391: Steven Hassan on the Cult of Trump
The Lincoln Project
The Lincoln Project
4.6 • 9.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 September 2024
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rick talks to cult expert Steven Hassan about the dynamics of cult behavior, with a focus on Donald Trump’s powerful hold over his supporters. Hassan shares his insights on how Trump uses fear, loyalty, and manipulation to maintain control, drawing parallels to cult tactics he’s seen in his personal experiences. They discuss the intersection of religion, politics, and media, emphasizing the need to understand these influences in order to help Trump supporters break free and think critically.
Follow Steven Hassan on X @CultExpert, subscribe to his Substack at stevenhassan.substack.com, and buy his book “The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control” at fine bookstores everywhere.
Follow Rick Wilson at @TheRickWilson on X and subscribe to his Substack at therickwilson.substack.com.
Join the fight with Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and follow us on X at @ProjectLincoln.
And please subscribe, rate and review this podcast, thank you!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You know, I love the Lincoln Project, and I follow you on social media, and I just think your insights are so important for people. |
| 0:10.2 | Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battlehardt. |
| 0:16.3 | There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is the United States of America. |
| 0:24.9 | Good night and good luck. |
| 0:26.8 | Hey, folks, I'm Rick Wilson, and welcome back to the Lincoln Project podcast. Our guest today is Stephen |
| 0:31.6 | Hassan. Stephen is the expert on cults and has written one of the definitive books, which is about to be re-released |
| 0:38.8 | for the moment we're in. It is called the cult of Trump. A leading cult expert explains how |
| 0:43.8 | the president uses mind control. Stephen, welcome back to the Lincoln Project. I am so |
| 0:48.5 | grateful you're here with us today. For folks who are not familiar with your background, |
| 0:53.4 | first off, let's launch right into that. |
| 0:55.3 | Tell us and tell the audience your background and your perspective on cults and how Donald Trump fits into the expertise that you've developed over a lifetime. |
| 1:05.6 | Yeah, thanks, Rick, so much. |
| 1:08.3 | You know, all I can say is when I was 19 years old and a college student at Queens |
| 1:14.6 | College, and I should say I grew up 1.3 miles from Donald Trump's childhood home and |
| 1:20.5 | flushing Queens, New York. So I've known Donald Trump my whole life. But for me, I got deceptively recruited after my girlfriend dumped me into |
| 1:30.1 | a front group of the Moonies and became right-wing radicalized to the point where I was sitting |
| 1:37.2 | in leadership meetings with Sun Myung Moon, and he was saying that democracy is satanic. God wants |
| 1:43.9 | us to take over the government and |
| 1:45.9 | install a theocracy. All the things we're hearing now from the Christian nationalist extremists |
| 1:53.0 | and New Apostolic Reformation has been slow burn for 50 years. And I'm sitting here as a former cult member who experienced it firsthand. |
| 2:05.7 | I'm not speaking down to people who are in the cult of Trump. I'm saying, hey, look at the big |
| 2:11.9 | picture. And it was learning about Chinese communist brainwashing that helped me start to reality tests. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lincoln Project, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Lincoln Project and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.