Is Trumpism a Cult?
Let's look at the definition of a cult to find the answer.
I’m not an expert on cultism, but I do know how to conduct basic research, which is more than I can say for people who believe Ivermectin is a cure for COVID-19 or that vaccines cause autism, both of which have been unsubstantiated claims during Trump’s two terms.
Cult researchers generally regard Robert Lifton’s theories on “Thought Reform” as a framework for defining a cult. Another is Steven Hassan’s BITE Model, which stands for “Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control. I’m listing just a few of their shared definitions below, along with examples of how Trumpism and the MAGA movement correspond to each quality.
But first, I should point out that many people voted for Trump because they disliked the alternatives, because they thought he would help their economic situation, or for some other reason it suited their logic, though the logic might escape many of us. We should separate these people from those who think Trump can do no wrong. There are many people now who have awakened to the idea that they were sold a bill of goods. The cult qualities that I outline here refer to the many millions of Americans who would follow Trump off a cliff.
1. An Absolute, Unquestionable Leader — A central, often charismatic figure whose authority is treated as infallible. You simply can’t question anything they do.
You can find these people continuing to follow Trump even after he has done a complete 180 on the issues he campaigned on.
He was going to keep us out of foreign wars, but now they’re behind him in attacking Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and anywhere else he wants to go.
We need to rid Iran of nuclear weapons, even though Trump said he rid them of such weapons last year.
He said he could keep gas prices down and that Biden was to blame for them going up (as though a president controls pricing on anything), but now that his unplanned war has hurt gas prices and they’re up again, that’s okay, because we’re ridding Iran of nuclear weapons, after we rid them of them last year.
Trump even went so far as to portray himself as Jesus in a recent drawing that he posted, and Reverend Franklin Graham defended him. (My favorite part of the painting is the war planes in the background, which is totally what I think of when I think of Jesus.)
2. Us vs. Them Mentality — A sharp division between followers and the outside world, which is portrayed as dangerous, corrupt, or spiritually lost.
You see this mentality in the vilification of so many groups:
immigrants
the LGBTQ+ community, particularly trans people
college professors who teach black history, gender studies, feminism, climate change, and more
colleges who allow the above subjects to be taught or who allow legitimate protests
judges who rule against them
lawyers who try to prosecute crimes by the administration or the party
politicians in Trump’s own party who don’t toe the line
And that’s just a start. These actions are right out of the totalitarian playbook, dating back a very long time. Plato wrote about how dictators manufacture conflicts to distract people from the fact that their living conditions are horrible, made so by their leaders raping and pillaging the body politic.
3. Demand for Total Devotion — The group expects members to prioritize it above all else: family, career, personal goals, individual identity, and even their own ideals
Trump entered his second term requiring federal workers and job applicants to answer questions about how they would advance his priorities, and those who didn’t were largely pushed out of their jobs. Cabinet members were forced to sign loyalty oaths, and people who didn’t go along with Trump’s lie that he won the 2020 election have no role in his administration.
4. Exploitation — Whether financial, sexual, emotional, or labor-based, cults typically exploit members for the benefit of the leadership or the group’s agenda.
Trump’s followers clearly have no concern about sexual exploitation, even after he was found guilty of rape in a civil court. They accused politicians on the left of pedophilia for years, but suddenly they’re silent about Trump’s name appearing more than 38,000 times in 5,300 documents in the Epstein files.
As for financial exploitation…would you like to buy a $59 Trump Bible? (It’s made in China, BTW.) A $249 bottle of Victory 45-47 Cologne? Those are such a deal compared with the $100,000 made-in-Switzerland Trump Golden Tourbillon Watch and the $11,000 “American Eagle” Signed Guitar. A president who sells anything is in clear violation of the Emoluments Clause, but his followers just shrug off his use of the office to enrich himself.
5. Fear-Based Compliance — Leaving or questioning the group is met with severe consequences — shunning, shaming, and even spiritual threats.
If GOP members say anything bad about Trump, he automatically backs another candidate to “primary” them. Just in recent weeks, he did so against Senator Bill Cassidy in Louisiana (who voted for convicting Trump for his 2021 impeachment) and Representative Thomas Massie (who voted against Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill). Ben Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State, was defeated in a primary because he wouldn’t “find votes” in Trump’s call to him during the 2020 elections. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who has criticized Trump in the past, said in April 2025, “we are all afraid” and “retaliation is real.”
As for spiritual threats, Trump has often described Democrats as “evil.” As Jesus, he would obviously know.
When people accuse others of blind allegiance, they often say they are “drinking the Kool-Aid.” Like most cliches, many people have forgotten or never learned where the phrase came from: it was the 1978 massacre in Jonestown, Guyana, where Jim Jones, a cult leader, convinced over 900 members of his Peoples Temple Cult to drink a cyanide-based fruit drink.
I fear this is where we are now with Trumpism. The Kool-Aid might not contain actual poison, but blind allegiance to Trump is forcing millions of Americans to vote against their interests, to hand over their prosperity to his greed, and to hate others because he says so.
So yeah, Trumpism is a cult.