The difference between Trump and Jim Jones is Trump would charge for the Kool-Aide!
Yeah, it’s a tasteless joke. However this is about Trump who epitomizes tastelessness. For decades he’s surrounded himself with the color gold. Carpet, curtains, furniture and fake gold items including a fake gold toilet! And all that was before he became the leader of a freaking cult. Oh, and let’s not forget all his years in politics as he’s PAINTED HIS FACE ORANGE!. It’s been said and written countless times that MAGA is a cult and Trump a bona fide cult leader. It sure seems like all the proverbial boxes have been checked. The thing about cults is that they don’t end well. For some, especially those that become famous and with a leader that draws attention, well things sometimes end truly badly. Trump wasn’t “all there” during his first term and last year it was clear he’d noticeably declined in mental and physical capacity. Those who thought him winning back the WH would put some “zip” back into him clearly bet wrong. Bigly.
For all the incessant focus on Biden’s ‘Senior Moments’ Trump had just as many, and worse ones. They, along with the meltdowns are increasing in frequency and what we see is bad enough. It’s sobering to think about what goes on off camera, the stuff we DON’T see. Add in an increasing Messiah Complex both on Trump’s part and so many of those who worship him above even God and their Jeebus and it’s easy to see how Trump has made such a mess of things in such a short time. Like some notorious cult leaders before him Trump has lost his grip on reality, but now and then finds moments of clarity and realizes there’s a multitude of people out there who don’t see him like his cult members do. AND that they are out for his ass. History teaches us this leads to increasing paranoia. Again, not something we or the world want or need from any President of the United States.
The whole idolatry of Trump makes me want to puke and I’ll bet it’s the same for most reading this. (Politizoom does have conservatives who pop up in comments sometimes) The point is that the Idolatry goes way back. Remember all those RWNJ preachers and that scene of them doing the “laying of hands” on Trump like he was becoming a newly ordained minister? It’s only gotten more often and worse since then. But going back to that moment, I’m certain most of those “Men of God” knew damn well he was no Christian. They KNEW it, but they were willing to make a deal with the devil (or his representative) to get their RWNJ judges and Justices who would stamp out abortion, birth control/family planning, women’s and LBGTQ rights etc. What matters is that the Idolatry has spread throughout the MAGA cult.
Trump himself became increasingly convinced he was some sort of “Immortal Deity” after a kid who was a lousy shot caused him to take a bit of shrapnel (from one of the missed shots) to his ear. That was it for both Trump and the cult. He claimed (complete b.s. – he got hit with SHRAPNEL) he ‘took a bullet’ for them and was saved by God. Now, both you know and I know he was still savvy enough to give “God” the credit but we know he believes HE is God and that’s why he survived. The truth of the matter is his would be assassin was a lousy shot, or choked or a combination of both.
So let’s take stock of things. Trump’s increasing ‘Messiah Complex’ is being fed by a combination of cult followers who see him as their one True God and other enablers who do see Trump for what he actually is but don’t have the courage to stand up to him. Or, as with other cult leaders “draft” behind him hoping that when it all goes bad (like it usually does) they can scamper away with a boatload of the money the leader scammed. What should concern us ALL was pointed out in this short opinion piece in Raw Story.
The author discusses how on a national level a cult leader can convince followers to stick with him. Against all reason I might add. Even, as she writes the cult leader loses their freaking mind and his behavior gets too erratic and dangerous to defend. Yet she notes the example of the tariffs. How most Republicans on Capitol Hill know Trump’s tariff plan is political suicide, but “few are willing to admit that Dear Leader fully intends to see this idiocy to the very end.” I agree, and what I also want to add is the tariffs are but one example. What jumps out in her opinion piece is this:
“Trump has a messiah complex, which has only grown since that missed assassin’s bullet from July was hyped by his followers into ‘proof’ that he’s the Chosen One,” she wrote before suggesting, “Even as he blinks momentarily on his tariff mania, his behavior is getting even more erratic in a way that’s got ‘last days of Waco’ vibes from a president who has already unsubtly compared himself to David Koresh. His Truth Social meltdown when announcing the ‘pause’ indicates a decline in Trump’s already-fragile mental state.”
The real question is what happens if enough of the right people stand up and stage an “Intervention.” It’s sure as hell needed, even if the result lead to us having to say the words President J.D. Vance, since despite having the intellect to obtain Ivy League degrees the J.D. stands for ‘Justa Dumbass.” He can do plenty of damage on his own to be sure. And surely would. However I believe that like many a second-in-line member of a cult, gang or criminal organization with a charismatic (to the followers) leader he’s badly mistaken in thinking he’ll get the same devotion. So from where I sit Vance would be a huge problem, but in so far over his head senior Republicans both still in office and out will be able to “manage” him.
The kind of good news is that while I think if Trump were to, while being taken down call for another J6 style riot he wouldn’t get anything like it. Oh, there would be a set of them in different places around the country. And small groups of MAGAs would act out and commit terrible deeds. However while I used to think January 6 was a warmup to something worse, and the sequel would be better organized I just don’t see it. Even with the pardons Trump broke his word and deep down inside MAGAs know it. In the meantime we can expect continued devolution of what’s left of Trump’s mind. And the consequences will be bad for both the U.S. and the free world.
Things could easily get worse BUT there are signs that the behind the scenes talk of elected Republicans worried about their own prospects has a chance of turning into meaningful action. Not as much as is needed of course. However, curtailing Trump’s power and better still getting the Cabinet to remove him via the 25th Amendment is something I’d settle for. And I do believe that like David Koresh in Waco and Jim Jones in Jonestown before that Trump sometimes has flashes of reality and sees the end coming. What he could unleash is admittedly terrifying BUT I simply don’t see him popping nukes (the so-called ‘two-man rule’ would stop it) or sending our military into the streets. Attempts to do so would be the end of him. To which I would say good riddance!
****** Zoomers, we would happily accept a small donation to defray expenses as we trek through cyberspace. It’s going to get a lot crazier, that much we can guarantee you. Thanks. Ursula ******
There are metrics and reports coming out now that indicate insiders had prior knowledge of trump’s pause on tariffs yesterday and made a killing in the market. This is a scandal of potentially cosmic proportions and it could finally scare ‘decent’ Republicans into taking action to remove him from office. If they don’t, voters will remove them from office next year.
“So from where I sit Vance would be a huge problem, but in so far over his head senior Republicans both still in office and out will be able to “manage” him.”
For all the jokes people made about concerns over Dan Quayle’s being that “heartbeat away” from the Presidency, at least Quayle spent 4 years in the House of Representatives and 8 years in the Senate before Poppa Bush tapped him to be his VP. He may have been young, raising most of the concerns/fears of his being the VP but I do think, in retrospect, that he could’ve handled the move and been, at the very least, as good a President as Poppa Bush was. “President” Vance could most likely make everyone regret losing Drumpf (in much the same way everyone holds much fonder memories of Dubya as President after having been inflicted with Drumpf).