This is the most coherent explanation of the cult aspect of MAGA I’ve heard in a while. Not only that, but it holds the seeds of how to gradually get friends and family, at least, out of the cult. Offer them community of the kind they felt they once had. Politicians can’t do this. Neither can social media. This must be a face-to-face, human connection, one person or maybe a couple of people at a time. Talk about anything shared, but not politics. Most Western countries have large sections of their population that no longer have any sense of real community. We’re going to have to start building that anyway, so try it with a family member or a friend and build the skills at the same time. Make it about people, not a cause.
There has to be something to do, to prevent trump’s defacing and degradations of our country, rather than lie back and endure it! There’s never been a b recall election of a b president, but, this b may be the most opportune time to call one.
seeking friends and love .... it could be argued that Trump has never really had either. so when his supporters say he understands them -- I guess they're right?
You could have something here Russ. No doubt the internet has changed not just the U.S., but the world. Digital emails have bombarded us all. Hitler only had live speeches, print, and the radio. He would have loved this environment. How do we counter loneliness? That is quite a question. It is on such a personal level. On a political level, I can only say the Democrats MUST change how they reach out to voters. There is definitely room for improvement.
Incisive and original piece here, with some hard truths. The characterization 'cunning and cynical' is admirably moderate in the face of the damage already inflicted on the general population.
On 'people vs brand', I think it applies more to 2024 than to 2016. First time round, I think it was more persona vs brand, as his celebrity image and status was (I believe) a seductive smokescreen. Who doesn't want to feel reassured that they matter ? Who doesn't want to hear a simple answer to their problems as they are and/or perceived to be ? And who wants to believe that they're lonely ?
This time round, it's worse: people seem to have invested so much that anything can be rationalised or forgiven, so long as it staves off facing the reality of betrayal.
Thank you,Mr. Baker. It is necessary for the capital accumulators of American cut-throat society to keep its working class divided and conquered so they don't express solidarity and rise up against the whole rotten system. Trump is among the poison fruits of this dynamic.
The paragraph below really hit me. That is how a cult works. Lonely, confused people looking for meaning and connection become lost to who they were/could be. The cult is their family. Their cult is all.
I was around this world at a very low period in my life - and recognize the allure & the trap. I stepped back - but I can see all the earmarks in my past - and our national present
“So I plug my ears, I smile, I scowl, and I will not listen to my relatives and friends who beg me to come to my senses. I know I am right. And he is my friend.”
No doubt there were multiple factors contributing to the cult-like devotion to our orange flim-flam artist. This manipulation of the lonely and isolated is an interesting potential factor I had never thought of.
No need to beat yourself to death, Russ, trying to figure out why Trump won. Is this the same Russ that wrote the crowning opus magnus, The Bush Dynasty, Family of Secrets? Then you shouldnt have to go through any more gyrations and contortions to figure out how Trump and the MAGA crowd prevailed: the Biden "Administration ", or rather, Biden's deep state handlers and the industrial/military-intelligence complex, who orchestrated the Covid 19 plandemic and circus shitshow of isolation, separation, obfuscation of medical remedies (Ivermectin, hydroxychloriquine, Vit D, NAC, etc) and "Vaccine" mRNA shots which turned out to NOT contain ANY mRNA at all but instead are chock full of graphene and heavy metal nanobots are all to blame for the Red Tsunami. Its time to pull your head out of the hole in the sand you dug for yourself and admit that you fell for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and took the red pill and went down that rabbit hole, while the majority of voters in America who you and other "intellectuals" discounted as ignoramuses turned out to be smarter and wiser than the medical establishment and mainstream pundits.
Russ, you're a real gentleman, you could have called me a lot worse than "kook." Back in 2009 or 10 when my son gave me for my birthday your masterpiece Bush Dynasty, Family of Secrets, I sat down to read it with much anticipation thinking that this was some sort of ode to HW and the Bush lineage. I wasnt necessarily a fan of HW's, but I admired his steely personality, and the slick way he went about conducting himself, first as CIA Director, installing Noriega as dictator or Panama in his younger years and then as president, removing Noriega and having his DoJ prosecute and incarcerate him. I have never been a card carrying Republican, in fact I was raised Democrat and my parents were Democrats to the core. I even voted for Obama for his first and second terms. But your work, "The Bush Dynasty" was a catalyst that took my political awareness to another level. I was a preteen kid when JFK was assassinated, and I was horribly traumatized by that event. How anyone could conceive of killing a president impacted me profoundly and I would be sad for this nation for the rest of my life. I was sure in my limited mind that JFK's killing was due to foreign forces of some sort. Your book changed my perception of all that but reading it took a lot of effort. What I thought would be recreational reading turned out to be a real chore as I labored page by page, chapter by chapter, horrified by the revelations you laid out very meticulously and expertly. I could only handle a few pages at a time, so horrified was I at the revelations you laid out in impeccable circumstantial detail. At that point I had been a criminal defense attorney for 30 years and had represented clients in 17 states, so I was (and am) painfully aware of how "circumstantial evidence" can be- in certain cases- sufficient upon which a jury may base a guilty verdict. And you certainly did lay out a powerful and poignant circumstantial evidence case for HW being the mastermind behind the murder of JFK-- if I was on your jury I would vote to convict!
By the time I finished your book I was devastated to realize that you were absolutely right-- there was no other explanation, because I have developed the ability to discern a strong circumstantial evidence argument over a weak one. I acquired a respect for you that I reserve for only a handful of gifted thinkers and writers, and have recommended your book many, many times, unconditionally. This is why I am puzzled over your uncompromising position against Trump and the people who voted for him, as not intelligent enough to actually see something that you and others who think like you have been unable to see. Have you not applied the same methodical and introspective analysis into the circumstances behind the events that have transpired in this country under Obama's and Biden's watch? It is hard for me to understand why anyone would remain a party-line Democrat after watching the Biden regime's fiasco the last 4 years, much less a brilliant, dedicated investigative journalist who spent 25 years investigating the Bush family.
Within moments of each other I received this installment of "Going Deep" and notice of the passing of President Jimmy Carter.
As I do with most of your work, I find your loneliness hypothesis to be compelling and worthy of extended consideration. I would submit that Americans' debilitating sense of individual isolation has been, if not created, then certainly exacerbated as a main tactic in the realpolitik strategy of spiritual/emotional evisceration. A void must exist before it can be filled.
In spite of this hidden channel he could not even get a popular vote majority and barely won a plurality. De program 10 percent of his 49 percent and cance loses in 2028 not to mention the 2026 midterms
As a registered Democrat since the late 1960s I would love to know how the other party got my email and mobile number. I had close to, 200,000 magats blocked on Twitter and it's getting damn close on my mobile. Report spam, block and delete is all I did for the past year.
This is so fascinating. The “always on” aspect of Fox News is not something I relate to, nor have I received any mailers from dear leader. As much as I may abhor everything the far right stands for, drawing vulnerable, lonely people in with a very personal message hits just the right chord for many.
This is the most coherent explanation of the cult aspect of MAGA I’ve heard in a while. Not only that, but it holds the seeds of how to gradually get friends and family, at least, out of the cult. Offer them community of the kind they felt they once had. Politicians can’t do this. Neither can social media. This must be a face-to-face, human connection, one person or maybe a couple of people at a time. Talk about anything shared, but not politics. Most Western countries have large sections of their population that no longer have any sense of real community. We’re going to have to start building that anyway, so try it with a family member or a friend and build the skills at the same time. Make it about people, not a cause.
There has to be something to do, to prevent trump’s defacing and degradations of our country, rather than lie back and endure it! There’s never been a b recall election of a b president, but, this b may be the most opportune time to call one.
seeking friends and love .... it could be argued that Trump has never really had either. so when his supporters say he understands them -- I guess they're right?
You could have something here Russ. No doubt the internet has changed not just the U.S., but the world. Digital emails have bombarded us all. Hitler only had live speeches, print, and the radio. He would have loved this environment. How do we counter loneliness? That is quite a question. It is on such a personal level. On a political level, I can only say the Democrats MUST change how they reach out to voters. There is definitely room for improvement.
Incisive and original piece here, with some hard truths. The characterization 'cunning and cynical' is admirably moderate in the face of the damage already inflicted on the general population.
On 'people vs brand', I think it applies more to 2024 than to 2016. First time round, I think it was more persona vs brand, as his celebrity image and status was (I believe) a seductive smokescreen. Who doesn't want to feel reassured that they matter ? Who doesn't want to hear a simple answer to their problems as they are and/or perceived to be ? And who wants to believe that they're lonely ?
This time round, it's worse: people seem to have invested so much that anything can be rationalised or forgiven, so long as it staves off facing the reality of betrayal.
Thank you,Mr. Baker. It is necessary for the capital accumulators of American cut-throat society to keep its working class divided and conquered so they don't express solidarity and rise up against the whole rotten system. Trump is among the poison fruits of this dynamic.
You are SO RIGHT!
The paragraph below really hit me. That is how a cult works. Lonely, confused people looking for meaning and connection become lost to who they were/could be. The cult is their family. Their cult is all.
I was around this world at a very low period in my life - and recognize the allure & the trap. I stepped back - but I can see all the earmarks in my past - and our national present
“So I plug my ears, I smile, I scowl, and I will not listen to my relatives and friends who beg me to come to my senses. I know I am right. And he is my friend.”
No doubt there were multiple factors contributing to the cult-like devotion to our orange flim-flam artist. This manipulation of the lonely and isolated is an interesting potential factor I had never thought of.
No need to beat yourself to death, Russ, trying to figure out why Trump won. Is this the same Russ that wrote the crowning opus magnus, The Bush Dynasty, Family of Secrets? Then you shouldnt have to go through any more gyrations and contortions to figure out how Trump and the MAGA crowd prevailed: the Biden "Administration ", or rather, Biden's deep state handlers and the industrial/military-intelligence complex, who orchestrated the Covid 19 plandemic and circus shitshow of isolation, separation, obfuscation of medical remedies (Ivermectin, hydroxychloriquine, Vit D, NAC, etc) and "Vaccine" mRNA shots which turned out to NOT contain ANY mRNA at all but instead are chock full of graphene and heavy metal nanobots are all to blame for the Red Tsunami. Its time to pull your head out of the hole in the sand you dug for yourself and admit that you fell for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and took the red pill and went down that rabbit hole, while the majority of voters in America who you and other "intellectuals" discounted as ignoramuses turned out to be smarter and wiser than the medical establishment and mainstream pundits.
Or you're just a kook
Russ, you're a real gentleman, you could have called me a lot worse than "kook." Back in 2009 or 10 when my son gave me for my birthday your masterpiece Bush Dynasty, Family of Secrets, I sat down to read it with much anticipation thinking that this was some sort of ode to HW and the Bush lineage. I wasnt necessarily a fan of HW's, but I admired his steely personality, and the slick way he went about conducting himself, first as CIA Director, installing Noriega as dictator or Panama in his younger years and then as president, removing Noriega and having his DoJ prosecute and incarcerate him. I have never been a card carrying Republican, in fact I was raised Democrat and my parents were Democrats to the core. I even voted for Obama for his first and second terms. But your work, "The Bush Dynasty" was a catalyst that took my political awareness to another level. I was a preteen kid when JFK was assassinated, and I was horribly traumatized by that event. How anyone could conceive of killing a president impacted me profoundly and I would be sad for this nation for the rest of my life. I was sure in my limited mind that JFK's killing was due to foreign forces of some sort. Your book changed my perception of all that but reading it took a lot of effort. What I thought would be recreational reading turned out to be a real chore as I labored page by page, chapter by chapter, horrified by the revelations you laid out very meticulously and expertly. I could only handle a few pages at a time, so horrified was I at the revelations you laid out in impeccable circumstantial detail. At that point I had been a criminal defense attorney for 30 years and had represented clients in 17 states, so I was (and am) painfully aware of how "circumstantial evidence" can be- in certain cases- sufficient upon which a jury may base a guilty verdict. And you certainly did lay out a powerful and poignant circumstantial evidence case for HW being the mastermind behind the murder of JFK-- if I was on your jury I would vote to convict!
By the time I finished your book I was devastated to realize that you were absolutely right-- there was no other explanation, because I have developed the ability to discern a strong circumstantial evidence argument over a weak one. I acquired a respect for you that I reserve for only a handful of gifted thinkers and writers, and have recommended your book many, many times, unconditionally. This is why I am puzzled over your uncompromising position against Trump and the people who voted for him, as not intelligent enough to actually see something that you and others who think like you have been unable to see. Have you not applied the same methodical and introspective analysis into the circumstances behind the events that have transpired in this country under Obama's and Biden's watch? It is hard for me to understand why anyone would remain a party-line Democrat after watching the Biden regime's fiasco the last 4 years, much less a brilliant, dedicated investigative journalist who spent 25 years investigating the Bush family.
Within moments of each other I received this installment of "Going Deep" and notice of the passing of President Jimmy Carter.
As I do with most of your work, I find your loneliness hypothesis to be compelling and worthy of extended consideration. I would submit that Americans' debilitating sense of individual isolation has been, if not created, then certainly exacerbated as a main tactic in the realpolitik strategy of spiritual/emotional evisceration. A void must exist before it can be filled.
In spite of this hidden channel he could not even get a popular vote majority and barely won a plurality. De program 10 percent of his 49 percent and cance loses in 2028 not to mention the 2026 midterms
As a registered Democrat since the late 1960s I would love to know how the other party got my email and mobile number. I had close to, 200,000 magats blocked on Twitter and it's getting damn close on my mobile. Report spam, block and delete is all I did for the past year.
Every time I saw President trump wants you... 🤮🤬
This is so fascinating. The “always on” aspect of Fox News is not something I relate to, nor have I received any mailers from dear leader. As much as I may abhor everything the far right stands for, drawing vulnerable, lonely people in with a very personal message hits just the right chord for many.