Cultism with QAnon and Trump-Limbaugh Republicans

Jason Blazakis looks at what cults like Heaven's Gate or the Rajneesh Movement can tell us about Trumpism in Why QAnon’s similarity to other cults makes it a significant national security threat Los Angeles Times 02/21/2021:

Most cults have easily identifiable leadership figures who push members to the edifice of a belief system, but Q remains ethereal even while delivering messages to the faithful for four years. Trump’s outsized presence brought him a messianic-like following within the movement. Together, Q and Trump are an ample substitute for a clear cult-like figure. According to the most zealous of believers, if Trump or Q say something, it must be true — or eventually will be. [my emphasis]

As large a political movement as the Trump supporters in the Republicans composes is obviously much more complex than a cult focuses on more limited material goals. But this analysis suggests that QAnon provides a flexible but enticing emotional content and a narrative flexible enough to be highly adaptive to changing circumstances, while himself provides the authoritarian leadership figure to give focus to the movement.

Blazakis also talks about the trend that QAnon devotees describe in which they become pulled in deeper and deeper to this thought world by what really is "research," but a type of research structured in content and helped by social media algorithms that winds up providing "researchers" with a very narrow, self-contained range of information heavily embedded in conspiracy theories:

And if someone cannot see the so-called truth, they aren’t looking hard enough. A refrain among QAnon adherents I track online is “dig deeper.” The phrase is often uttered by seemingly hardcore believers and is directed at those who begin to question the conspiracy theory or say they cannot see it.

In 2020, amid a global pandemic and a contentious U.S. presidential race, the QAnon conspiracy theory took on even more sinister overtones. The language of QAnon began to parallel that of previous cult leaders who had encouraged followers to take another step forward toward full indoctrination — a step that could result in self-harm or staging an attack. [my emphasis]

And while it's important to recognize the specifics of trends like QAnon, the Republicans spent decades building a narrative and partisan identity that validates conspiracist thinking. As the passing of Rush Limbaugh reminds us. Digby Parton (From Newt Gingrich to Donald Trump: Rush Limbaugh's legacy is the modern GOP Salon 02/19/2021) gives us this accurate summary of his poisonous legacy:

[Limbaugh's] radio show almost single-handedly created the culture war narrative that has come to define conservative politics. It's not that Limbaugh came up with every element on his own. There were plenty of racists, xenophobes, sexists, religious hypocrites and violent extremists long before he came along. But he found a way to synthesize their point of view into one over-arching worldview: coastal elites, Black people, immigrants, gays, feminazis and environmentalists are your enemy and they want to destroy America.

Seeing its organizing potential back in the early 90s, backbench congressman Newt Gingrich turned Limbaugh's narrative into a partisan weapon, launching a program designed to teach fledgling, right-wing politicians how to talk about themselves as heroic warriors for the American way and portray their political opponents as depraved savages bent on destroying everything Real Americans hold dear. When the Republicans won the House majority for the first time in decades in 1994, Limbaugh was made an honorary member of the freshman class. The new House Speaker said he couldn't have done it without him.

Gingrich was right. And there would have been no Donald Trump without Limbaugh either because there would have been no Trump base without him. Gingrich may have turned partisan, electoral politics into a blood sport but it was Rush Limbaugh who brought in the fans. [my emphasis]