Crasses et Voluptés

THE BITE MODEL

               Cult members may bring other people through the door but what ensnares them is a complex array of inuence techniques, applied incrementally to control almost every aspect of a person—the way they act (behavior), what they read, watch, or listen to (information), the way they think (thoughts), and how they feel (emotions). Trump has gotten millions of people to believe, support, and even adore him by using techniques in each of these areas:

Behavior:  

Trump demands loyalty and obedience, and often gets it, using a variety of tried-and-true cult tactics such as shunning and publicly insulting those who disagree with him. He creates false enemies—Mexicans, Muslims, the media, to name just a few—to engender us versus them thinking, which renders people more fearful and obedient. He rewards those who support him and punishes those who don’t. He holds mass rallies lled with people wearing Trump and Make America Great Again hats and T-shirts and chanting slogans, which promote identication with him and the group in opposition to outsiders, though this is a common feature of many political rallies.

Information:  

                 Cult leaders are masters of deception but they, like Trump, use other tactics: discouraging access to noncult or critical sources of information; compartmentalizing information into insider versus outsider doctrines. Clearly Trump’s branding of the “liberal media” as “fake news” or “phony” hits these nails right on the head. On the ip side, cults ood their members with cultgenerated information and propaganda—videos and podcasts distributed by YouTube and social media. They take “outsider” statements out of context or misquote them. Of course, Trump could not have done this without the propaganda machine of right-wing TV shows like Fox and Breitbart News, as well as right-wing talk radio.

Thought:  

            In the Moonies, I was taught to suppress negative thoughts by using a technique called thought stopping. I repeated the phrase “Crush Satan” or “True Parents” (the term used to describe Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han) whenever any doubt arose in my mind. Another way to control thoughts is through the use of loaded language, which, as Lifton pointed out, is purposely designed to invoke an emotional response. When I look at the list of thoughtcontrolling techniques—reducing complex thoughts into clichés and platitudinous buzz words; forbidding critical questions about the leader, doctrine, or policy; labeling alternative belief systems as illegitimate or evil—it is astounding how many Trump exploits. As I have mentioned, one of the most eective techniques in the thought control arsenal is hypnosis. Scott Adams, the creator of the cartoon Dilbert,described Trump, with his oversimplications, repetitions, insinuating tone of voice, and use of vivid imagery, as a Master Wizard in the art of hypnosis and persuasion.

Emotion: 

                Cults have many techniques for controlling their members’ emotions, such as making them feel that they are special and chosen—true Americans, in Trump’s parlance. But the most eective is by fanning fear and implanting phobias. Trump’s Wall is most compelling because of what it will do —keep out murderers and rapists. Inspiring fear of real and imagined threats is what cult leaders do best. It was by exaggerating the threat of foreigners that he gained his foothold in the political landscape. Trump’s perverse genius, and he follows in the footsteps of cult leaders and dictators alike, is to convince his followers that the world is a dangerous place that only he can x.
          As New York Times columnist Charles Blow observed, “Trump’s magical mixture is to make being afraid feel like fun. His rallies are a hybrid of concert revelry and combat prep. Trump tells his followers about all the things of which they should be afraid, or shouldn’t trust or should hate, and then positions himself as the greatest defense against those things. His supporters roar their approval at their white knight.” The unfortunate thing is, all his fearmongering has made the country and the world a more divided and dangerous place.

The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control
Steven Hassan