Cult Behavior In Politics: What Is A ‘Cult?’

Cult is a word that gets thrown around a lot in modern political conversations. MAGA is said to be a cult, Harris supporters are said to be a cult (almost entirely by MAGA folk) it’s getting to the point that any strongly held belief you don’t agree with is a cult, which is a shame; cults are very real, often dangerous things and there’s an easy way to determine if a group is a cult, which should put these arguments to rest.

Personally, when determining if a belief is cult-like, I use the BITE model. BITE stands for: 

• Behavioral control– “regulate and dominate their members’ actions and behaviors through strict rules, rewards, and punishments, limiting individual autonomy.”
• Information control– “control information flow through censorship and propaganda, restricting members’ access to outside perspectives.”
• Thought control– “Focuses on psychological techniques used by such groups to shape beliefs and attitudes, suppressing critical thinking and promoting conformity.”
• Emotional control– “how manipulative organizations manipulate emotions, fostering dependency and loyalty through love-bombing, guilt, and fear-based indoctrination.”

There are a lot of accusations, mostly thrown around by right-leaning media, that claim Democrats are a cult.

There are even more accusations thrown from both the Democrat and Republican sides of the aisle that MAGA is a cult.

In both instances, there is a case to be made, however, the presence of things like The Bulwark. Republican Voters Against Trump and other organizations (not to mention a distinct lack of “Democratic voters for MAGA” groups) makes a strong case for one side having an authoritarian control problem and one decidedly not. To be clear, cults organizationally are insular, they don’t build alliances. The pro-democracy movement between democrats and non-MAGA republicans which sees people with wildly disparate viewpoints pulling together puts the cult status of the left in serious doubt.

If only MAGA could say the same.

Author Bio

John Prager

The grumpy academic Prager, John has been politically aware since early childhood. He writes about politics through the lens of the soft sciences. His least favorite topic to write about is himself.