“Nearly every cult is headed by a single controlling leader,” a top expert on cults explains, in a novel I’m reading.
“He – it’s usually a man – has a consuming ego, attacks his enemies, lashes out in anger, has an absolute belief that he’s correct, won’t listen to advice or criticism, is paranoid and craves worship and adulation.”
Do these characteristics of cult leaders bring anyone, in particular, to mind?
Here are a few hints…
Who lashed out at Congresswoman Liz Cheney, just recently, calling her “a psycho” and “not the brightest person in the world,” in a Business Insider article.
And who “blasted” Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, also in Business Insider, saying “wacky Bill Cassidy can’t walk down the street in Louisiana…He could not even be elected dog catcher today, the great people curse him”?
And who’s been proclaiming, over the past several years, that “Nobody knows more about taxes than me, maybe in the history of the world.” And “Nobody’s ever been more successful than me.” And “Nobody knows more about trade than me.”
So, what do we have, so far… what boxes can we check off? Someone with a consuming ego? Someone lashing out? Someone believing, absolutely, that he’s correct? Someone, perhaps, craving adulation? And, perhaps, worship, too?
And there may be another thing, that’s not in the fictional expert’s list of a cult leaders’ characteristics — ‘calculated spin’ — something I’ve been mentioning, recently, in the Daily Post.
Considering what ‘calculated’ means — something that’s being done with the full awareness of consequences — cult leaders may very well have ‘calculated spin’ in their toolbox.
Who told supporters at a rally, last January 6, that “the country was being illegally stolen by a group of powerful elites,” and then urged them to march to the Capitol building?
And after a mob stormed the Capitol, that day, who described what occurred as a “love fest” and “a beautiful thing,” and then subsequently, described his rally as “the largest crowd that I’ve ever spoken (to) before.”
Were these some examples of ‘calculated spin?’
So, with all the characteristics of cult leaders in mind, what’s going on, here, in America, with whomever may be coming to mind?
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.