A Cult

 A CULT

There comes a time when one is required to call something by its correct name.  A cult following, according to Wikipedia, is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work.  Trumpdom has now become a cult.  People will drive hundreds of miles and sleep in their cars overnight to see Trump in person.

They have taken as their guide the Deadheads, the fans of the Grateful Dead, who follow the band from venue to venue.  They attend the live performances of the band wherever.  The people of Trumpdom have taken on this same aura of cultness.  They go for the show; they go for the performance; they're hooked on the presentation.  They drive hundreds of miles, they sleep in their cars, they buy and wear Trump paraphernalia - - hats and what not - - and always the videos and the selfies.  It's a real scene; they have bought in. 

But once a cult, always a cult; it cannot transform itself into another form; the fans will not allow it.  They have to have the show.   Without the show, the followers will disappear - - no show, no fans.

Trump no longer has a choice, he must give them what they want.  And giving them what they want is profitable, just ask the Grateful Dead.  It is and always has been a profitable enterprise to be a cult leader and Trump understands this very well. 

Trump knows this is where the money is:  Trump Land - - a vision made to fit whatever idea of America one might have.  There is no coherence, no ideological thread, no actual vision of the future, simply a rant of unfulfillment, of some unarticulated need for something not present.  Trump's fan club can give you no rational basis for their adoration; just as the Deadheads can give you no rational basis why they will follow the Grateful Dead around the country other than to possibly gain some semblance of comaraderie with other Deadheads.

It is an interesting idea though, to have a president as cult leader with cult followers who will fulfill the will of the cult leader's every whim.  Just think, a president as cult leader!  Don't visions of Jamestown or Waco come to mind when you think it: they do for me.  That should give a person some hesitation in welcoming such a thing, but alas, I may be overwhelmed with the excitement of it all.

Nevertheless, it is an interesting spectacle.  Usually the cult and cult followers are some small, fringe group of people you don't know and have never heard of  who are following some Yahoo you also don't know and have never heard of.  Not this time.  It's major - - serious stuff; one that we ought to pay attention to and see where it lands.  

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo