Speaker 1: Speaking of cults, right wing commentator Ana Perez says she'd
be willing to take a bullet for Trump and that Trump would be willing to take
a bullet for her. This is interesting on a few different levels. Let's take a listen to it.
Speaker 3: Something that really kind of inspired me before I did the show was hearing Ryan what
Ryan said in the episode he did today. Right before this, he said I would take a bullet for
President Trump. And when he said that, I first, I was a little taken aback. I was like, all right,
Ryan, that's a little that's a little much. But then I thought about it for a split second,
and then I realized, no, it's not. You know why? Because President Trump would
take a bullet for me. President Trump is taking a bullet for me. President Trump
is prepared to take a bullet for all of us. Speaker 1: And of course, that is not true.
So let's talk about a couple of different things here. First of all, it's funny to me
that these Trump supporters still think Trump cares about them. It's it's so abundantly
apparent now beyond any question that Trump does not like his supporters. Trump has spent
his entire life as a rich guy from New York City trying to stay away from folks that are like the
vast majority of those who support him. That's version of Trump would not take a bullet for
anyone. Remember when Trump said he would have run into the building where there was a shooter? No,
he would not. So. So they are wrongly assessing that Trump cares about them. But this is a great
reminder about cult like traits. You've got your leader who demands complete loyalty and
obedience from their followers. Trump fits that description perfectly. During the presidency,
since leaving office, he demands every follower must always remain loyal. Above all else,
he'll use fear. He'll use intimidation to keep them in line. And when they go off script,
Trump instantly abandons them. Another sign of a cult is using propaganda techniques to manipulate
your followers. And again, Trump does it. He lies all the time to his followers and says,
Don't believe what you're hearing and seeing. Simply believe what I tell you. And if anyone
criticizes me, you know they're lying and they're trying to deceive you and the followers by it. And
they go, Wow, this person criticized Trump. Let's go and attack that person. It's blind.
Cult behavior cults also do the US versus them thing. If you're not part of the group,
you're part of the enemy. You're either with us or against us. And this is something that
is super common with Trump supporters. If you disagree with them, you're demonized. You're fake
news. News Article Adversarial to Trump. Fake News Political view different than Trump's un-American,
Marxist, Communist. And it's a sort of extreme tribalism, extreme tribalism,
and it is very cult like. And then the other thing I think is important to mention
is that cults often will require members require. It'll just happen over time to kind of give up
their own identities and to conform to the beliefs and the practices and sometimes even
the physical appearance and the slang and the ideology, the physical, you know, the clothing,
etc. of the cult. And Trump supporters have shown that as well. And it's not just literally the red
MAGA hats. It's the adopting these irrational beliefs, embracing conspiracy theories simply
because this is what the group now believes, rejecting science threatening violence in defense
of their beliefs. So all of the warning signs are clear. This is a cult and a Perez embodies
that blind loyalty propaganda us versus them willingness to give up your own identity. And
we need to simply call it out to prevent others from falling in. I don't know that I can say Vanna
Perez. I really don't. But maybe we can prevent someone else from falling into this insanity