O'Donnell wondered about the role intelligence plays in susceptibility to joining a cult. "On the other hand, to stand up against that, therefore, means that you aren't an outcast, you are a pariah." It is a self-affirming system, everyone agrees on the same things and they all follow and worship the leader," he continued. "The advantage of being ins such a group is that you have an echo chamber of people who are admiring you and affirming you. And a part of that, which is important to understand, is that you are also required to deny or ignore or attack those people who challenge the belief system, which is exactly what we see from many of these Trump followers, who simply act as they cannot hear and they attack those people who challenge it, which is what happened to Cheney." "If you are in one, you are required to believe the belief system of the group. "What a cult is - especially a charismatic cult, which is the kind we're talking about here where you have the all-powerful leader, Trump, who is seen as a god-like figure - those cults are self-contained, intentionally," he explained. Lance Dodes, a retired clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard.ĭodes said, "I think the word cult is probably correct. Those quotes raised questions for O'Donnell, who wondered, "Is it a cult or is it stupidity? And what's the difference?"įor analysis, O'Donnell interviewed Dr. "I say to Republicans all the time, take back your party from this cult." "They seem to have reached rock-bottom with their statement that happened on January 6th was normal political discourse," Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said. "You know, the 'C' in RNC doesn't stand for 'committee,' it stands for 'cult.' It's not the Republican National Committee, it's the Republican National Cult," Rep. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell began his examination of the issue with quotes from two Democratic Party leaders.
6 insurrection was " legitimate political discourse" has sparked a renewed conversation on whether Donald Trump's MAGA movement is a cult. The same proportion think that the violent assault on the Capitol was a legitimate political protest.The statement by the Republican National Committee arguing that the Jan. According to a recent poll, 40% of Republicans believe that what happened on January 6 is nothing to worry about. Liz Cheney, the committee’s Republican vice chair, said in her closing statement: “Can a president who is willing to make the choices Donald Trump made during the violence of January 6 ever be trusted with any position of authority in our great nation again?”įor most Republicans, who tend to regard Cheney as a traitor, the resounding answer is, “Yes, he can.” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy refused to have anything to do with the committee. Some of the most damning evidence came from members of Trump’s own staff. These were the conclusions reached by the US House of Representatives’ January 6 Committee after it had conducted over 1,000 interviews. Trump deliberately incited an armed mob to storm the Capitol, and when the crowd started baying for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged, he did nothing and told his staff that Pence deserved it because he had refused to stage a coup on Trump’s behalf. Despite being told by his own inner circle, including by his loyal attorney general, William Barr, that he had lost a fair election in November 2020, US President Donald Trump broke democracy’s cardinal rule: He refused to accept his defeat and has been pushing conspiracy theories about electoral “fraud” ever since. NEW YORK – There can no longer be any doubt about the facts of what happened in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.