We were great once, we’ll be great again if we just keep them out.’” “That is very appealing to a very primitive part of human nature which is reflected in narcissistic pathology, but it’s very scary, because it has an appeal. A lot of people like to what I call regress to simplicity. Life is complex, the world is complex, people we interact with are complex. It gets hard to grapple with all that complexity. ‘Hey let’s go back to a simple model: we’re good, they’re bad.’ Now, everybody likes to do this,” he adds. Yeomans goes on to explain how in sports that is how people view the opposing team — as all bad, while their team is all good. He also explains how in many movies it is always the good versus the bad and that people dislike complexity. Yeomans goes on to say that it is fine to regress to that kind of simplicity if it is entertainment, but if it is a political stance — it becomes dangerous. He then explains how malignant narcissist leaders, such as Hitler, exploit people's desire to regress to simplicity and essentially lead them to destruction. Hillary Clinton was correct to suggest Trump is a cult leader, he leads a personality cult. His followers have unquestioned loyalty towards him, regardless of what he does. Any conservative that goes against Trump is deemed a traitor and not a real conservative. Trump has been indicted four times at this point, accused of attempting a coup d’état, yet the support of his base has not wavered. It is unclear what will happen or how his supporters will react if he is sentenced to prison. It is quite sad in the end — for them to be conned by a malignant narcissist into betraying their own country. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/23/2201051/-Opinion-Hillary-Clinton-Was-Right-to-Suggest-Trump-is-a-Cult-Leader?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/