Donald Trump's Covid Cult

It is probably impossible to tally all of the Covid deaths in the US stemming from Trump rallies, superspreader events at the White House and the millions of cult members who spread the disease by following Trump rather than the health guidelines, but that number is undoubtedly far greater that the 900 who perished on Guyana in November of 1978. For four decades now, Jim Jones has been considered the gold standard for murderous cult leaders who by strength of personality, perverse psychological ploys, violence and threats, was able to lure people into his cult, to Guyana and ultimately into his murderous plans. Tragically, it is now apparent that compared to the current occupant of the White House, Jim Jones was a piker.

Trump's Cult Followers

The shouts of “snowflake” by Trump supporters who were heading to the comparative warmth of the subway or the real warmth of a bar or restaurant at demonstrators who were braving the chilly December night to walk to downtown is an example of the kind of projection that is such a deep part of the cult of Trump. The irony of the moment was almost funny, but the larger pattern of a cult built around a faith in Trump’s ability to protect his supporters from change, whether in the form of racial equality, scientific reality or an evolving culture calling anybody a snowflake was hard to miss. Trump supporters are afraid of understanding, or even hearing about, American history with more nuance than they learned in middle school, yet they hurl the odd epithet “snowflake” at their opponents.