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We’ve compared the statements and actions of leaders in Donald Trump’s Make American Great Again (MAGA) movement with Robert Jay Lifton’s psychological themes documented in Chinese thought reform programs more than six decades ago. Some of the eight themes exhibit less strongly (e.g. Cult of Confession) while others manifest more intensely (e.g. Loading the Language, Doctrine over Person). Some MAGA leader actions strike multiple themes. For example, when Donald Trump called Rusty Bowers a “RINO coward” while endorsing his Republican primary opponent (see Loading the Language) we also could view him as effecting Dispensing of Existence. We pictured Trump at the start of this series standing before CIA employees, claiming the press lied about his inauguration crowds, and saying God stopped the rain; we can now see his speech evoking Lifton’s themes of Milieu Control, Mystical Manipulation and Doctrine over Person.
…the MAGA movement seems to use a multi-pronged program of influence.
Revisiting Lifton’s statement on the overall impact of his motifs:
The more clearly an environment expresses these eight psychological themes, the greater its resemblance to ideological totalism; and the more it utilizes such totalist devices to change people, the greater its resemblance to thought reform (or “brainwashing”) (Lifton, p. 90 - parenthesis is Lifton’s).
Going far beyond a typical political group’s use of slogans, working the press and rallying constituents to their cause, etc., the MAGA movement seems to use a multi-pronged program of influence.1
Lifton’s themes can deliver insights into Trump’s war on reality that today’s political pundits have not.
Answers to questions
Lifton’s themes demonstrate their usefulness toward understanding MAGA by helping to answer vexing questions about the movement. For example:
Why does Trump relentlessly attack the media? Maybe it’s not just because Trump has a combative nature, but because these attacks are essential to milieu control, and maintaining an environment where his supporters believe and follow mainly him.
Why do evangelicals as a group seem to support Trump politically regardless of his personal moral behavior? Maybe it’s not just because he supports the policy issues of the devout, but because the movement is using mystical manipulation to make him seem ordained by God.
Why does Trump use buzzwords and nicknames excessively, even for a politician? Perhaps they’re not deployed just as political slogans – and perhaps he doesn’t simply like mean nicknames – but he’s loading the language.
Why are certain MAGA ideas so persistent in the group, despite contrary evidence? Rather than assuming Trump’s message appeals to people with less education, we can show that MAGA creates an environment of doctrine over person where individual doubts could become overwhelmed by the movement’s momentum, when combined with the other psychological themes.
Why do MAGA supporters want a political “strongman” to lead the country? Maybe they don’t naturally prefer authoritarians, but leadership’s dispensing of existence creates an atmosphere of anxiety and the need to dispel it by supporting Trump.
So, Lifton’s themes can deliver insights into Trump’s war on reality that today’s political pundits have not.
“…what he has in common with [Chinese communists] is the attempt to own reality.”
Lifton on Trump, MAGA, and thought reform
Considering Robert Jay Lifton is still living, it’s fair to ask what he thinks about Trump and MAGA.
Lifton says that Trump “couldn’t look more different from Chinese communist leadership in their ideological phase – he doesn’t have any ideology… But what he has in common with them is the attempt to own reality” (Hassan). Lifton adds that, “because of Trump and others around him, I see our society as suffering from a national reality disorder” (Ibid.).
It’s also important to consider Lifton’s caveats about thought reform. He disputes “an image of ‘brainwashing’ as an all-powerful, irresistible, unfathomable and magical method of achieving total control over the human mind. It is of course none of these things…” (Ibid., p. 17). So, neither the individual themes nor the overall program are irresistible. Rather, individuals may accumulate doubts and ultimately resist the program. Like Dorothy discovering “that man behind the curtain” at the end of The Wizard of Oz, understanding the methods Trump uses may help MAGAs to elude their influence. Donald Trump’s war on reality will ultimately be lost.
Showing MAGA’s empathy is not just kind, but practical…
The case for empathy
Whatever terms we use for MAGA leadership’s influence program should lead us to feel more and not less empathy for targets of the program (i.e. MAGA supporters). If MAGAs have been subjected to a multi-pronged influence program without their consent, it makes little sense to blame them for following the movement.
America’s counter-cult community has historically avoided victim-blaming even while using terms like “thought reform,” “mind control,” “cult,” “undue influence,” etc. Counter-cult professionals have focused on the methods and deceptions of a group and its leadership, rather than flaws of followers. Ex-group members have been reassured that they joined based on the best information they had at the time, but that with better information they could make a different decision. When most ex-cult members, having been taken advantage of by manipulative leaders, are asked, “would you join the group today knowing what you know now?” the answer is consistently, “no.”
Showing MAGA’s empathy is not just kind, but practical: The black-and-white thinking (see The Demand of Purity) of MAGA means that insulting followers is unlikely to persuade them, and may psychologically entrench them more deeply in the group.
Finally, just as America’s conservative political evolution led from The Tea Party to MAGA, most people who follow today’s MAGA will still be with us long after any current election, and probably long beyond the political career of Donald J. Trump. Empathy might help bridge some of the vast gaps in American’s divided politics.
Navigation within this article series:
Thought Reform in Trump’s MAGA - Intro
Milieu Control in Trump's MAGA, Part 2
Mystical Manipulation in Trump's MAGA, Part 3
The Demand for Purity in Trump's MAGA, Part 4
The Cult of Confession in Trump’s MAGA, Part 5
Sacred Science in Trump’s MAGA, Part 6
Loading the Language in Trump’s MAGA, Part 7
Doctrine over Person in Trump’s MAGA, Part 8
The Dispensing of Existence in Trump’s MAGA, Part 9
Conclusion: Thought Reform in Trump’s MAGA, Part 10
References:
Lifton, Robert Jay (2019). Losing Reality: On Cult, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry, The New Press.
Hassan, Steven. (2020, January 8). Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. Discusses Trump and His New book, Losing Reality… [Video]. YouTube.
Saying that MAGA leaders exploit these approaches is not necessarily to accuse them of knowingly running a thought reform program, or copying Chinese brainwashing methods.