The Cult of Confession: Thought Reform in Trump’s MAGA, Part 5
Capitulation, not confession, is important to Trump
This special 10-part article will be posted daily through November 1.
Robert Jay Lifton’s cult of confession theme from his study of communist Chinese brainwashing is difficult to literally apply to MAGA members, since it entailed the confession of individual secrets then used to alter subject’s behavior:
Closely related to the demand for absolute purity is an obsession with personal confession. Confession is carried beyond its ordinary religious, legal, and therapeutic expressions to the point of becoming a cult in itself. There is the demand that one confess to crimes one has not committed, to sinfulness that is artificially induced, in the name of a cure that is arbitrarily imposed… In totalist hands, confession becomes a means of exploiting, rather than offering solace for, these vulnerabilities (Lifton, p. 76).
But while typical MAGA members may not have a process to profess their individual failings to the movement, Republican leaders do seem to have forums for submitting to Trump and his MAGA-based power. Trump’s political team must defend indefensible statements, policies or actions, sometimes making command performances for an audience-of-one (Trump). Most Republican national figures must publicly support Trump’s positions and/or politically endorse him (see The Demand for Purity). This leads to public and potentially humiliating about-faces from many politicians who once opposed Trump before reversing their stance, including Senators (and former primary opponents) Lindsay Graham, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Trump Vice Presidential Candidate JD Vance. Other Republicans unwilling to capitulate to Trump have instead left politics.
In a perhaps karmic reversal of Trump’s leadership cult of capitulation, many once-loyal allies now oppose him.
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 Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry, The New Press.