Originally published on North Jersey. Steven Hassan marched to the United States Capitol prepared to kill. He believed the president was an archangel sent by God. But now, with the president facing impeachment and removal from office, Hassan and 350...
Originally published on the San Francisco Chronicle. The person on the phone was desperate. Her father believed the election was stolen, the U.S. Capitol siege was staged and the COVID-19 vaccine was dangerous, possibly implanting a chip in his body...
Originally published on DAME Magazine. From Pizzagate to Stop the Steal, millions of people have gotten sucked into QAnon, and it’s eroding our sense of reality—and exploding our democracy. In 2017, an anonymous poster named “Q,” claiming...
Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton and others explore the issue. Originally published in PsychologyToday. Is Trumpism a cult? This question, among other issues, has preoccupied certain psychiatrists and mental health professionals...
Article originally published on newrepublic.com. On December 20, 1954, some 62 years before Donald Trump would be sworn in as president of the United States, Dorothy Martin and dozens of her followers crowded into her home in Chicago to await the...
This originally appeared on downwithtyranny.blogspot.com Incipient tyrants and fascists always seek to destroy media and the judicial system before their authoritarian assault begins in earnest. One would have to have been in a coma for the past...
This article originally appeared on thedailybeast.com When the president spews racism or violence, true believers respond with more. Experts say it resembles something like a cult or totalitarianism. President Donald Trump’s rally in Greenville...
This article originally appeared on dailystar.co.uk DONALD Trump supporters act like brainwashed members of a cult, an expert has sensationally claimed. Retiring Republican Senator Bob Corker recently described the party as a “a cultish thing” – and...
This article originally appeared on citywatchla.com. MY TURN- “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” – George Orwell. The moment that these words appeared, the internet...
This article originally appeared on psmag.org What do you call an organization where total loyalty to a charismatic but volatile leader is strictly enforced? Donald Trump enters the stage at the Republican National Convention on July 18th, 2016, in...
Janja Lalich, Ph.D. is a researcher, author, and educator specializing in cults and extremist groups, with a particular focus on charismatic relationships, political and other social movements, ideology and social control, and issues of gender and sexuality.