just so the trumptard cult members know what they compare to
Trump's tactics are taken from playbook of cult leaders ...
https://
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7552231/
Trumps-tactics-taken-playbook-
cult...
Oct 09, 2019 · Hassan maintains the president sounds
like cult leader
Jim Jones, who directed a mass suicide and *******
The Legacy of Jim Jones and the Cult of Donald Trump
jim-
jones-and-the-
cult-of-
donald-trump...
Nov 19, 2018 · But according to Stephan,
Jim Jones’s “number one ******* was adulation.” Perhaps
Trump is like any other President, with enemies, resistors, and
over-the-top supporters.
‘Drinking the Orange Kool-Aid’: Cult expert says Trump is ...
https://
www.rawstory.com/2016/09/drinking-the-orange-kool-aid-
cult-expert-says-
trump...
Ross replied with a number of emails and voice messages mounting up similarities between
Trump and notorious
cult leaders
like Jim Jones and David Koresh. Nelson dug deep into the material and …
Jim Jones and Donald Trump: Same Kool-Aid, Different Vat
I have met neither Jim Jones nor Donald Trump. I have, however, listened to hours upon hours of each of them droning on about their ideology (or lack thereof), their interpretations of world events, and their perceived slights by outsiders. Before 2015, I was much more familiar with Jim Jones than I was with Donald Trump: I’ve been researching Peoples Temple for about 10 years and used to contribute tape transcriptions to the Jonestown Institute website. My recent familiarity with Donald Trump is like that of anyone who follows national news which naturally has been focused on the presidential race this year. Trump was unavoidable during the primary season; since he was formally nominated and, as Election Day draws near, he seems omnipresent. It makes me wonder if this is how Jonestown residents felt with the incessant blaring of Jones’ voice over the loudspeakers – sometimes live, sometimes on tape, but always inescapable.
And here’s the scary part: the more I hear Trump talk, the more he reminds me of Jim Jones. It is for this reason that I feel compelled to demonstrate how I came to this conclusion. Trump is not our country’s leader, and we should take steps to make certain he does not assume the reins of power. In my view, the last thing the United States needs is someone like Jim Jones as commander-in-chief.
My comparison between these two men may be surprising to many who would point out the marked dissimilarity in their ideologies. Jones the communist would be appalled by Trump the capitalist. Yet if one ignores fundamental philosophical approaches, parallels abound: disturbing personality traits, despicable behaviors, negative messages, and the use of persuasive speech. I address each of these below.
Personality traits:
I’ll begin with the diagnostic term thrown out on nearly a daily basis regarding Trump: narcissism. In a
2011 article for
the jonestown report, Gary Maynard, Ph.D. made a strong case that Jim Jones fit the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I will not repeat all of his points here. As for Trump, several people have asserted that he is a narcissist, including Dan P. McAdams, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Psychology at Northwestern University, who wrote a treatment of Trump’s personality in the June 2016 edition of
The Atlantic. In the article,
“The Mind of Donald Trump,” McAdams wrote:
Read More:
Requests/Demands for Loyalty:
Towards the end of
one Trump rally in early 2016, the candidate asked that attendees raise their right hands and pledge to vote for him. His statement about being able to shoot someone and not lose any voters is as much a demand for loyalty from his followers as it is a demonstration that he has it. Compare these to Jones’ behaviors: he periodically had people pledge – verbally and/or in writing – that they were willing to die for the Cause. Jones also collected signed papers – sometimes blank sheets,
sometimes written statements confessing to past or planned criminal activities – that he kept on file just in case someone thought about defecting. It gave him something to discourage them from leaving or – if they did – from speaking out.
Threats, Degradation, and Retaliation for Slights or Disloyalty:
Trump engages in very public tantrums in which he berates and derides his opponents or people who have betrayed him. Because these tirades are frequently done in front of a camera (say, at a campaign rally) or via Twitter, the attacks are available for anyone to see. A recent, notable attack was lodged at
Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe, whom Trump had “fat shamed” in the year after she was crowned when she gained considerable weight. After
Hillary Clinton mentioned Ms. Machado in the first presidential debate on September 26, Trump spent several days
tweeting degrading comments about Machado, including some posts tweeted in the wee hours of the morning. In a more recent scandal from early October, Trump was exposed engaging in what he described as “
locker room talk” and which many other people have publicly called descriptions of sexual assault.
Trump retaliated by holding a press conference shortly before the second presidential debate, in which he joined three women who had previously accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment or assault. Finally, in an action more reminiscent of a banana republic dictator, Trump threatened his political opponent Hillary Clinton by saying
she should “be in jail.” And when he raises the subject of Clinton’s emails during his rallies, the crowd cries out,
“Lock her up.”
read more:
Money: Acquiring Other People’s, Bribing One’s Way Out of Trouble:
Over the years, the Peoples Temple’s coffers ballooned to millions of dollars in assets, the result of its members donating much of their income and property to the Cause. Insiders could argue that this was an investment for the members: the Temple fed, clothed, and housed the members who lived communally. Outsiders might say that Jones had exploited his followers, essentially bilking many lower income people out of whatever they had. If one considers Jones as a con man who stole people’s money based on false promises, though, one can also view Trump as an expert in the art of the con. We need look no further than the defunct
Trump University, which was technically not a university at all. Numerous lawsuits have been filed by individuals who were sold courses in real estate investing with the lure that these people would become sharp real estate moguls like Trump himself. Some individuals were relieved of $35,000 for the premiere courses, spending either the bulk of their savings or actually accruing this cost as debt, yet never actually acquiring the knowledge and skills needed for success in real estate.
Read MORE:
Denigration of Women, Sexual Improprieties, Assault Accusations and the Size of His Penis:
People are often alarmed at Jim Jones’ sexual indiscretions and crass talk about sexual conduct. It is well known, for example, that Jones had numerous extramarital affairs, and as some came to light, he or his defenders had ready-made excuses for the indiscretions. In public meetings,
he would simultaneously brag and complain about having to “service” people – both men and women – within the congregation. Some of this conduct would be deemed non-consensual: consider former member Deborah Layton’s account of Jones’s pursuit of her, including ******* her in a bathroom at the Temple; or
a Temple leader’s admission and justification for Jones’ relations with a reluctant young woman. Jones is known to have called women out “on the floor” – that is, in front of the group at a Planning Commission meeting or even before the entire congregation – and publicly humiliate them. In one particular case, described by numerous people including Hue Fortson in Stanley Nelson’s documentary
Jonestown: Life and Death of the Peoples Temple, a woman was ordered to strip in front of other Temple members, and then stand naked while Jones and others verbally denigrated the woman’s physical appearance. Jones also seized on many opportunities to describe his sexual prowess and stamina.
Read More:
Using the Bible
Peoples Temple began as a Christian church, and even as Jim Jones turned away from Christian beliefs and tenets, he retained his knowledge of the Bible. Jones knew it inside and out, including
its contradictions and its descriptions of crimes such as ******* and *******. The Bible was his to tailor his message at any given moment. While his knowledge likely appealed to many of the more traditional-minded (and older) members of his group, and helped to recruit others when Jones spoke in out-of-town churches during the Temple’s cross-country bus trips, a recurring image used by Jones’ critics is of the Temple leader throwing the Christian Holy Book to the floor, or
suggesting that its pages should be used as toilet paper.
On the other hand, there is Donald Trump, known for bringing two books to some of his rallies: The Art of the Deal and the Bible itself. The problem is, one he didn’t write and the other he didn’t read, even if he uses the Bible to pander to the Religious Right.
What should be problematic for Christian values voters in supporting Trump – yet astonishingly does not seem to be – is that he is remarkably ignorant of its contents. When asked about favorite Bible verses,
Trump declined to give any. It was “too personal” for him, he said, and he didn’t want to discuss it. He wouldn’t even state whether he preferred the Old or New Testament. Eventually, after a number of days, Trump came up with
“Never bend to envy” as his favorite Bible quote, one which doesn’t actually exist. Months later, Trump offered “an eye for an eye” as a favorite verse, an Old Testament passage which Jesus repudiated.
Links to Russia
One of the big controversies in Trump’s candidacy is his murky ties to Russia. He has given contradictory statements about whether or not he knows Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin. Russia’s leader is
a “strong” leader, Trump says, a surprising compliment coming from a man painting himself as a conservative capitalist. Some suggest that Trump has financial
ties to Russia and that the Russians may be involved in hacks of both the Republican and Democratic national committees.
Trump denies these claims.
Jones’ links to Russia were relatively transparent. He was sympathetic to communism and
an admirer of Josef Stalin. During Jonestown’s final year,
Jones often spoke of relocating his movement to Russia as a way of getting away from the U.S. government’s persecution, an option which
Christine Miller raised as an alternative to death on November 18, 1978. What is less evident is the degree to which Jones and his inner circle seriously considered this as a viable option for the community and how extensively this had been discussed with the Russian government. Like Trump, Jones’ connections to Russia are both mysterious and mystifying.
Playing the Savior, Bringing the Revolution:
Both Jones and Trump depict themselves as leaders of revolutionary movements, miracle workers who alone can save the people. For Jones, Peoples Temple was no mere church, it was a social and political movement that would fight against governmental oppression, racism, sexism, and poverty. Jones used faith healings to attract many of his followers, even though multiple accounts have revealed how many of these were faked. The Temple leader also promised his followers that he would deliver them to a utopia on Earth. Jonestown was to be the Promised Land, and its destruction – in Jones’ worldview – was due to the inability of the US to allow him and his followers to create a better world.
Messages: Fear, Lies, Paranoia, and Violence:
Current political commentators are aware that a large part of Trump’s message to his supporters falls under the purview of fear-mongering. According to Trump’s view of the world; among other things, there’s plenty to fear: America is under attack from outsiders;
Mexican ******* dealers and rapists pour across the border as if it’s Swiss cheese, he argues, necessitating the construction of a wall along the entire border between the two countries; radical Islamists are also to be feared, and he may need to either
completely ban all Muslims from coming into the US or merely impose
“extreme vetting.” Trump also likes to tell blacks just how
bad conditions are for them in terms of employment rates, poverty, crime, and violence. The employment and crime rates
Trump quotes are hyperbolic, but that doesn’t mean his followers ever question the figures. Of course, when Trump refers to these numbers, he is usually in front of a predominantly white audience. When he speaks before blacks and Hispanics, he simply offers the pitch,
“What the hell have you got to lose?”
Jones himself had fear to sell, and although conditions were bad for African-Americans,
Jones told blatant, horrifying lies to portray a situation far worse than reality. His most famous is the claim of
concentration camps being constructed for blacks in America. Prior to the mass emigration from the U.S., Jones often warned his flock that the American government was poised to start imprisoning blacks in concentration camps, but after the move to Jonestown, he filled his news reports with stories that concentration camps were already in existence. The message was clear: stick with Jones because you can’t go back to that hellhole.
Trump is a master of “Us vs. Them” thinking: you are either with him, or you are against him. People need Trump to save them from the danger brought by evil others, be they illegal immigrants, non-Christians, or Democrats. Anyone who speaks against Trump or withdraws support is an enemy, and he encourages persecution of them.
Simply protesting at a Trump rally can result in being beaten up. There is simply no room for dissenting opinions. Jones, too, exploited divisions between groups. Although Jones described the government and its agencies as enemies and conspirators against them, he reserved his greatest contempt for defectors and members of the Concerned Relatives. On more than one occasion, Jones encouraged Jonestown residents to describe what they would like to do to defectors. Some of these
involved graphic depictions of violence, and all of it was justifiable in Jones’ mind.
A Notable, Important Difference between Jones and Trump: Their Followers
The followers of Donald Trump and Jim Jones share another similarity: they could not be more different from each other, or to a great degree, from the American society from which they emerge.
People of color are rare at Trump rallies, and when they do show up, event organizers appear to go out of their way to position them behind the candidate so that news coverage of the event will capture them.
Male Trump supporters outnumber female supporters. It’s difficult to know how many of them actually fit within the “
Basket of Deplorables” to which Hillary Clinton has relegated them, but some have publicly made
unabashed racist and sexist statements. Despite declaring themselves disenfranchised by the current conditions in the U.S.,
a recent survey indicates that the median income of Trump’s supporters is $72,000, notably higher than the median income of the entire U.S.
Compare these folks to Jones’ supporters. The Temple included people of all ethnic backgrounds, and by some estimates, blacks made up 85% to 90% of the Los Angeles and San Francisco congregations. Many, though not all, of the members came from lower-income households in inner city areas. These people felt disenfranchised, too, but it was arguably justified. Many had been on the receiving end of racism, injustice, and financial hardship.
The Scariest Thing of All:
As this article has shown,
Donald Trump and Jim Jones share many characteristics, but perhaps the most important, the most fundamental – certainly the scariest – aspect of their message is the manner in which they deliver it. They often speak in animated, staccato sentences that border on ranting, but carry the fervor of passion. Trump, like Jones, tells his followers that
he loves them. They repeat their messages frequently, a well-known persuasion technique.
Both men see themselves as straight-talking, down-to-earth saviors: the kind that use profanities and vulgarities as a way of making them “relatable”. Even if many outside their respective movements wonder, “how can anyone fall for that?” others are willing to follow. Unfortunately, following such a toxic individual has ramifications for many people, and not just for their followers. Conspiratorial talk of a rigged election by a Trump fearful of losing to Clinton has his supporters vowing to retaliate on his behalf, in the form of
riots or assassinations as needed.
I can think of nothing more frightening than the ability of each of these men to do great harm by holding the fate of a large number of people in his hands. Jones inflicted the ultimate harm by taking over 900 people to their deaths; the pain reverberates today among Temple survivors, family members and friends, as well as others who have been touched by the tragedy. As horrific as Jonestown was,
Trump has the
potential to inflict much greater damage: if elected, he will have the nuclear codes and lot of potential targets among the 7.4 billion people on the Earth. I am not convinced that Donald Trump has any better ability to control his destructive impulses than Jim Jones did. Certainly, his verbal and Twitter tirades strongly suggest otherwise.
apnews.com
Nov 09, 2019 · NEW YORK (AP) — Former national security adviser John Bolton has a book deal, The Associated Press has learned. The hawkish Bolton departed in September because of numerous foreign policy disagreements with President Donald Trump.
john-bolton-has-a-book-deal
