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.