If you have your own story of being in a cult or a high control group, or if you've had an experience with manipulation or abuse of power you'd like to share, leave us a message on our hotline number at 513-900-2955.

Or shoot us an email at TrustMePod at gmail.com.

Trust me. Do you trust me?

Trust me. I'm like a smart person. I've never lied to you. I never have lied.

If you think that one person has all the answers, don't!

Welcome to TrustMe, the podcast about cult, extreme belief, and the abuse of power from two tyrants who've actually experienced it. I'm Lola Blonk.

And I'm Megan Elizabeth.

Today, fittingly, our guest is friend of the show Jonas Bell-Pashed, who is one of the executive producers of the new Netflix documentary series How to Become a Tyrant.

It's narrated by Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones fame. It is so good.

He's going to talk to us about tyrants and dictators that they discuss on the show from Hitler to Stalin to Edie Amin to Saddam Hussein, and some of the more interesting things he learned about dictators and about the patterns that he's seen among them in the process of making the show.

We'll discuss the parallels between tyrants and cult leaders, the ways the dictators rise to power by praying on a society's actual want and needs, and the red flags we should all be on the lookout for.

I've known Jonas for so many years, and we, like, just never have really talked that much. This is probably the most in-depth conversation I've ever had with him, because I just know him kind of socially, you know.

And it was very, very enlightening. He knows lots of interesting things. It turns out.

Yeah, he's great. He's so knowledgeable about everything, and especially fashion. Every time I go out, I run into him, and I get a masterclass on fashion.

I was going to say he was always the guy who, like, knew about fashion was very sharply dressed, but turns out he knows more than fashion.

I love you, Jonas.

All right. Well, before we talk to him, Megan, would you like to tell me what the cultist thing that's happened to you this week was?

Oh, sure.

You know, it's a little real right now. It's a little scary because it's still happening, but essentially I'm in a band that's like a joke.

It's a joke band where we make joke songs.

And I've been having like everything. I'm not one of those people who's like, everything's politically incorrect these days.

And I hate it, but everything is just like not funny right now, you know, like everything's a hot button topic.

...