A day after Cassidy Hutchinson made her media sweep touting her new book, Enough; I have had enough. First, we should applaud Ms. Hutchinson for her testimony last May during the hearings led by Congressperson Benny Thompson (D-MS). At significant financial and, as it turns out, great personal risk, Hutchinson regaled us with revelation after revelation. Composed and displaying the shaky confidence of a then-25-year-old, Ms. Hutchinson came off as truthful and sincere in her fears for American democracy. She continued to convey that fear in at least four interviews since Monday. At some point, book tours become repetitive. Two interviews were revealing, one with the ABC program The View and the other with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Not that she said anything more significant than the others, but Whoopi Goldberg and Jake Tapper brought up the specter of Trump followers being in a cult. Over the din of the other women peppering Ms. Hutchinson with questions, the comment from Whoopi quelled the noise and, for the first time, challenged the inner workings of not only Hutchinson but Trump supporters. Explaining her loyalty to Donald Trump after a question from co-host Sunny Hostin, she used some of the same reasoning as others in his administration, viewing herself as a guardrail hoping to appear sane in an insane world. That is when Ms. Goldberg queried, “Did you not realize you were in a cult?” After mild applause and uncomfortable laughter, another panelist, Alyssa Farah Griffin, reiterated the comment from Hutchinson about adoring the former President.
Later that evening, Jake Tapper also characterized the loyalty to Trump as cultish. The difference was Goldberg let the question marinate throughout the panel and instinctively refused to throw a lifeline. She made Ms. Hutchinson accept the critique and be more introspective about her answer, thereby letting the audience inside Hutchinson’s mind. After a similar comment about Hutchinson and Trump’s followers exhibiting cult-like behavior, Tapper immediately retrenched and amended his statement over Ms. Hutchinson—who, now prepared for the analogy, objected. In contrast to Goldberg, Tapper all but apologized for bringing the Trump followers into any talk about cults. After talking about the “push-pull” of being in the “Trump world,” Hutchinson challenged Tapper, “We can sit here and debate whether the MAGA movement is a cult,” standing up to his assertion. No, no, interrupted Tapper, “I don’t think it is—I don’t think it is, but the way you describe it sounds like it.”
Hutchinson repeatedly admitted in her View interview that she was overcome by the personality of Donald Trump, as was Alyssa Farah Griffin, both using the word “adored” as reasons for their misguided loyalty to Mr. Trump. If one looks up the word adore according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it means to worship or honor as a deity or as divine. Most of us have a favorite poem, song, or sonnet using the word adore with a romantic slant, which I assume did not apply to their working relationship with Mr. Trump. Most disturbing is when talking about Mr. Trump, the phrase ‘Trump world’ is bandied about like televangelists talking about Jesus. We have seen many cult movements in the 20th century, and most ended in disaster. The fortunes of America are at stake this time, and letting America fall into the hands of a man bent on retribution and revenge may end in a big batch of Flavor-aid for the America we know and love—bottoms up.
Vote Against Guns