Look, we have known for years that the MAGA Trump Supporters are basically in a cult. The definition of cult is a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. And tell me that doesn’t describe MAGA to a T. We have seen cults come and go, shattering lives and leaving devastation behind. Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, David Koresh, Charles Manson, Keith Raniere, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh — each had an almost supernatural hold on their followers and led them to tragedy.

Some political leaders have developed cults, too, and assumed totalitarian power. They include Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung.

Now, the United States has one as well. As pointed out by Politico, Donald Trump’s base follows him with such devotion that “even his critics believe it may be fatal to annoy them.”

Social media has created an environment that helps produce personality cults with “the idealized, even god-like public image of an individual consciously shaped and molded through constant propaganda and media exposure,” according to Thomas A. Wright of Fordham University. Public figures use the exposure to create heroic images of themselves.

For example, take Trump’s ridiculous trading cards where he is photoshopped as Rambo, Elvis, and Washington crossing the Potomac. And the former president likely practiced his mug shot in front of a mirror to achieve the perfect petulant expression for his arrest in Georgia.

The now-quadruply-indicted subliterate criminal defendant who is also now an adjudicated rapist wants voters to believe he’s being persecuted rather than prosecuted. He has adopted messianic gestures and phrases, telling followers, “I am the chosen one,” and “I am your warrior. I am your justice. …I am your retribution.”

“I’m being indicted for you,” Trump says, as though he’s being crucified. He talks about “the final battle,” and says, “I am the only one that can save this nation.”

A Christian Bible study guide lists the characteristics of false prophets. They are greedy, presumptuous and self-willed. They want to be free of anyone’s authority. They lie. They are out for monetary gain, talk a lot but say nothing, use alluring thoughts to provoke attention from their audience, and make promises they cannot deliver. Sound familiar?

Jesus’s half-brother Jude wrote that false prophets live immoral lives, defy authority, do whatever their instincts tell them, deceive people for money and care only about themselves. “These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires,” he wrote in Jude 1:16-23. “They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.” Sound familiar?

Well, it appears Trump is now basically admitting his followers are in a cult. On Truth Social, Trump shared and praised an article from American Thinker, which writes pro-Trump propaganda, admitting that his MAGA followers are in a cult. The article calls a handful of Republicans running against Trump, “stupid” and declares the MAGA base a “cult of patriotism.”

The article reads, “No Republican can win the nomination without the MAGA base. America First Patriots stand with Donald Trump just as we did in 2016 and 2020. These Republican elitists, along with Marxist Democrats, are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and accuse us of being in a cult of personality. What chutzpah! We are proudly in a Cult of Patriotism!”

I guess it’s good these people are finally admitting to what we have known for years. Now, are they going to do anything about it? Seems unlikely. The article continued on by comparing Trump’s 2020 election loss to a loved one being murdered.

The article said, “Never Trumpers say we shouldn’t litigate the last election. If a loved one had been murdered in 2020, would they stop trying to find the assailant just because a few years have passed? To many Patriots, America’s cherished election process was murdered in 2020 and the culprit has yet to be arrested and tried in court.”

Speaking of the death of loved ones, the article actually admits that “Trump made mistakes” with regards to the “Communist Chinese COVID virus”, but they blamed everyone else around him for it. Because Dear Leader does no wrong. And if you accuse him of wrongdoing, you are banished from the cult.

This is truly some scary stuff. And I don’t have the foggiest idea of how it will end. People who are in cults need actual deprogramming. And they have to be willing. These people won’t do that. And when Trump is found guilty, their devotion will only increase and intensify. We just need to hope that there are enough Republicans on the precipice…knowing Trump is bad, but they consider him the “lesser evil”. Maybe when he’s found guilty of stealing classified documents, true patriots will hop off the Trump train and come back to reality.