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MAGA’s unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump—even in the face of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein—is a symptom of an “authoritarian mind control cult,” a world-renowned cult expert and former cult member said on The Daily Beast Podcast. Dr. Steven Hassan, an expert on cults and mind control and author of The Cult of Trump, told The Daily Beast Podcast that Trump, 79, has “hypnotized and indoctrinated” his followers into a belief system where he’s never held accountable—including when it comes to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. “What we’re facing right now is this massive estrangement where almost everyone I talk to says I have a family member or a friend who’s become MAGA, I don’t recognize them, they’ve completely changed their value systems and I try to argue with them and they won’t listen,” he added. Hassan became a member of the Unification Church in the 1970s. Dubbed “the Moonies,” the Christian-based group was led by the late Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. Hassan was groomed as a leader before escaping after a few years. The mental health counselor said Trumpism fits the bill of an “authoritarian mind control cult” which includes wielding power over members’ behavior, thoughts, emotions and the information they receive. It’s because of this complete and utter mind control, he said, that the president has been able to go back on his promise to release the so-called “Epstein files,” and remain relatively unscathed among his followers. Trump, who was close pals with Epstein, one of the most prolific sex offenders in U.S. history, signaled an intent to release the legal files from the Epstein sex abuse investigations on the campaign trail last year, despite his own long-term friendship with the billionaire pedophile. “I’d certainly take a look at it,” he said. “I’d be inclined to do the Epstein. I’d have no problem with it.” But the Trump administration sorely let down its own base in July when the FBI and DOJ announced there was no “client list,” contrary to an earlier statement by Attorney General Pam Bondi that it was “sitting on my desk.” “Trump doesn’t want the Epstein files to be discharged….that’s why Mike Johnson isn’t swearing in the 218th vote to discharge the Epstein files,” Hassan said, referring to the house speaker’s refusal to swear a newly elected Democratic congresswoman in after she promised to become a key vote in releasing the Epstein files. “Because the reality is the lie was that he was going to drain the swamp and reveal all of these trafficking pedophiles,” he added. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson rebuked such claims in a statement to the Daily Beast. “Hopefully this ‘doctor’ knows how to treat [Trump Derangement Syndrome] — he can start with himself," she said. But Hassan alleges that Trump is controlling the information his followers receive through MAGA-friendly social media, influencers and media outlets—similar to what he experienced with the Moonies. “I was constantly kept busy, I was never on vacation, I never had a day off—I was isolated from family and friends,” he said. “So I was in a bubble.” The expert said the way to combat such control is to amplify the voices of those who escaped it. “We should be amplifying their voices to say, it happened to me, I’m smart, I have two masters and a PhD but they got me because I was arrogant and I didn’t think I could be brainwashed,” he said. “But there’s life after cult and that we need to be having a vision of planetary survival.”
