Sacred Science: Thought Reform in Trump’s MAGA, Part 6
MAGA's myth is sacred, science… not so much
This special 10-part article will be posted weekdays through November 1.
MAGA holds sacred its primary dogma, that the USA was once a “great” country but has lost greatness because of various factors that only Donald Trump as President can reverse. “Make America Great Again” is both the movement’s informal name, and its recurrent campaign slogan. That Trump’s presidential campaign has reused and repackaged this theme for nine-plus years, shows how essential it is to his movement.
Yet some implications of the name seem little discussed by the movement’s leaders: when exactly was America great? Was it great from 2017-21 – and if so was it the policies or the identity of the President that made it great? When America was great, for whom was it great (for everyone in America; for both natives and immigrants; for which ethnic, gender or religious groups), etc.?
Robert Jay Lifton’s next theme of thought reform is called sacred science:
The totalist milieu maintains an aura of sacredness around its basic dogma, holding it out as an ultimate moral vision for the ordering of human existence. This sacredness is evident in the prohibition (whether or not explicit) against the questioning of basic assumptions, and in the reverence that is demanded for the originators of the Word, the present bearers of the Word, and the Word itself. While thus transcending ordinary concerns of logic, however, the milieu at the same time makes an exaggerated claim of airtight logic, of absolute “scientific” precision (Lifton, p. 79).
MAGA’s sacred science is a nostalgic strain of American exceptionalism that revolves around Trump. If MAGA has one logical underpinning, it may be fundamentalism – the general idea that no matter what ails modern society (politically, spiritually, legally), the answers can best be found in the past. Thus the MAGA coalition includes political regressives, who literally seek to restore America to past greatness, spiritual fundamentalists who may seek moral guidance or justification by reverting to old-time versions of religion, and legal “originalists” as Trump’s Supreme Court appointees have all been categorized (at least when the approach supported their arguments).
Otherwise, MAGA does not seek to justify itself scientifically. Rather, as Steven Hassan mentions in his book The Cult of Trump, Trump “regularly ignores and even denigrates science, [and] could be said to… [be] promoting a kind of ‘sacred anti-science’” (bold added). In lieu of science, MAGA instead seems guided by Donald Trump’s sacredly self-regarded intuition. This seems true when we consider some of the leader’s encounters with science:
Trump has said he has a “a natural instinct for science,” ostensibly from having an MIT professor for an uncle (see The Demand for Purity’s “Purity of origin” section describing Trump’s genetics fixation).
He has called climate change a hoax.
He declared his dislike for green energy’s windmills, for reasons including that “(South Carolina's) windmills are causing whales to die in numbers never seen before.“
As President for the first year of the Covid pandemic, Trump suggested dubious remedies including injecting bleach or using internal light, hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin. At times he discouraged Covid testing and wearing face masks that could curtail the spread of the disease – counter to recommendations of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Note: Trump did encourage scientific vaccine development via Operation Warp Speed).
Trump’s scientific lapses aside, his supporters may take comfort in the myths of MAGA, and hold them as sacred.
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:
Hassan, Steven (2019, 2024). The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control, The New Press.
Lifton, Robert Jay (2019). Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry, The New Press.