Long time conservative columnist and commentator George Will quit the Republican Party because as he has said it has become a cult. As we all know, cults are dangerous and essentially evil by their very definition. By now, sadly, many of us have or had friends who have become victims of the newest and most insidious cult of them all, ‘The Cult of Trump.’ These cult members have again risen their ugly faces from the gutter of depravity and are protesting our government’s various social distancing protocols during this unprecedented Covid-19 world-wide pandemic.

I thought that the world was and still is rockin’ in the same old boat, as it relates to this pandemic. That was until Trump summoned his followers to engage in extremely dangerous acts of stupidity. In doing so these protesters are endangering their own lives and others with this wanton reckless behavior. If this trend continues there is no telling where it will lead, but by all indications it could lead to mass suicide. If that isn’t bad enough, they will no doubt kill other innocent, non-cult members as well.

These acts represent a level of selfishness that is astronomical in its scope. Make no mistake, these are the same people who carried torches in Charlottesville in the summer of 2017. They are made up of science deniers who also turn a blind eye towards history. How many of these cretins believe the world is flat and that the sun still revolves around the earth? Many are likely ‘Young Earth Creationists’ (YEC). Yep, that’s a thing, you can look it up. These people believe that the earth is less than 10,000 years old. They are also don’t believe in global warming and love “beautiful, clean” coal. In short, if it involves science, they don’t want any part of it. Like their cult leader, who continues to be the laughing stock of the entire world, they don’t want anything to do with history either.

Why do I use the term cult? I think after three plus years editorializing on this subject, that is now the only way to explain how so many Americans can be so loyal to such a charlatan.

Voting against one’s own self-interest has been standard with the Republican Party since Reagan’s near total destruction of the middle class. Nothing new here, but the Messianic spell cast on a large minority of Americans is very reminiscent of a cult leader. Pick any of them…L. Ron Hubbard, David Koresh, Charles Manson, Marshal Applewhite and Jim Jones come immediately to mind. There are others of course. I urge you to make a cursory study of these dark chapters in our history and I believe that you will come to the same conclusion as I did. The parallels between these various cults and the current Trump cult are remarkable and frightening.

Before anyone can get to the point of engaging in a murder-suicide scheme some corporate style, ego-maniacal branding usually takes place. It is where you get place names Like “The Branch Davidian Compound”, “Jonestown” or “Trump Tower.”

You have a tightly wound thread of religiosity that runs through the infected population of these cults, like the Manson Family for instance. Charles Manson cites the writings of L. Ron Hubbard as an influence. Manson also identified himself as a Satanist. The most loyal members of the Trump cult are evangelicals to begin with, so worshiping at the altar of capitalism, racism and nationalism isn’t much of a stretch.

Like Trump, many of the world’s most infamous cult leaders used their celebrity status to engage in sexual hedonism of exotic proportions. Jim Jones being a great example of this. However, none have been accused of rape 27 times and have never been credibly accused of having Russian teenaged prostitutes urinate on them. None of these ever actually married a porn star and cheated on her with another, more famous porn star. So, Trump is the hands down champion in this arena as well.

If you can get people to commit mass suicide as a way of showing loyalty, then the brain washing is complete. The recent protests are just the latest example of this.

One of the first protests that took place was less than two miles from where I am writing this in my hometown of Huntington Beach. The word went out via talk radio as to where and when the suicide squad was to meet. Despite this widely reported spectacle of stupidity, it was much ado about nothing. An eyewitness told me the protest didn’t last long and had fewer than 100 people. Every one of the dozens of photographs that have been in circulation since this incident, bear this out. Those people came from all over Southern California, which has a population of 20 million people. So, this protest which was national news and reported all over the country, was in fact blown entirely out of proportion.

Larger protests, by all accounts, have taken place up and down the Southern California coast including our closest neighbor to the south, Newport Beach. What these affluent communities all have in common with the protests that they are hosting is, like the protesters themselves, they are almost 100% white. This of course means that the local police departments have not and likely will not do a damn thing to break up these small conventions of village idiots.

It is white privilege on parade. The other thing so disturbing on several levels is the lack of masks being worn. There were more masks being worn in the summer of 2017 when white supremacists were protesting the removal of civil war era statues in public areas. They wore masks for the same reason the KKK wore hoods. Now, they don’t feel that is necessary. They know that law enforcement is on their side. They also know that there will be no counter protesters…obviously. So, their killing spree went on unabated here in SoCal, as it did elsewhere in the country. Every single offensive, white power symbol was on full display, swastikas, MAGA hats, confederate flags…you name it, it was all there.

In some cities the cult members even brandished automatic weapons at the behest of their leader who Tweeted (in all caps) to exercise their 2^nd amendment rights. In 1978, U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan and members of his entourage were gunned down in cold blood by cult members while trying to flee the Jonestown compound in Guyana. Will we be next? 

Can anyone honestly imagine a scenario where an African-American group of gun wielding protesters would not be met with violence by the cops?

There are people who have participated in these protests who have already died from the corona virus. Those numbers will rise before this piece will be published. Like the people who gave the cyanide laced Kool-Aid to their children as part of their murder-suicide ritual, the selfishness of the Trump cult members is almost unimaginable.

Sure, we all want to get back to work. Sure, we want to go shopping and feed the beast of Capitalism. Sure, we all want to go to hear music in a live setting, eat at our favorite restaurant or just go to a ballgame. Sure, we just want to go to the beach or the park. Mostly, we just want to hug our friends and family from whom we are physically estranged at the moment. People like myself, who are not cult members, want to shed this virtual existence very badly as well.

I am proud to announce that despite the right-wing media circus and their master of ceremonies, Trump, that an overwhelming majority of my fellow Californians to the tune of 75.1% said they are willing to shelter in place for as long as it takes. Only 11% of Californians support the government protesters.

Yet on May 1^st a much larger Trump/white supremist rally posing as a protest of California Governor Newsom’s closing the beaches in Orange County 24 hours earlier, demonstrated an even more intense level of stupidity. Flexing their pasty muscles and successfully daring not to be arrested or dispersed by the police, the 100% white group with the same offensive signage gathered at the foot of the Huntington Beach pier. The police were ready as they listen to the same talk radio programs and share the same racist social media sites. Their only interest seemed to be to keep the traffic moving on the Pacific Coast Highway which bisected the rally.

If you were one of the 25% of registered voters who voted for Trump in 2016, by now you should have realized you were sold a bill of goods. Maybe you enjoy his daily briefing where his savaging of the English language, lack of knowledge and general ineptitude is so profound that it is almost laughable...almost. I guess I need to develop a better sense of humor because I never found any of this even remotely amusing. However, if you still support this cult leader during his phenomenally inept handling of this pandemic then you have already drunk the Kool-Aid. Trust me, that’s not funny.

- David Mac