The Cult of Trump: Governance or Spectacle?

Overview

The post examines the transformation of American governance under Donald Trump’s second term. The first term is analyzed in my book The Trump Files. This post describes how institutional authority has shifted to a “crowd cabinet.” In this setup, policy is dictated by the applause of loyal supporters. Rallies have evolved from campaign events to state-sanctioned ceremonies. These ceremonies reinforce a cult-like loyalty. They intertwine personal identity with allegiance to Trump. Followers become “fused” with Trump and Trumpism.The post warns of the implications for democratic institutions. I highlight the erosion of checks and balances. I also emphasize the performance-driven nature of policy. Furthermore, I note the emergence of a regime where dissent is viewed as treasonous.

American governance has shifted from institutions to arenas. Trump’s second term is run from the Oval Office. It’s staged from the rally platform but carried out from the Resolute Desk. Policies are rolled out onstage from Project 25, applause is the vote, and the cult crowd has replaced the cabinet.

In this post I explore how Trump’s return institutionalized his movement. I discuss what it means for the Constitution. I also examine what happens when loyalty to the leader becomes the definition of citizenship. In my earlier post, I explained how Trump and his sycophantic sitting cabinet view Americans as consumers. They see them as taxpayers, not citizens.

The Lead

Donald Trump has made history not only by returning to power, but by rewriting the very mechanics of it. His second term operates from the Oval Office or the cabinet room. Yet, we see it is truly governed from the campaign and rally crowds.

Rallies, once campaign spectacles, are now state ceremonies. Immigration sweeps, economic punishments, and foreign policy shifts are rolled out onstage. Policy is validated not by Congress or the courts, but by the cult’s applause.

“The crowd is the cabinet.”

Cabinet meetings are perfunctory. Cabinet members are loyalists who who embarrass themselves pledging allegiance to Trump by singing his praises. It’s sickening to watch. But Trump expects it. Truth Social posts and rally roars carry the real authority. America is living through the first presidency in which the leader has re-engineered governance as a mass ritual.

The Rally as Ritual Governance

Trump’s rallies are not about campaigning anymore. They are the governing act itself. His stagecraft is a fusion of state-of-the-union, courtroom verdict, and carnival. Because of the nearly 200 Executive orders, Trump speaks to MAGA cult seeking approval and mirroring his narcissism to them.

• Policy by Applause: In early 2025, a proposed immigration sweep was “announced” not in a DHS press briefing. Instead, it was presented onstage in Ohio. Cheers counted as ratification (Executive Order 14159).
• Foreign Policy by Gesture: A tariff threat against China was first teased at a Pennsylvania rally, leaving diplomats scrambling (AP). Since then, Trump is tariffing the world but making Americans pay.
• Personnel by Jeer: Cabinet members or advisors often first sense their fate. Their absence or mockery becomes a rally punchline. Little Marco Rubio,

This recalls Mussolini’s balcony speeches, Chavez’s marathon TV programs, or Mao’s mass denunciations. In each case, the crowd was not an audience but the legitimizing body of the state-the cult. If you don’t remember, Trump copied  the Mussolini balcony speech. After he was treated for COVID-19, he got out of hospital. He pushed his chest out from a White House balcony. He told us not to worry about COVID. “Don’t let it control your life.” According to Dr. Deborah Birx, Trump was responsible for more than 400,000 deaths from COVID. Dr. Birx served with Dr. Anthony Fauci on the White House COVID response team. 

What do you think?  If the “crowd cabinet” is also a cult cabinet, how can democratic institutions resist? How can they contend with a governing style that bypasses reason and law? It favors loyalty and emotional control instead.

Identity Fusion

To be a “real American” today is not to adhere to a constitution, but to share Trump’s grievances. Identity has fused with loyalty to the man.

To belong to the MAGA identity group, individuals accepted Trump’s rhetoric of victimhood and retribution. They believed in the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen from Trump. The “Big Lie” is a key to Trump’s comeback. Trump and many others have continuously repeated the lie, and pretty soon the lie is believed.

Researchers Moniz and Swann proposed that Trump supporters have a deep personal alignment with their leader. This alignment is known as identity fusion. It predisposed them to believe the big lie. “Trump supporters’ identities became “fused” with Trump.” Believing the big lie helped strengthen their bond with Trump. It primed acceptance of his rhetoric of victimhood and retribution heading into the 2024 election.

The Big Lie

In their report, published by Cambridge University Press, Moniz and Swann write in their abstract of their paper, the following:

Former president Trump has maintained broad support. He falsely contended that he was the victim of electoral fraud. This is also known as the “big lie.” We consider both the antecedents of this phenomenon and its consequences. We propose that Trump supporters’ already established deep personal alignment—identity fusion—with their leader predisposed them to believe the lie. Accepting it then set the foundation for other identity-protecting beliefs and attitudes. We used a three-wave panel of Trump supporters. We found that their fusion with Trump before the 2020 election correlated with a stronger belief in the big lie. This belief intensified over time. This happened in the interval between 2021 and 2024. Accepting the big lie helped solidify fusion with Trump and had consequences for related attitudes. (emphasis mine) Belief in the big lie predicted downplaying the criminal charges against Trump and supporting his antidemocratic policy agenda. Belief in the big lie is fueled by further fusion. It is also a primary component of a larger narrative. This narrative emboldens Trump and justifies antidemocratic behavior. Source: Moniz P, Swann WB. The Power of Trump’s Big Lie: Identity Fusion, Internalizing Misinformation, and Support for Trump. PS: Political Science & Politics. 2025;58(3):363-368. doi:10.1017/S1049096524001203. CC Creative Commons, 4.0.

Social psychologists call this identity fusion. Personal and group identities merge fully in this state. Attacks on the leader are felt as attacks on the self (Moniz, Philip and Swann, William B.). Even after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, many republicans remained steadfast in their support for Trump. House majority speaker Mike Johnson supported Trump. This occurred during the 2024 conviction on 34 counts of criminal activity. He and other congressional republics were standing on courthouse steps condemning the justice system. You should read the Moniz and Swann paper. It explains how they reached their conclusions about Trump fusion.

Consequences include:

• Dissent as Treason: Journalists, immigrants, and political opponents are branded “enemies of the people.”
• Policy as Purity: Laws and policies become loyalty tests.
• Leader = Nation: Trump does not represent America; he is America.

Now, I want to explore how identity fusion is related to the idea of a cult and spread like contagion.

The Cult Cabinet

Rallies are not only state ceremonies; they are cult rituals. To understand Trump’s “crowd cabinet,” it helps to borrow the lens of cult psychology. Can the concept of cult be apropos in discussing the American citizens that flock to him? They feel connected to others in the group. Yet, they are largely connected to Trump. Even when Trump does outrageous things like being convicted of sexual assault, rallies are not only state ceremonies. He has a close connection to Jeffrey Epstein. They are cult rituals. To understand Trump’s “crowd cabinet,” it helps to borrow the lens of cult psychology.

In 2019, he published The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control. The book represents a broadening of his focus from new religious movements into political culture.^[20] The author compares Donald Trump‘s behaviour to that of Jim Jones, L. Ron Hubbard, and Sun Myung Moon, and expresses the hope that the book will lessen political division.^[21] Its loose usage of the word “cult” led to initial dismissal and criticism, but following January 6 United States Capitol attack interest in Hassan’s work in this field increased. (Source: Stephen Hassan

Dr. Bandi Lee

Dr. Bandy Lee, a psychiatrist who has written on the psychology of dangerous leaders, calls this a form of shared psychosis. The leader projects paranoia and grievance; the crowd absorbs and mirrors it back. Anxiety is transformed into belonging. Rage becomes ritualized.

Seen this way, the crowd is not just a cabinet. It is a cult cabinet—a governing body fused by dependency and loyalty to the leader, not by law or policy.

Unlike fringe cults—Jonestown, Heaven’s Gate—Trump’s group has not been exiled to the margins. It has captured the state. The rituals of control are not happening in secret compounds. They are staged in stadiums. Broadcast on national TV. They are translated directly into government action.

This is the unprecedented danger: the apparatus of state fused with the psychology of a cult. The checks and balances of the Constitution were never designed for this.

Trump Infection

Dr. Lee uses the term “Trump Contagion”. The term describes the way Donald Trump’s behavior and rhetoric spread like a psychological infection through society. Trump’s extreme narcissism, impulsivity, dishonesty, and aggression do not remain confined to him as an individual. Instead, when amplified by political power and media, these traits spread to his followers and even to broader society. It works like a contagion: exposure to Trump’s conduct lowers inhibitions, normalizes destructive behavior, and encourages imitation.

The impact of Trump’s actions in his second term has been rapid and widespread. He is using tactics against the American people that usually only occur in wars initiated by other nations. But, here Trump has launched a war on the United States. He started by decimating executive departments. With the Musketeers, hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been fired. Sections within departments have disappeared. The well-being of the American people has been diminished.

Trump, with his “ICE army,” is going to war against cities that have black mayors, and who voted against Trump. These city dwellers are now the enemy. These cities have provided safety to hardworking migrants. They have families and work within these communities. They have not committed violent crimes. Trump, and his lackey Kristi Noem, lie to us when they say they are going in after violent criminals. Very few of the migrants they have illegally rounded up and deported were violent criminals, or belonged to criminal gangs.

From Movement to Regime

After January 6, many believed Trumpism mortally wounded itself. Instead, his return institutionalized it.

Timeline:

• 2021: January 6 exposes violent edges; elites briefly distance themselves. Trump is impeached in the House.  In the Senate the majority found him guilty, but the vote didn’t reach the threshold of 2/3’s of the vote. As a result, he was not found guilty. In my opinion, Mitch McConnell was responsible for Trump not being thrown out of office. He was appalled and said Trump caused the Capital attack. He also steered many Republican senators away from a guilty vote claiming that an out-of-office official can not be charged.  Really?

• 2022–23: Investigations stall; prosecutions falter. GOP reabsorbs Trump. Yet, he was convicted on 34 felony charges related to interfering in the 2016 election. He was found liable for defrauding New York by altering property values to secure better loans. He was ordered to pay $500 million. An appeals court ruled he didn’t have to pay up. But he was found liable for sexual assault and rape (read the judge’s fine print) in two trials. He was ordered to pay a total of $92 million to E. Jean Carroll. Just recently a three judge appeals court turned Trump down in try to not pay her any money. Sorry, Don, pay up.

The ’24 Election

• 2024: His re-election proves mainstream dominance. Identity fusion and cultism formed the nucleus that elected Trump. And also, the millions from Musk. Even with outright lies about immigrants and others, the cult was not affected. They believed “in” Trump.
• 2025: The second term has been a disaster for Americans, and other nations. Migrants deportations, tariffs on imports from every nation, with Americans paying the tariff tax. Trump, et.al. will tell you that Americans will not pay the tax. Ask any business that relies on importing from countries like China, Vietnam, Japan, and others. Trump is down in the polls on all counts. These include the economy. jobs, approval of the job he’s not doing, and so forth. America is now involved in an internal war. It’s not a civil war, but some people are using the term.

“Trumpism is no longer a movement. It is the regime.”

What makes Trump unique: spectacle politics now work inside the world’s oldest constitutional republic.

Closing Reflection