The Cult of Trump book review

This post is a review of the book The Cult of Trump by cult expert Steve Hassan. Steve Hassan is in my opinion one of the top cult experts in the world today. He has a unique education on the subject and a very extensive and impressive resume of both education and professional experience.

Here is a part of it from his website Freedom of Mind.

Education

• M.Ed., Counseling Psychology, Cambridge College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1985
• Licensed Mental Health Counselor(LMHC) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1992
• Certified as a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC) by the National Board for Certified Counselors, 2003
• Pursuing a Doctorate at Fielding Graduate University’s School of Leadership Studies – in the Organizational Development and Change (ODC) Ph.D. program, 2017 – current

Additional Education

● Training in Strategic and Structural Family Therapy
● Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
● Dissociative Disorders
● Phobia and Panic Disorders
● Attachment Pathology
● American Psychological Association
● New England Society of Clinical Hypnosis
● International Academy of Law and Mental Health Congress
● International Society of Hypnosis workshops and conferences
● American Society for Clinical Hypnosis conferences
● National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
● Ericksonian Hypnosis and Psychotherapy workshops and conferences
● Neuro-Linguistic Programming extensive training (NLP) 1980-1981

Professional Licenses and Affiliations

● Nationally Certified Counselor (NBCC) # 43226
● Member of Program in Psychiatry and the Law
● President of Freedom from Undue Influence, a division of the non-profit Dare Association, Inc.
● New England Complex Systems Institute – Affiliate
● Open Minds Foundation, Advisory Board Member
● Child-Friendly Faith Project, Advisory Board Member
● Against Violent Extremism (AVE) – member
● The American Counseling Association- member
● Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association- member
● American Society for Clinical Hypnosis- member
● New England Society of Clinical Hypnosis (NESCH)- member
● International Society of Hypnosis (ISH), member
● Fox Valley Technical College- consultant/ instructor
● International Cultic Studies Association- member
● Co-Developer of Ending the Game Curriculum – designed to educate and empower commercial sex trafficking victims.
● Newton, MA Crime Prevention Commission Advisory Council Member

Steve Hassan has decades of experience in both studying cults and helping people to leave cults, to rebuild their lives, to heal from the emotional and psychological damage cults inflict and to understand what happened to them while in cults.

I am grateful to have discovered his work and learned from him. I myself was in the Scientology cult for twenty five years and extremely fortunate to find his book Freedom of Mind when I left Scientology. His book, YouTube videos and numerous articles have been a tremendous help in my efforts at recovery and self education.

I have been studying cults and the necessary related topics of cognitive science, social psychology, cognitive dissonance theory, psychology, logical fallacies, rhetoric, propaganda analysis, critical thinking, abusive relationships, mass movements, behavioral economics, and human predators and taken on over fifty books in my own efforts to understand cults and to be free from decades of Scientology membership and hundreds, probably thousands, of hours of indoctrination.

I have seen the tremendous challenge that exists in presenting information on cults because the general public usually needs to be introduced to dozens of concepts from many subjects to get past the tremendous ignorance we usually start out with about cults. Much of folk psychology and media portrayals are extremely inaccurate regarding cults. 

To tell people about cults with any depth and accuracy you need to touch base on a lot of ideas, and present good evidence to support them because they are new and unusual ways to look at things very often. You also have to keep cult members and ex members in mind, because very often they turn to these books and may have very little education, so a book requiring a master's degree in psychology or social psychology or years of studying critical thinking or influence is going to be of no use. It will just look like incomprehensible technobabble. Not very helpful for someone trying to understand a cult who is in dire need of immediate direction.

Steve Hassan has achieved the almost miraculous feat of combining knowledge about cult methods of influence, particular examples to help make it easy to understand,  and explained many concepts necessary to really get what cults are, what they do and how they do it. He uses simply and clear language so you don't need an advanced degree or to try to cobble together a substitute to fully get what he is saying.

It is a rare and remarkable achievement. His book can be bought by anyone who has even a high school level education and whether you were in a cult or not you can get it, really grasp his ideas, and know a tremendous amount about cults after reading it. He has found the relevant information and presented it.

If his book just covered cults in general and not our current political situation it would be one of the absolute best books available on the subject but fortunately for us, he did the hard work of finding the facts and laying them out in a simple and clear way so we can see what circumstances and events got us to where we are. He names names and shows what individuals and groups have been involved in promoting and supporting Trump. He gives their history so we can see what kinds of cultic traits or other qualities these groups have that are significant to understanding both them and why they support Trump. 

He lays out the qualities of cult leaders and members so we can see what we have in Trump, his supporters, and his allies and what all of their relationships are like with each other.

Whether you love Trump, hate Trump or don't know what to think about him I recommend you read this book. I only recommend it to people that Trump and his presidency can effect, that includes everyone living on earth.

The act of laying out the foundation of cultic studies and tying it to our contemporary situation with many examples for consideration and comparison makes this perhaps the most important book on cults available today. It deals with the reality we have to face better than any other book I have seen. 

You are likely to find information in this book that no other would provide at a time when it is vitally important and fills gaps often left by the media as they don't explore the issues they don't understand with depth. 

If you care about America or the future of the world, this book  is packed with probably the thing I have referred to the most in describing it: understanding. Understanding of what cults are and how they operate. Understanding of who Trump is and how he has lived. Understanding of the moment we are in and what got us here. 

I must give The Cult of Trump by Steven Hassan my highest possible recommendation.