Is the Trump cult waning? That’s a question I’m often asked these days when I reveal my interest in American politics. But it’s always a good idea first to examine the question. Is “cult” an appropriate term to use regarding President Trump and the Republican Party?
According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, a cult is “a system of religious devotion directed towards a particular figure or object”. Although that definition doesn’t entirely fit with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement in America, it comes near enough to it that, at the very most, the only amendment I’d think of making to the question would be to ask: “Is the Trump ‘cult’ waning?”
Americans have, for decades, put their presidents on a pedestal rarely afforded to British prime ministers, or even monarchs. But the grandiose building programmes around Washington DC (the lavish White House ballroom, and the triumphal arch), the renaming of buildings and the hanging of oversized pictures of Trump outside federal government buildings, look more Soviet-era Moscow than quintessential America. Mike Evans, an original member of President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board, told The Washington Post some years ago that Trump “used [evangelicals] to win the White House and then turned Christians into cult members glorifying Donald Trump like he was an idol.”[1]
Prayer in schools?
When I attended state schools in Derby from the mid-1950s to the late-1960s, every school day began with an act …