Is Trumpism a Sect? ~ The Australian Armchair Sceptic

Is Trumpism a sect? The Australian Armchair Sceptic says so. Presidential Election.
Hi friends welcome to my channel and blogpost ‘The Armchair Sceptic’ – the Australian armchair Sceptic. My name is Rodd, and I am this channels host. Today, as I have done in other presentations, I am again poking my nose into the US election.
I want to provide some of my reflections and ideas about this election. I don’t shy away from my support of Kamila Harris who I think has turned out to be an outstanding candidate. She is intelligent and able to present her position clearly with humour and clarity. She has also turned out to be very popular with all groups of individuals (of course Democrats mainly but secretly, I think, some traditional Republicans also). I think she would make a great President and will be an important player in world affairs.
On the other hand, Donald Trump’s behaviour has me, and I know many others (including friends from the US), quite concerned. To put it bluntly, his behaviour in this campaign has been quite bizarre and worrying. His behaviour in this campaign has significantly changed for the worse. It has deteriorated since both the 2016 and 2020 elections. I’m not sure how to characterise this! It seems a combination of deteriorating cognitive ability, that may be a symptom of ageing and of increased mental change resulting in symptoms of narcissism, and even quite strange delusional ideas about the state of the US that have no relation to reality.

Trumps cognitive deterioration seems to be showing the classic signs of ageing. I don’t want to be ageist here as I consider that some older folks have much to offer. Also ageing does not impact on all individuals equally. Some individuals show signs of cognitive decline in their sixties, (even younger than this in some cases) others in their eighties, even nineties, seem be quite mentally alert without much sign of cognitive decline. However, in my viewing of Trump’s mass meetings, his rally performances and interviews do show certain cognitive decline. These include confusing and forgetting names, losing one’s train of thought, speech blurring and mispronunciations, misunderstanding what is said by others and many other symptoms. He is also showing signs of Imbalance called ‘As you become less physically active in older age, your proprioception (the technical term for body awareness) will decrease too. Proprioception is one’s ability to feel where your joints and body are. The nerve receptors around joints sinews etc send information to the brain. As one ages the nerve receptors do not work as well as they should, leading to diminished bodily awareness. This can impact on balance and body coordination. Thus, losing balance is something you need to deal with as falling increases with ageing and the results of falls can be serious injury. My point here is that I can see this loss of proprioception in Trump. He is very careful with stairs and ramps and in a recent display of driving a Garbage truck this loss of balance was clear to me anyway. He had to have a few tries opening the door and them stepping up into the cab was very clearly difficult for him.
In other ways Trump has exhibited strange views about reality. He constantly tells untruths (lies) exaggerates and often his speeches go off on a tangent, expressing views that are almost irrelevant to the point he is seeking to make. For example, in his debate with Camila Haris he made some bizarre comments about Haitian immigrants eating the cats and dogs of other US residents in Springfield Ohio. He has I understand heard this from his running partner J D Vance, a republican senator from Ohio. Numerous individuals from Ohio including the Mayor of Springfield, the police and many others claim the story is just not true. However, despite many denials he sticks to the story.
Just another observation about Trump’s behaviour relates to the attempted assassination in Pennsylvania, I really believe that experience has discombobulated him and caused trauma. Your body and emotions must react to an attempt by someone to kill you. I think Trump may be suffering from a degree of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). No person really can fully dismiss the effects of the experience he had. PDSD has many symptoms that may occur at any time after the experience, even years after. However certain symptoms can show early after the event such as, memory problems, not experiencing positive emotions, reexperiencing the event and many others. This may explain some of his behaviour.
Recently his tactics seems to have changed, for the worst, I think. He has started to indicate he would turn himself into a quasi-dictator and use the military to enforce his control not just over migrants who he keeps going on and on about. Also, he now indicates he will use the armed forces to control his political enemies. He refers to all these groups as the ‘enemy within’. He means political opponents and critics and virtually anyone who opposes him. This proposed absolute control and the use of the military to eliminate opposition is frankly characteristic a fascism.

General Milley General Kelly
Many senior Trump appointees have now come out with a critic of Trump as a fascist. General Mark Milley, who was appointed by Trump to be the nation’s highest ranking military officer as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has referred to him as “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country” General John Kelly, who served Trump as both secretary of homeland security and then White House chief of staff, has said that Trump “falls into the general definition of fascist” after he suggested using the military to go after his political opponents. Even Camilla Harris has agreed to the fascist label for Trumps latest statements.
The problem for me is that despite these false claims, lies and exaggerations, and now these dictator Fascist ideas, his position in most polls doesn’t change. He remains tied in the polls with Harris (that is if the polls are accurate). It seems whatever he does it makes no difference to those who indicate they will vote for him. If Harris made one of trumps bizarre comments and exaggerations she would probably be criticised heavily. What is happening here? Many experts have looked at this and don’t seem to come up with many answers. One answer might be is that the polles have not included some groups like new voters registered since 1980. Though this group has been included in some surveys. The other answer is that, as I indicated above, that some are so rusted onto the republicans that they will vote for trump whatever he does. My reasoning is a little different, I think Trump, whether he does it consciously or not, has created a sect associated with a conspiracy theory. In the following I will look at the nature of sects, how they attract followers and keep them whatever the real facts are.
Sects are a part of every religion they usually comprise a smaller group that has separated from a larger one for many reasons, to be more authentic, to practice their own ideas and beliefs about the world. Most religions have sects that have a leader who usually presents their followers with a particular approach often this approach can be a conspiracy theory. Sects can grow to be quite large organisations, and the conspiracy turns into a sort of science or philosophy that is not questioned. Sects though mostly religious can be secular or even a mixture of both secular and religious ideas. Secular sects often use a form of science to validate their ideas and claims. There were three major sects in the 1900’s Fascism or Naziism, Stalinism and the rule of Mao Zedong who led China into his form of Marxist/Communism and founded, ‘The Peoples Republic of China’.

Hitler and Naziism

According to some military generals Trump has expressed admiration for some of the Nazi generals under Hitler. This is amazing and it seems Trump is unaware of the catastrophic results of Hitler’s horrific reign. The killing of six million German Jews and the demonisation of any group that did not fit into his fictional notion of an Aryian race (I will deal with this Aryian notion further below).
Francis Galton
The Nazis were influenced by the work of The British scientists Francis Galton, who referred to his position as Eugenics. At the beginning of the 20th century Galton proposed to create social policy to improve superior biological features. He used a variety of scientific methods to analyse difference between groups particularly racial groups. The Nazis were influenced by Galton (who was an accredited scientist) and referred to their approach as Nazi Eugenics. In the US Charles Davenport, who became very influential in the US and eventually in Germany where he worked with Nazi organisations on the problem of racial mixing suggesting that racial interbreeding was associated with physical and mental degradation.
Charles Davenport
Davenport worked at both Harvard and Chicago Universities. Davenport was elected to the American Philosophical society and later, to the National Academy of Science. He was influential in the wording of US Immigration laws. He believed that allowing immigration from inferior races would degrade US society and was successful, by influencing some members of Congress, to introduce an immigration Act in 1924 that restricted immigration to certain races including Black and Eastern European groups, thus, it was argued, avoiding biological and social degradation. All of this was used by the Nazis as a scientific basis for racial policy. Hitler himself was influenced by German philosophers Frederick Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger and composer Richard Wagner. All three were supporters of German superiority and Aryanism (a white Nordic type race, fair hair and blue eyes) and were quickly taken up by Hitler.
Aryanism was an older tradition or ideology to evolution. The Aryan race was superior to all others, and Germans the notion of a Aryanism with evolution. The point was any mix of races degraded the superior stock. The distinction was made because of physical features, religion, emotional traits and mental competence. All races in Germany and, except so-called Aryans were seen as a sort of danger within. Trump, as I will say below is current taking about enemies within. Whether this was borrowed somehow from the Nazis is hard to know.
The major point here is that Hitler and his Nazis were able to use the so-called ‘science’ to support their racist policy which was directed mainly at the German Jewish population, though also Gypsies, Blacks and all forms of those with disability, physical and mental illness (note here: Trumps use of the term, those from asylums, alongside thieves, drug users and dealers, and implicitly, those from coloured races all of whom he demonised as disruptive with criminal tendencies. Eventually, Hitler was to introduce his, final solution; elimination of inferior races by gassing in the death camps. Referred to as the Holocaust that resulted in the elimination of six million Jews.
Stalin
Like Hitler Stalin was an autocrat that introduced an ideology based on the work of his heroes, Marx, Engels and Lenin. The enemy from within and out was bourgeoise capitalism. He was an elitist who distinguished intellectually the lower classes from intellectuals. However, he was convinced that the lower classes knew nothing, or very little about the position of the Marxists, and set out to teach it, in schools and all educational institutions to the masses, as a superior form of society. He policed almost every viewpoint expressed for bourgeoise influences. In doing so he rejected any view or even any science that appeared to contradict his Marxist stance. He supported the now rejected evolutionary science of the French scientist Jean-Baptiste Lamark who views on evolution were referred to as Lamarckism. He was not impressed with many of the social sciences. Stalin’s rejection of these and his intolerance of any critique of his position was punished. Though it set back Soviet Science for generations. Stalin was an example of a dictator who wanted all those in his country to think like him whatever the cost. His success was probably like Hitlers in that he exploited a hidden prejudice in the main population.
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong was the first chairmen of the Chinese Communist Party and the founder of the People’s Republic of China. Maoism is the doctrine formulated by Mao Zedong and his associates. Mao’ studied Marxism in his early life and as Chairman took his position from the works mainly of Mark, Lenin and Stalin. Though it was made appropriate for the Chinese people. The theory (or what was really a sort of conspiracy theory) of Maoism saw the peasantry as a source of hope and energy. He was not impressed with the intelligentsia and thought it a destructive force in need of radical change. Thus, higher education was virtually despised and seen as some sort of enemy of human nature as expressed by the peasantry in China.
Mao introduced the Cultural Revolution aimed at the removal of anti-revolutionary groups. This Revolution lasted 10 years and it resulted in Mao’s elevation to a God like personality a cult that lasted long after his death. The Cultural Revolution was a disaster for China millions were persecuted for no other reason that they appeared to be anti-revolutionary, with estimates ranging from 40 to 80 million victims due to starvation, persecution, incarceration and millions of executions. There was other atrocious damage to the Chinese culture of ancient art and artifacts. However, despite all the damage, Mao has been credited with important reforms such as healthcare reform, improving literacy through education, and medical advances improving life expectancy.
Thus, his legacy is mixed. He became an absolute dictator whose philosophy (conspiracy) showed positive reforms as well as horrific damage to the people and culture of China.

Summary; Trump as a Sect leader
is Trump leading a sectarian Cult/Sect backed by an ideology that can be seen as a conspiracy theory. In this he can be compared to the three absolute leaders discussed briefly above. I will present my view in a few points below.
1. The three leaders, Hitler, Stalin and Mao Zedong were absolute dictations with no controlling power above them. Each were supported by a ideology that was really a conspiracy theory. All of them saw their ideology as supported by science especially. The Nazis adapting Galton’s Eugenics with an older tradition of a superior Aryian was able to saw the inferior races as the enemy destroying the human social order. Both Stalin and Zedong followed basically a Marxist-Leninist line of demonising capitalism or the bourgeois philosophy. Their enemies of Stalin and Zedong were clear, capitalists, the rich and privileged, (and the intellectuals in Zedong’s view) who obtained their wealth and control by the exploitation of the heroes, the rural peasantry and the urban workers. Thus, these privileged groups were to be eliminated.
Trump is not a dictator though he seeks to be, though he does not have the intelligence to refine his conspiracy as did the three dictators. Though he already has spoken about using force, the armed forces, to put down all opposition to him. His enemies are clear; immigrants either legal or illegal, and those who oppose him politically. He considers there were good points about the Nazis, like good generals, though he doesn’t elaborate on what was good about them.
2. The issue with Trump is that he has no evidence of an acceptable kind to support his claims about immigrants, whom he sees as thieves, drug dealers and users, those with mental illness those with intellectual disability and eaters of dogs and cats. In fact, any real evidence indicates that immigrants are less likely to be thieves and drug dealers and mentally ill or handicapped than any normal US citizen. Though, despite this evidence his followers believe what he is saying, without question.
3 I would argue that trump has managed to tap into a deep-seated prejudice that has always been there; fear of strangers, of those who are different in culture, politics and race. This is a form of Xenophobia that in a US Report to UN Human Rights Council in 2010 that consisted of a network of more than 300 US-based civil and human rights organizations stated that “Discrimination permeates all aspects of life in the United States, and it extends to all communities of color. Discrimination against racial, ethnic, and religious minorities is widely acknowledged, especially in the case of [African Americans] and African Diasporic peoples in the United States], as well as other ethnic groups. Trump has really picked up on this and has recently described as the ‘enemy within’. The conspirators are immigrants and those who oppose his views. Trump has managed to elevate himself to his followers as a self-styled leader who can really do no wrong. His followers are probably more numerous than is generally known as he is tapping into deep prejudices that are not always consciously expressed, or openly admitted. I should indicate here, to be fair to the US, that many other countries also have forms of xenophobia and discrimination against certain groups. In Australia there has been a continuous discriminatory attitude towards the indigenous aboriginals since British settlement; and it’s still there.
4. To me Trump has truly created a Sect with a sort of conspiracy theory that underlies it. Trump’s followers consist of a few groups. Many of these have religious affiliations, especially those Christian denominations in the southern states whom he is actively courting. Though he is not obviously a committed Christian his rhetoric appeals to them. Many Christin activists are not happy with the US constitution that advocates absolute freedom of religion and religious choice. The constitution advocates a clear separation between religion (church) and State. The US is not a Christian nation and that is its strength. However, many Christian activists are not happy with this and want to create a Christian State. Trump plays to this ambition, telling them he loves Christians and that they need to get out and vote for him; with a sort of promise that he will prioritise Christianity if he becomes president again.

Hitler and Naziism

Leave a Reply Cancel reply