“Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish.”[i]– Richard Hofstadter
Since Donald Trump’s rise to power in 2016, his political movement has been repeatedly referred to as a cult of personality. In his book the Cult of Trump, Steven Hassan argues, using the BITE model, that Trump’s movement is a cult, and that he employs the same tactics that other notable cult leaders have used to expand and retain control of their followings.[ii] The problem, however, with Hassan’s book is that he focuses exclusively on the coltishness of the Republican party and the Trump regime. He overlooks the role of the Democratic party in his rise, as well as the reality that the establishment is a cult, not of personality, but around a binding ideology of globalism.
Hassan points to Trump’s use of the term globalism, deep state, and rigged are trigger words that are intended to stir emotion and to reinforce Manichean thinking. Contrary to what Hassan is arguing, the deep state, or the state within the state, what I call the permanent regime, is very real and is a far graver threat to the world than Trump ever was and still is. Hassan captures his fixation on the GOP when he writes that “The Republican party is almost like a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family.”[iii] While he is not wrong that Trump has a cult of personality around him, and that he is not only obscenely corrupt and claims to be messianic, but he also pretends that Trump is the root problem, not a symptom of a much deeper root problem.
At the end of his book, Hassan advises that people who have family members who support Trump watch segments of Rachel Maddow to test their worldviews, as if Maddow is a truthful or even informative source.[iv] Maddow is a conspiracist herself, however, to Hassan she is on the good side of his binary, of his Manichean worldview, which pits Trump and his followers against all that is noble and glorious. Because Maddow lambasted Trump daily on her show, she is good and must be seen as an antidote to members of the Trump cult, despite a court ruling that she is not doing a news show.[v]
To be fair to Hassan, he wrote his book amid Trump’s first term, and even though Trump is even more brazenly corrupt and cultish in his second term, I still have the same criticisms of his argument, and of others who make similar claims. While those who slavishly bow to the Democratic party, or Blue MAGA as some call it, focus only on the cult of Trump, the illiberal liberal class is very much in a cult themselves, though it is not formed around a personality, but an absolutist ideology that dominates the Western establishment, starting with the US empire. Figures who mindlessly worship Trump and laud his every action like Laura Loomer, Sebastian Gorka, Stephen Miller, Will Chamberlain, have openly sworn loyalty to Trump, not to the ideology of America First, or they try to twist the meaning of America First to fit in what is now being done in its name. This is not to say that anyone should be rigidly adherent to an ideology and unopen to differing ideas, but that what we are seeing play out in American politics is not a war of political ideas, but a war between a cult of personality and a cult of ideology.
Both are unwilling to compromise. Both are adamant that the objects of their worship must be kept in power by any means necessary. To Trump’s cult, he can never fail- he is failed. This was perfectly embodied in the debate over Trump’s first Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran, where JD Vance was blamed for making America look weak, not Trump who signed the MOU.[vi] In the illiberal liberal class’s cult, the Democratic party and the US liberal empire cannot fail, it is only failed, whether its politicians like Trump being isolationist or the public not understanding the importance of the empire. To resist Trump and the conditions that enabled his rise, both cults must be broken, not just the cult that surrounds him, as they will simply move on to the next vessel.
The cult of Trump knows no bounds. For them, there is nothing he can do, no previous promise that he can contradict, no obscene comment that he can make, that will force anyone deep in it to rethink their support for a man, rather than a set of ideas that were declared long ago and have only been reneged on.
The war in Iran rages on, as does his cult. We are constantly told that the US has won. Surely after hearing this proclamation the hundredth time, whilst the war continues, Trump cultists must start to question whether the US truly is victorious? Opposite Trump’s cult is that of the illiberal liberal class. Many of them are not irked that Trump invaded Iran at all. What frustrates them is how catastrophic it is. The ardent neoconservative Robert Kagan penned an article in The Atlantic arguing that Trump’s war in Iran is a disaster, and that it “is going to set off a chain reaction that around the world as friends and foes adjust to America’s failure.”[vii] Other neoconservatives like Bill Kristol have made similar comments.[viii] However, their current critiques of Trump’s warmaking does not reflect a change of heart when it comes to militarism. In an interview with Martin Di Caro of Responsible Statecraft, Kagan argued that the strategic approaches to Iraq in 2003 and Iran now are wildly different.[ix] When confronted by Caro about whether the US war in Iraq was necessary, as Saddam Hussein was merely a tinpot dictator, Kagan said that “Saddam had invaded Iran. He had invaded Kuwait. He clearly wanted to be the Saladin of the Middle East. You can feel however you want about it, but you were not alone in supporting the Iraq war.”[x] This is the gross and hypocritical mindset of the illiberal liberal class. When other leaders go rogue, they are likened to expansionist powers. Of course, Hussein fashioned himself Saladin, but would he ever say that Bush likened himself to Julius Ceasar? Of course not. How can Kagan pretend that his perception of US foreign policy and military action are radically different from Trump’s, as he digs in his heels to defend past wars that turned out to be total disasters. Kagan exposes a huge problem in establishment thinking when he goes on to say that “It’s bizarre to look back and think that it was somehow a peculiar judgment that Saddam posed a threat, when almost everybody including the Clinton administration thought Saddam was a threat. It was practically a consensus view.”[xi] It is understandably bizarre that Kagan, in his enclosed habitat in Washington, is awestruck at the mere notion that anyone could have been rationally against the Iraq war. That very consensus view has wrecked the US empire and left it in tatters. The Trump regime is digging its grave.
The likes of Kagan and the illiberal liberal class made their imperial beds long ago. Now they must lay in them, leaving our generations to attempt to salvage a life free of tyranny. Trump’s cult is destructive and it must be broken, however, the cult of the illiberal liberal class must also be deconstructed. Just like the avid supporters of the Iran war, these people can never be wrong, as for them, Trump is not doing war or empire correctly, and he must be replaced with a more levelheaded steward. What we are seeing is two cults at war with each other. Each is wholly convinced that the other not only seeks its destruction, but the ruination of the entire world. As these cults clash and refuse to be broken, we are overseeing the end of an era, much to their chagrin and denial.
[i] Richard Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” Harper’s Magazine, November 1964, https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/.
[ii] Steven Hassan, The Cult of Trump, First Free Press trade paperback (Free Press, 2020).
[iii] Hassan, The Cult of Trump.
[iv] Hassan, The Cult of Trump.
[v] Soraya Ferdman, “Judge Dismisses OAN’s $10 Million Libel Suit Against Rachel Maddow,” First Amendment Watch, May 27, 2020, https://firstamendmentwatch.org/judge-dismisses-oans-10-million-libel-suit-against-msnbcs-rachel-maddow/.
[vi] Matt Fuller, “Republicans Worry JD Vance May Become Trump’s ‘Fall Guy’ for Iran,” MS NOW, June 29, 2026, https://www.ms.now/news/republicans-jd-vance-trump-fall-guy-iran; Andrew Roth, “JD Vance Is the Face of the Beleaguered Iran Deal – Is He Its Fall Guy?,” US News, The Guardian, June 25, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/25/jd-vance-iran-peace-deal.
[vii] Robert Kagan, “Checkmate in Iran,” The Atlantic, May 10, 2026, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/iran-war-trump-losing/687094/.
[viii] Tim Miller and Bill Kristol, “Bill Kristol: Trump’s Iran Disaster Is Also a Defeat for the U.S.,” The Bulwark, May 25, 2026, https://www.thebulwark.com/p/bill-kristol-trumps-iran-disaster; Andrew Earvolino, “Bob Kagan Leads Neocons Changing Their Spots over Trump’s War,” Responsible Statecraft, April 1, 2026, https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-war-neoconservatives/.
[ix] Robert Kagan and Martin Di Caro, “Robert Kagan: Sometimes US Intervention Is Worth Blowback,” Responsible Statecraft, August 4, 2026, https://responsiblestatecraft.org/robert-kagan-iran/.
[x] Robert Kagan and Martin Di Caro, “Robert Kagan.”
[xi] Robert Kagan and Martin Di Caro, “Robert Kagan.”
References
Andrew Earvolino. “Bob Kagan Leads Neocons Changing Their Spots over Trump’s War.” Responsible Statecraft, April 1, 2026. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-war-neoconservatives/.
Ferdman, Soraya. “Judge Dismisses OAN’s $10 Million Libel Suit Against Rachel Maddow.” First Amendment Watch, May 27, 2020. https://firstamendmentwatch.org/judge-dismisses-oans-10-million-libel-suit-against-msnbcs-rachel-maddow/.
Fuller, Matt. “Republicans Worry JD Vance May Become Trump’s ‘Fall Guy’ for Iran.” MS NOW, June 29, 2026. https://www.ms.now/news/republicans-jd-vance-trump-fall-guy-iran.
Hassan, Steven. The Cult of Trump. First Free Press trade paperback. Free Press, 2020.
Kagan, Robert. “Checkmate in Iran.” The Atlantic, May 10, 2026. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/iran-war-trump-losing/687094/.
Miller, Tim and Bill Kristol. “Bill Kristol: Trump’s Iran Disaster Is Also a Defeat for the U.S.” The Bulwark, May 25, 2026. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/bill-kristol-trumps-iran-disaster.
Richard Hofstadter. “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,.” Harper’s Magazine, November 1964. https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/.
Robert Kagan and Martin Di Caro. “Robert Kagan: Sometimes US Intervention Is Worth Blowback.” Responsible Statecraft, August 4, 2026. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/robert-kagan-iran/.
Roth, Andrew. “JD Vance Is the Face of the Beleaguered Iran Deal – Is He Its Fall Guy?” US News. The Guardian, June 25, 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/25/jd-vance-iran-peace-deal.
Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes 
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