A Desert
My cousin called me earlier today, saying, “You won't believe it!” A friend he has known for many decades, who had been a maga cult member since 2016, had called him to say, “Just so you know, I fucking hate trump now.” I know his friend Gene casually, at best. He is a Vietnam combat veteran, an often bitter, angry fellow who felt his country had betrayed him since he returned from the war. My cousin has found it odd that he would identify with the bone-spurred felon.
Now, a person could think that a change of heart of one old man is insignificant in the larger scheme of things. Still others might instead think back to the teachings of the great Cesar Chavez ….. that we make change one person at a time. And now, of course, is exactly that time. As Malcolm X noted, we should give people room to change. And there are ways in which we can assist some – though not all – cult members to come back to reality, if we are patient.
Not everyone is a therapist sitting in an office, meeting with extended family, neighbors, or co-workers who suffer from the shared delusion of maga. That is actually a good thing, because in a healthy society, people benefit from getting feedback from family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers when they begin to obsess on conspiracy theories and superstitions that pose stumbling blocks to rational thinking. Yet we are a deeply troubled nation at this time, where unhealthy numbers of individuals have tacitly agreed to believe outrageous lies. Thus the question: how does one end such agreements?
I like to use models, and so I have shared one with my cousin and others that I find helpful. I call it the Crockett Model, as it was used by a WW2 combat veteran in 1969 – 1970. The son of a minister who found meaning as a prospector named Paul Crockett, who while in the desert encountered individuals who wanted to break away from a cult that self-identified as “the Family.” Perhaps you have heard of this cult, which was ruled by a sociopath with an uncanny number of personality features shared by the current president.
At this point, I will add a bit of speculation on my part. I recognize that coming from a religious upbringing, Crockett was aware of the tactics of false leaders. But I also suspect that somewhere along the line, he might have come to understand the tactics of pimps. Because I haven't discussed this with co-workers – I've been retired for over two decades – I mention it here, to co-workers in Democratic Party political activism.
The desert cult leader had been a pimp. Jeffrey Epstein was a pimp. And the fiendish felon has been pimping, non-flesh at the very least, all of his adult life. His tactics are not that different. The “I am the only one who can protect you” bit is merely the tip of the ice cube. The role that violence, including that which is implied, is also common ground shared by cult leaders.
Out in the desert, Crockett spoke to the young adults about the implied agreement they had made in becoming members of “the Family.” It goes further than group identity, when one is doing a significantly large dose of LSD and the leader asks, “Will you die for me?” – becoming an expressed agreement. (I suspect that Crockett was aware that the death of self involved in being “born again” was distinct from the desert group's understanding. Heck, it is different than what most christian churches grasp. But alone in the desert, Crockett had studied philosophy and theology while not prospecting, which suggests the biblical meaning of the desert.)
Slowly but surely, Crockett allowed the young adults to describe the agreements they made in becoming a member of the cult. Also, the agreements – or promises – that were made to them, either tacitly or expressly. And he encouraged them to identify the large space between the two, as their well-being was not being provided for. This included their recognize that this included the cult leader's replacing “all you need is love” with increasingly frequent outbursts that put their physical and psychological safety at risk.
Now, my cousin used the same tactics that I do when speaking with a person we have long known, who became a maga cult member. They, too, had to make agreements to become a member – those these are often internal agreements that spill over into the group identity. They vote for the felon, they attended his rallies, they not only bought those silly hats, they wear them in public. They gang up on others both in person and on the internet who are not in their cult. And they agree to accept their leader's lies as gospel truth, despite being aware they are being lied to about some things. Yet they were convinced that his primary focus was their well-being.
So, instead of engaging in conversations about topics that are distant from their day-to-day life, I always focus on their lives. Simple things, such as the price of groceries, or medical coverage for them and their extended families. About the Epstein files that were promised to be fully exposed. About the cost of their children's college education and job opportunities. And are their children able to buy a house.
It takes patience and time. It requires not saying they have been fooled by a sociopath-in-chief. Or that they are wrong, despite the sad fact that they are. Deprogramming cult members can only be accomplished successfully by helping them come to their own conclusions, based upon the conditions they are experiencing.
I know that many good people here tend to think “fuck them” when it comes to maga. I would be lying if I said that I find very many that I would try to assist in coming back to reality. Or that there are not some that I delight in exposing their ignorance in debate. At very best, I am sad and weakly human, like everyone else. But I do realize that even after the 2026 and 2028 elections, when we regain the power of majority in government, that we still will live in the same towns and cities as these people.
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