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Jim Jones

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  • that guy in AZ
    11-12-2018 09:00:26 PM
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    Jim Jones died in Guyana on November 18, 1978. Today, there is a cult leader in America who is far more dangerous than Jim Jones was.

    His name is Donald Trump:

    https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2018/11/forty-years-later-history-repeats-itself.html

  • Schmidt
    11-13-2018 07:23:59 AM
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    Good article Arizona. You have drawn parallels between the psychotic behavior of Jim Jones and Donald Trump. Indeed the followers of both actors should be described as "cult like" although most of the Trump's 62 million supporters in the 2016 election are certainly not all cult followers. Many have just been duped by a master con artist, not unlike the politicians in San Francisco who elevated Jones in prominence.

    It is hard to understand the sway that authoritarian figureheads like Jones and Trump have over their rabid followers. Chris Carlsson writes in her essay on the topic: "In Julia Scheeres' well-researched book "A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown," she shows how years of Jones' authoritarian tactics had cowed most of his followers into confused and fearful obedience."

    "Confused and fearful obedience" appears to be prevalent in Republican circles now as they have adopted Trumpism as their party platform and fear going against Trump. Lindsay Graham is a good example.

    Psychologist Robert Altemeyer writes that "research indicates that a bed rock 20-25% of the adults in North America is highly vulnerable to a demagogue who would incite hatred of various minorities to gain power." And that 20-25 percent probably constitutes Trump's hard core base of followers who are capable of anything to protect their messiah. Matt Whitaker, our new attorney general, is likely one of them. That scares the shit out of me.

    Thanks for writing and sharing your essay.

  • Chet Ruminski
    11-13-2018 08:41:15 AM
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    Schmidt said:

    "And that 20-25 percent probably constitutes Trump's hard core base of followers who are capable of anything to protect their messiah"

    All the more reason for an exponential progressive tax code. There is no reason for a threat to this country coming a citizen that can undermine human rights by buying power.

  • Dutch
    11-13-2018 12:41:57 PM
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    Schmidt Wrote:

    Good article Arizona. You have drawn parallels between the psychotic behavior of Jim Jones and Donald Trump. Indeed the followers of both actors should be described as "cult like" although most of the Trump's 62 million supporters in the 2016 election are certainly not all cult followers. Many have just been duped by a master con artist, not unlike the politicians in San Francisco who elevated Jones in prominence.

    It is hard to understand the sway that authoritarian figureheads like Jones and Trump have over their rabid followers. Chris Carlsson writes in her essay on the topic: "In Julia Scheeres' well-researched book "A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown," she shows how years of Jones' authoritarian tactics had cowed most of his followers into confused and fearful obedience."

    "Confused and fearful obedience" appears to be prevalent in Republican circles now as they have adopted Trumpism as their party platform and fear going against Trump. Lindsay Graham is a good example.

    Psychologist Robert Altemeyer writes that "research indicates that a bed rock 20-25% of the adults in North America is highly vulnerable to a demagogue who would incite hatred of various minorities to gain power." And that 20-25 percent probably constitutes Trump's hard core base of followers who are capable of anything to protect their messiah. Matt Whitaker, our new attorney general, is likely one of them. That scares the shit out of me.

    Thanks for writing and sharing your essay.

    Yes good article Guy, of course I fully agree with Schmidt's comments; indeed an very weird country, the Trump "cult" may destroy this country.
  • that guy in AZ
    11-19-2018 01:23:40 PM
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    I'm not the only one who sees similarities between Jim Jones and Trump.

    The article, which was published in June of 2018, popped up on my news feed this motning:

    https://psmag.com/news/a-sociologist-explains-the-similarities-between-cults-and-trumps-gop?fbclid=IwAR1Lvby2K8WI5Xonh3lRBJOn_PbBLlHbhogLqKz8dDn_LrPpP3lm0UqKkOU

  • that guy in AZ
    11-18-2019 10:08:49 AM
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    I started a thread on this topic last year, but was reminded of the connection again this morning when The History Channel - This Day in History reminded me that it was on this day in 1978 that the mass suicide occurred.

    The Republicans who are defending Trump during the impeachment process (especially Jim Jordan) are perfect examples of the kind of people that belong to Trump's cult.

  • that guy in AZ
    01-16-2021 11 hrs
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    "It has become a cult’: Steadfast Republican and former Oklahoma Congressman Mickey Edwards has left the GOP and ‘will not be going back’

    He was national chairman of the American Conservative Union. He was one of the three founding trustees of the Heritage Foundation. In 1977, he flipped the seat in Oklahoma, becoming the state’s first Republican elected to Congress in half a century.

    And now, Mickey Edwards, 83, has left the Republican party. He said he “will not be going back.”

    In an essay published in opinion website The Bulwark, Edwards bids his party goodbye, and scathingly so. But not before outlining his 64-year commitment to the GOP: How he climbed the ranks within the party, eventually serving eight terms in Congress. How he helped charge a “national movement” that led to Ronald Reagan’s presidential victory in 1980. He talked about some of his earliest memories with the party, like the day he registered to vote as a Republican.

    https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/16/nation/it-has-become-cult-steadfast-republican-former-oklahoma-congressman-mickey-edwards-has-left-gop-will-not-be-going-back/

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