Lifton notes that cults are characterized by pedophilia and sexual abuse, and the language of the cult leader is rooted in verbal confusion.

In Hedges' view, all of this applies very directly to Trump and his MAGA cult.

#Trump #MAGA #cult #narcissism #disinformation #SexualAbuse #pedophilia
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@JuliusGoat

"We seem to be infected by a spiritual, moral, and societal flat-eartherism; a cultural death of discernment taking place in matters of credibility and evidence"

Or, as George Orwell put it:

"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

This is what happens when psychopaths rule: Welcome to the #pathocracy, where everyone must pretend that reality is what Dear Leader say it is.

#narcissism

@dkmackinnon

Trump is a narcissistic psychopath who is driven to dominate. He gets off on us losing.

"It’s a very aggressive tactic by the United States," said international trade lawyer William Pellerin. "This really reinforces the approach that we’ve seen from the United States for a while now, which is simply: We win if you lose."

#cdnpoli #Canada #trade #narcissism

@remixtures

"Musk is aware that his right-wing, white-nationalist politics bring forth only chaos and immiseration for vast swaths of the public. His answer to this is to close ranks. To those he sees as worthy of life, he offers what the authors call “sovereignty as a service”...electric vehicles built to insulate the consumer from geopolitical oil shocks, and on the national level with Starlink’s satellites and SpaceX’s rockets. At his core, Musk is a survivalist"

#narcissism #pathocracy

Phelan recently suggested to #Trump that the #Navy might have to rely on European shipyards to deliver the #battleships on the ambitious timeline Trump was demanding, senior #military & administration officials said.

Trump rejected the suggestion.

In his December news conference, announcing the battleships, Trump had vowed that the vessels—“the largest battleship in the history of the world ever built”—would be made in the US with US steel.

#kakistocracy #GovernmentSpending #narcissism

In #Trump’s [delusional] imagination the new warship would be massive, weighing as much as 40,000 tons, & would be packed with new high-tech weapons, like lasers, hypersonic missiles & electric rail guns, most of which are still in development & years from being deployed.

In recent weeks, it had become clear to Phelan that the #Navy & the #US shipbuilding industry did not have the ability to deliver on Trump’s vision.

#MilitaryReadiness #kakistocracy #GovernmentSpending #narcissism

“The ship’s purported characteristics are so extraordinary that the announcement will surely spark immense discussion,” wrote Mark F. Cancian, an expert on #military budgeting with CSIS. “However, there is little need for said discussion because this ship will never sail.”

The ship would take “years to design,” Cancian noted. “A future administration will cancel the program before the first ship hits the water.”

#MilitaryReadiness #Trump #kakistocracy #Navy #GovernmentSpending #narcissism