Longacre: What happens when Trump starts losing it?

A lot has been written about the nature of cults and mind control and all that goes into them (e.g., Steven Hassan’s “The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control” and “Combating Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults”). But I have found little about what happens when the cult leader starts to become diminished in the eyes of his followers.

Many commentators, including Robert Hubbell and Heather Cox Richardson, find evidence that Trump is in decline by comparing his public performances now to those only a few years ago. He has a growing tendency to slur his words, forget or confuse names, go off-script and become incoherent. There is even evidence that some of his rallygoers leave early out of boredom or simply stop going at all.

The main reason for rallies, for someone like Trump, is to provide a feedback loop to his megalomania. He is in constant need of adulation from adoring crowds. They get fed, in turn, by their belief that he alone understands and can fix their problems. So, what happens when Trump sees polls slipping, donors leaving and celebrity followers switching allegiance? How long can he delude himself into thinking that he is still a superstar?

Whether or not Trump ever gives in to reality, we need to ask ourselves how he plans to use his dwindling base to put him back in power in the short time remaining before any more of them see him for what he really is. All we can know for sure is that the only viable strategy to save our democracy is an overwhelmingly Democratic voter turnout up and down the ballot Nov. 5.

Frederick Longacre

Hockessin

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