Scientology has finally achieved “safepointing” the US government. It has been a dream for decades and the closest they have ever come in the past is getting John Travolta and Tom Cruise to canvass the State Dept to condemn Germany for “discriminating” against scientology in their country.
With the election of Donald Trump, two high profile scientologists, Grant Cardone and Trish Duggan now have direct access to the President of the US. And he will dictate any actions of the Department of Justice — his Attorney General will be a lackey no matter who it is. If he tells them to jump they will jump — or be replaced with someone who will jump.
Those who have shown loyalty to Trump are not forgotten or ignored.
Miscavige is no doubt dancing in the halls. I’m certain he will be planning to try to utilize this for positive gain beyond just protection from the DOJ.
Ugh…
In Comments, I see exchanges concerning the overt relationship between Grant & Elena Cardone and Donald Trump.
Two things I observed during the last few years (when Trump was not in office) are 1) Trump was a revered Interview Guest on-stage with Grant at one of Cardone’s massive “10X” summits; and 2) the Cardone’s initiated a “Go Fund Me” campaign to pay for Trump’s legal bills.
This second one was so odd. Those of us Previous-Ins know the credo around “No charity!” If you reward a downstatistic, you only will engender a further decline.
Also, both the Cardone and Trump households tout that they are billionaires. The Go Fund Me platform is typically employed by individuals with limited or no resources to underwrite their documentary film, produce a CD of their music, or pay off medical debt. I found it be AN OUTPOINT of magnitude that a billionaire household was orchestrating a Go Fund Me campaign for a fellow billionaire household.
This tact begs the question…. Why don’t the handful of billionaire households who endorse Trump simply come together (quietly) and write him a check? Or better yet why doesn’t the self-proclaimed Upstat Trump (quietly) (and efficiently) pay his own bills?
There is LRH financial policy on a person addressing their own obligations, and PTSness or “being a magnet for trouble” is not an excuse. A justification perhaps but certainly no excuse. To not take responsibility for one’s own condition is assigning oneself the status of ‘Victim’ (complete effect) and a big No-No to anyone practicing Scientology.
Bringing me back to what an outpoint that Grant & Elena Cardone—two OT 8’s, right?—would seek to bypass Trump in this way. If they bypass Trump, wouldn’t that de facto put Trump in the condition of ‘Danger’? Who is the Div 5 Qual officer for Grant & Elena to guide their actions and make sure they are operating in a strictly pro-survival on-policy fashion? [Rhetorical question, of course.] Or I know… the Cardone’s must be employing, “Purpose is Senior to Policy,” the refrain oft heard from IAS fundraisers to get you to dismiss Standard Finance Policy of “Do not spend any money not in the bank” and, instead, put your donations on credit cards.
President Trump has a history of making bad choices. (Kenneth Copeland as a religious advisor being a case in point. At least it wasn’t DM.) At some point he should turn on the Cardones.
All this Trump commentary made me think about a MAD magazine parody of The Wizard of Oz called “The Wizard of Odds” done sometime in the 1990s. In it, Dorothy and her house are carried by a tornado into the 1990s where she encounters a land inhabited by selfish yuppies. The Good Witch of the North (played by Vanna White) tells Dorothy that she has to go to Ephemeral City and talk to the Wizard of Odds about being sent back to 1939. Along the way she encounters the Scarecrow who’s out of work, the Tin Woodman who feels rejected because he’s not chrome plated and the Cowardly Lion who’s about to become extinct. They get to Ephemeral City(after an encounter with Tammy Faye, the Righteous Witch of the West who tries to offer them salvation for various prices) and meet the Wizard of Odds who turns out to be Donald Trump. He rejects their initial wishes and substitutes them with unethical, dishonest and blatantly immoral replacements. I wish I could find the article somewhere but I do remember the song at the end which began something like:
🎶We’re glad we found the Wizard!
The Wonderful Wizard of Odds!
He is, he is a wiz of a wiz!
So what if he rips off clods?🎶
If anyone can locate that parody, please let us know. It’s both hilarious and appropriate!
Trump’s presidency shifted the media’s attention almost entirely onto him, effectively pulling the spotlight away from Scientology. Before this, Scientology faced years of relentless scrutiny, starting in 2009 with The Truth Rundown published by the Tampa Bay Times, Debbie Cook’s email, the release of Going Clear and its 2015 documentary adaptation, as well as the series The Aftermath. These were major blows for David Miscavige and Scientology.
However, once Trump entered office, the media’s near-exclusive focus on him allowed Scientology to slip out of the public eye, sparing it from further significant attention or criticism. So, over the next four years, it’s likely that the diminished interest in Scientology will continue, as the media remains preoccupied with him…
Take care Mike!
The rich are poised to get richer and Scientology is there to feed off of them. But where was Tom when we needed an impossible mission?
Mike, these are hard times to face what you are facing. Thank you for being there for us.
My worry is that Trump will live through his full term, appointing the worst sort of Federal Judges at every opportunity, including the SCOTUS.
Or that Trump may not live through his full term, handing America a Taliban-lite Vance Presidency.
I think my little family will survive OK, seeing as how we are closing in on true old age. But I fear for the quality of life my grand-children and great-grand children can expect. Then there’s my nephew who is trans, a young man with a fine intellect who is working on a PhD in a serious field of genetics science; the work of his team has promise for the future health of many – will he or his supporters be on the receiving end of the bile of bible-thumping Trumpistas in Congress and the courts?
Kind of related to Trump-fuckery and the historical ignorance, xenophobia, and racism that fuels it: I am reading a book by Daniel A. Sjursen entitled A TRUE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
Highly recommended. He taught history at West Point for many years…He’s down for actually making America live up to its potential by having us know, discuss, and transform our very messy, complicated, pretty fucking dark history…He believed that folks who would literally DIE for their country should know the actual history of said country…
I’d like to add to Mark’s fine book suggestion by quoting Sjursen’s ‘About the Author’ credentials from Amazon:
“Daniel A. Sjursen is a retired U.S. Army officer, contributing editor at Antiwar.com, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy (CIP), and director of the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN). His work has appeared in the NY Times, LA Times, The Nation, Huff Post, The Hill, Salon, The American Conservative, Mother Jones, Scheer Post and Tom Dispatch, among other publications. He served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at West Point. He is the author of a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, “Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge” and “Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War.” Along with fellow vet Chris “Henri” Henriksen, he co-hosts the podcast “Fortress on a Hill.”
His books are available at the usual sources like Amazon, plus a couple of e-book newsgroups.
Danny Sjursen is well known to me from his articles for Anti-War.com and Tom Dispatch. I’d like to point out Sjursen’s excellent ‘About the Author’ note from Amazon:
Quote – Daniel A. Sjursen is a retired U.S. Army officer, contributing editor at Antiwar.com, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy (CIP), and director of the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN). His work has appeared in the NY Times, LA Times, The Nation, Huff Post, The Hill, Salon, The American Conservative, Mother Jones, ScheerPost and Tom Dispatch, among other publications. He served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at West Point. He is the author of a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, “Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge” and “Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War.” Along with fellow vet Chris “Henri” Henriksen, he co-hosts the podcast “Fortress on a Hill.” – end quote.
His books are available at the usual booksellers like Amazon, plus a couple of e-book newsgroups for those who know how to navigate them.
AA, thanks for that additional information!
Speculation at best. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Even if that were the case, there is still a downside that cannot be ignored. First of all, I don’t think Trump can start doing ‘favors’ to any dude who asks for something just because they contributed financially (certainly not by bringing votes) as this will create problems especially with a toxic subject like scn. But there is another point to take into consideration. That is, the zero expansion of scn and the consequent internal cannibalism to maintain certain statistics and certain standards. We have to wonder how long this will last given what it has created so far in terms of shrinkage.
By now it looks more and more like a house with all the lights on but no one inside.
Are you kidding? Trump reportedly made one point six billion dollars while president and had 3,403 ethics complaints for violations of the emoluments clause of the constitution!
He pardoned people who gave him money!
He won’t get in any trouble!
Look I understand very well what you say, and I certainly did not mean to dig a hole with my own hands under my feet on purpose. My point was simply that as far as scn is concerned I do not think it is easy for him to intervene in the case of circumstantial evidence, investigations or trials in progress precisely because of the type of subject scn is and because of those who voted for him who I do not think see the cult positively.
Loosing, I hate to have to tell you this, but Trump’s “core” base, i.e, the roughly 15K American voters who literally worship him believe anything he says. If he says that Scientology is OK and they should try it, they will. Now, I’m not saying that Trump WILL endorse Scientology publicly because I doubt that he would. I’m only saying that if he did – IF – then they would pay attention and take him seriously. And again, I’m not painting ALL Trump voters with this broad stupid brush. I personally know 5 or 6 very wealthy people who consider Trump a complete clown and they themselves employ illegal immigrants and always have and could not care less about abortion – none of these cultural issues are of the least concern to them – but they voted for him anyway because for them its all about taxes and regulations on their businesses. That’s it for them- they don’t care about anything else. They roll their eyes when his name is mentioned – he’s a joke to them. But they voted for him – oh, you bet. They are not his core. His core is a CULT. And a couple of my cousins are in this cult. Trump was sent by God to be the President. Oh, yes. They love him and believe in him and everything, anything he says is GOSPEL and not to be questioned. And there are millions of Americans who believe as these cousins of mine do. This is not humor or sarcasm. I’m completely serious. So if Trump endorses Scientology publicly on Truth Social or on X these people will listen and pay attention and a portion of them will walk into Scientology Orgs. Fortunately its doubtful that he will ever do so.
Aqua, thank you for everything.
I knew that by writing that comment, I was risking getting myself tangled up. And I certainly didn’t mean to give unnecessary weight to certain topics that, in the US, you are sensitive to and more informed about.
To put it briefly, my point was that I didn’t think Trump would make the mistake of helping scn, as it’s an extremely toxic subject for anyone to handle and wouldn’t give anything back in terms of future votes or public opinion—quite the opposite, actually. Just that.
Trump will never overtly support Scn. But intervention to influence decisions is typically sub rosa and it takes 2 minutes.
Thank you, Mike. I understand your point and that of the other commenters. Living in Italy, I certainly have less information than you all do. My only doubt was whether he could really favor something clearly toxic like scn.
Wishing you all the best.
Again, I wish I didn’t agree with you but I defintely do. I’ve had this picture since Grant Gavronne spewed his vulgar crap at Trump’s MSG rally in NYC. My first thought was, “What the hell is he doing there?” And then I recalled how his spouse started a Go Fund Me for L’Orange earlier in the year. That was a dead giveaway of a relationship, a rapport but I wasn’t paying much attention because at the time I still believed that this country could not possibly RE-elect this person…. But with his MSG appearance I have now not a single doubt that the Cardones got themselves invited to Mar-a-lago, probably via Fashion Victim Duggan – all very quietly, on the downlow…sub rosa, and of course its all about the money with L’Orange.
Aqua, you are right about Trump being the leader of a cult, per Lifton’s EIGHT CRITERIA FOR THOUGHT REFORM definition.
To everyone, check out THOUGHT REFORM AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TOTALISM by him:
https://archive.org/details/ThoughtReformAndThePsychologyOfTotalism
Mark, you may have already seen this post that I wrote years ago on Trump but here is an excerpt:
Sunday, November 13, 2016
The Cult of Trump Part 3 Thought Reform
This post is the third in The Cult of Trump series and they should be read in order. It is here to address what a thought reform program is and if Donald Trump’s group fits the criteria to be a thought reform program.
I will start with a brief description of a thought reform program.
Here’s a brief description from the website Changing Minds:
Robert Jay Lifton was one of the early psychologists to study brainwashing and mind control. He called the method used thought reform, and offered the following eight methods that are used to change people’s minds.
Milieu control
All communication with outside world is limited, either being strictly filtered or completely cut off. Whether it is a monastery or a behind-closed-doors cult, isolation from the ideas, examples and distractions of the outside world turns the individuals attention to the only remaining form of stimulation, which is the ideology that is being inculcated in them.
This even works at the intrapersonal level, and individuals are discouraged from thinking incorrect thoughts, which may be termed evil, selfish, immoral and so on.
Mystical manipulation
A part of the teaching is that the group has a higher purpose than others outside the group. This may be altruistic, such as saving the world or helping people in need. It may also be selfish, for example that group members will be saved when others outside the group will perish.
All things are then attributed and linked to this higher purpose. Coincidences (which actually may be deliberately engineered) are portrayed as symbolic events. Attention is given to the problems of out-group people and attributed to their not being in the group. Revelations are attributed to spiritual causes.
This s association of events is used as evidence that the group truly is special and exclusive.
Confession
Individuals are encouraged to confess past ‘sins’ (as defined by the group). This creates a tension between the person’s actions and their stated belief that the action is bad, particularly if the statement is made publicly. The consistency principle thus leads the person to fully adopt the belief that the sin is bad and to distance themselves from repeating it.
Discussion of inner fears and anxieties, as well as confessing sins is exposing vulnerabilities and requires the person to place trust in the group and hence bond with them. When we bond with others, they become our friends, and we will tend to adopt their beliefs more easily.
This effect may be exaggerated with intense sessions where deep thoughts and feelings are regularly surfaced. This also has the effect of exhausting people, making them more open to suggestion.
Self-sanctification through purity
Individuals are encouraged to constantly push towards an ultimate and unattainable perfection. This may be rewarded with promotion within the group to higher levels, for example by giving them a new status name (acolyte, traveller, master, etc.) or by giving them new authority within the group.
The unattainability of the ultimate perfection is used to induce guilt and show the person to be sinful and hence sustain the requirement for confession and obedience to those higher than them in the groups order of perfection.
Not being perfect may be seen as deserving of punishment, which may be meted out by the higher members of the group or even by the person themselves, who are taught that such atonement and self-flagellation is a valuable method of reaching higher levels of perfection.
Aura of sacred science
The beliefs and regulations of the group are framed as perfect, absolute and non-negotiable. The dogma of the group is presented as scientifically correct or otherwise unquestionable.
Rules and processes are therefore to be followed without question, and any transgression is a sin and hence requires atonement or other forms of punishment, as does consideration of any alternative viewpoints.
Loaded language
New words and language are created to explain the new and profound meanings that have been discovered. Existing words are also hijacked and given new and different meaning.
This is particularly effective due to the way we think a lot though language. The consequence of this is that the person who controls the meaning of words also controls how people think. In this way, black-and-white thinking is embedded in the language, such that wrong-doers are framed as terrible and evil, whilst those who do right (as defined by the group) are perfect and marvellous.
The meaning of words are kept hidden both from the outside world, giving a sense of exclusivity. The meaning of special words may also be revealed in careful illuminatory rituals, where people who are being elevated within the order are given the power of understanding this new language.
Doctrine over person
The importance of the group is elevated over the importance of the individual in all ways. Along with this comes the importance of the the group’s ideas and rules over personal beliefs and values.
Past experiences, beliefs and values can all thus be cast as being invalid if they conflict with group rules. In fact this conflict can be used as a reason for confession of sins. Likewise, the beliefs, values and words of those outside the group are equally invalid.
Dispensed existence
There is a very sharp line between the group and the outside world. Insiders are to be saved and elevated, whilst outsiders are doomed to failure and loss (which may be eternal).
Who is an outsider or insider is chosen by the group. Thus, any person within the group may be damned at any time. There are no rights of membership except, perhaps, for the leader.
People who leave the group are singled out as particularly evil, weak, lost or otherwise to be despised or pitied. Rather than being ignored or hidden, they are used as examples of how anyone who leaves will be looked down upon and publicly denigrated.
People thus have a constant fear of being cast out, and consequently work hard to be accepted and not be ejected from the group. Outsiders who try to persuade the person to leave are doubly feared.
Dispensation also goes into all aspects of living within the group. Any and all aspects of existence within the group is subject to scrutiny and control. There is no privacy and, ultimately, no free will.
See also
Robert Jay Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1963.
End quote
Lifton was noted for saying if a group has six of the eight criteria then it has a full fledged thought reform program.
Many groups have varying degrees of the eight criteria. Trump has no concentration camp or reeducation program. He doesn’t have an isolated compound.
But he has many resources nonetheless.
I will briefly examine the eight criteria against several aspects of the resources Trump does have and utilize.
1)Milieu Control. Trump has a great resource in this regard: Fox news and right wing radio.
Fox news practices propaganda on a nearly continuous basis. They have many cultic qualities that are epitomized by their acting like ALL other TV news and media are constantly lying. They use the thought stopping cliche of “liberal media” with disgust and disdain constantly.
In fact they lie and if other people or groups or the government contradict Fox news on anything they usually merely act like anyone else is biased and incorrect and that is all there is to it.
Many Americans only get information from a closed echo chamber of information that reinforces confirmation bias regarding their own beliefs. On Facebook you can select a Red or Blue type feed by just liking posts that are either pro democrats or pro republicans. And joining Facebook groups that only reinforce your beliefs is also routine.
Here’s a link to the post Fox News that has a detailed description of the propaganda techniques used at Fox News.
Fox News
http://mbnest.blogspot.com/201…
Trump effectively used Fox News as Milieu Control on some Americans that were already open to the biases Fox encourages and relies on.
2)Mystical Manipulation. Trump generally speaking doesn’t in my opinion himself practice this. He has some followers that do practice this in either white supremacist groups or Christian groups. Particularly Evangelicals have seen Trump as a messianic figure and interpreted the scriptures and events that are happening as proof Trump is a savior of America.
I think the number of groups that do this is a tiny minority of Americans. Even a tiny minority among Trump supporters and he to my knowledge hasn’t openly promoted this. He doesn’t discourage it, but I feel it’s not the case with most Trump supporters that Mystical Manipulation has occurred.
3)Confession. I feel this is not something Trump encourages or requires. I think this component of thought reform is definitely not a normal part of Trump’s actions or something he takes advantage of from other sources.
4)Self Sanctification Through Purity. There are several types of purity that Trump requires. One is racial purity. Through embracing many racists like Jeff Sessions, Rudy Giuliani, Ted Nugent, Andrew Jackson and John Wayne among many, many others and overt racism and very thinly veiled racism and tacit approval of many racists doing acts including violence and harassment in his name Trump has embraced white supremacy and promotes white supremacist racial ideas as correct and that includes an identity with racial purity and white supremacist values.
A tiny number of minorities get acceptance by Trump in his group if and only if they practice extreme submission to and denial of white supremacy in America and Trump himself. They must be blind to it, particularly in Trump. They serve as a false equivalence to tolerance and acceptance by Trump. Just accepting a handful of completely obedient token minorities is not an end to or neutralization of racism and white supremacy. Not even remotely.
Another type of purity Trump strongly requires is purity of thought and behavior. Trump demands obedience by his followers and if he denies something, even if direct video evidence shows him saying something he later denies, he demands immediate agreement and obedient submission regarding his followers lying to others and denying easily provable reality. He demands his surrogates gaslight people and they must comply.
If a fact paints Trump or his statements in a negative light and he refuses to acknowledge or talk about it then his followers may be required to also disregard the inconvenient truth. No critical analysis of information that is critical of Trump is allowed, just denial and ad hominem attacks against any critics of him.
I feel between the two types of purity required this component of thought reform is easily fulfilled for many people even possibly the majority of Trump supporters.
5) Aura of Sacred Science. Trump is anti science. He openly disregards any and all conventional science if it fits economic, religious, or propaganda goals. He refutes climate change as a hoax from the Chinese to hurt America, he is anti vaccine, he embraces people that want to promote creationism is public schools and teach that gays are insane.
He acts as though through his sheer genius his statements must be accepted as both irrefutable science and true and that his confident insight alone grants them unquestionable accuracy.
He absolutely fulfills the aura of sacred science. It’s a cornerstone of his campaign.
6)Loaded Language. Trump uses phrases and words as weapons to influence people. He uses already existing loaded language from Fox news and some tied to white nationalism and antisemitism that is targeted to those populations. He also uses his own emotionally loaded brief phrases over and over hundreds of times to establish his frame of thinking in people’s minds. He called Hillary Clinton crooked Hillary thousands of times and Jeb Bush low energy and used this tactic many, many times.
He definitely relies on loaded language nearly constantly.
7)Doctrine Over Person. It’s absolutely essential for Trump supporters to deny his faults, or minimize them to being absolutely inconsequential. They must ignore much of reality ti be accepted by the group and in particular Trump himself.
The purity of thought requires that followers ignore contradictions in Trump’s statements, beliefs and behavior for the idea that he is the only one that can make America great again. It’s a simple thought stopping cliche that many followers cannot clearly define, but must submit to.
Usually they can’t openly describe a great time and do a critical analysis of many relevant details like actual tax rates at the time or racial policies and laws etc. because the past is idealized and not accurate. In the nineteen fifties fir example taxes on corporations and the wealthy were much, much higher and racism was terrible and reinforced openly by a white supremacist government. It still exists institutionally but progress has been significant.
This example of detailed contrast is not permitted in Trump’s supporters. And certainly not his inner circle. Doctrine over person is the norm.
8)Dispensing of Existence. Finally Trump supporters and Trump have shown disdain and disregard for anyone that openly criticizes Trump. He has encouraged beatings of protesters, jailing of political opponents and journalists, murder of innocent people and torture, revoking freedom of speech and suing into oblivion critics and journalists alike.
He has encouraged racial profiling and mass incarceration of black Americans and Latinos face mass deportation. He has encouraged banning Muslims from entering the country and deportation of Muslims legally here now.
He has given coded encouragement and associated knowingly with others that promote extremely racist and bigoted views and the loss of rights of gay people and many other groups. He wants to destroy unions and revoke regulations that protect people.
He has given tacit approval to hundreds of acts of harassment, bullying and violence against minorities of all types that his followers commit in his name. The Southern Poverty Law Center has reported over two hundred such acts within the first five days of his election win. Hundreds more may come out and thousands more are almost certain to follow. White supremacists are emboldened and galvanized by Trump’s words and recruitment is off the charts as his statements have made white supremacy normal to millions of Americans, overt extreme violent personal expression of white supremacy to be specific.
Trump definitely practices dispensing of existence and has his followers practice it too. Intentionally or callously through stirring them up then never discouraging them from their cruel and violent acts.
So Trump practices or uses preexisting milieu control, requires purity, has his sacred science (anti science with conspiracy theories), uses loaded language, demands doctrine over person and finally and most troubling practices dispensing of existence. That may escalate to horrifying and genocidal levels if unchecked. The first tendency of many people is to reject this warning out of hand. That’s the absolute worst thing to do. If it has any possibility it’s worth very serious consideration.
By fulfilling six of the eight criteria for thought reform quite well in my opinion Trump has a genuine cultic group. But it’s not an isolated group of fanatics practicing human sacrifice and completely rejecting normal society. It’s a spectrum that each follower falls somewhere on. The majority probably aren’t absolute fanatics. A significant number may be persuaded or influenced by Trump propaganda just enough to overlook his flaws and vote for him and no more. Some others may be voting for him and have become more racist openly by a small margin. Some may be swayed on some issues but not others.
From
https://mbnest.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-cult-of-trump-part-3-thought-reform.html
Will do, Mark, thanks.
Because the Church of Scientology is inherently criminal and self-destructive, the donations of Trish and Grant do not guarantee anything; Trump is quick to get rid of anyone he deems a liability.
Danny Masterson’s high profile SA conviction looms large and Masterson is synonymous with Scientology.
There are also gatekeepers to the President who have no interest in offending his powerful Christian and Catholic base by associating the President with Scientology in any way whatsoever. To do so would not help Trump who, after his stunning victory, does not need Cardone or Duggan.
Trump has Elon Musk in his court; who are Cardone or Duggan by comparison?
*****
“Exit poll data from CNN and other news outlets reported that 72% of white Protestants and 61% of white Catholics said they voted for Trump. Among white voters, 81% of those identified as born-again or evangelical supported Trump, up from 76% in 2020 and similar to the 80% of support Trump received in 2016… Trump also won the Christian vote overall: 58% of all Catholics voted for him and 63% of Protestants, according to the early exit polls. If the early exit poll numbers hold steady, that will prove to be a jump in Catholic support for Trump compared with 2020, when 50% of Catholics voted for him.” Ref: https://www.ncronline.org/news/white-christians-made-donald-trump-president-again”
The Christian vote was a decisive factor in the swing states.
VP-Elect JD Vance is a Catholic who has read and studied Catholic moral philosophers and particularly St. Augustine. https://slate.com/life/2024/08/jd-vance-tim-walz-trump-kamala-religion.html
As a Catholic, Vance would see Scientology as an Antichrist cult, an “Opus contra Deum” in theological terms. Translated, “A Work Contrary to God.”
It is worth making JD Vance aware that LRH called himself the Antichrist.
*****
Grant Cardone paid Trump a large personal appearance fee to speak at a 10X conference. Trish donated $4 million in the to Trump’s PAC’s in 2016, 2020, and 2024. Again, this guarantees nothing.
He doesn’t need no to associate himself with Scientology. The Christians are happy to have Scientology sit in front of them — if they can watch Scientology avoid prosecution they are happy that they are guaranteed to be safe. Civil lawsuits have curbed Catholic abuses, not Government action.
We shall see.
Good point. In Murica, it’s often all about the Benjamins. With the religious/cult abuses and with the high-profile sexual abuse/sex-trafficking cases of the last few years, it’s often been the *discovery process* in civil cases that has provided the evidence needed for criminal prosecutions…
Yes, let’s see what unfolds…
Mike, how I wish I didn’t agree with this article of yours, but I do.
Trump doesn’t care what anyone believes. He himself doesn’t believe in anything besides wanting what he wants when he wants it, and his absolute right to getting it. He is a strictly transactional person. Miscave is a wholly transactional person. Scientology is a strictly transactional organization. They will understand one another and support one another in a wholly transactional way. Trump worships billionaires who flatter him. He doesn’t care if someone is a bully and a criminal if they’re very rich and they flatter him properly. He will be putty in Miscavige’s hands – for a while. Eventually something will happen and Trump will hate him. It never fails.
Vance is Peter Thiel’s puppet, waiting for Trump to die so that his Master can be President (sarcasm because Thiel wasn’t born in the US). Maybe Vabce had integrity at some point but that’s all gone now. He’ll do what Thiel tells him to do. The good news is that Thiel will NOT like Scientology AT ALL unless he can be convinced that he is a “thetan” who cannot die and will live over and over in one body or another. Good luck to the cult convincing him of THAT. Thiel is also gay and in a gay marriage and I doubt that he’ll appreciate reading that he should be “disposed of quietly and without sorrow”. Thiel is also quietly and covertly vengeful with no back off on using his enormous wealth to destroy the object of whatever grudge he happens to be holding.
Personally, I think Miscavige is betting on Elon Musk with his millions of slavish, worshipful X followers to become Scientologists. Instant expansion. Straight up and vertical. Musk of course will not join the cult. But a word from him and a portion of his followers might. I think that Cardone gave Musk the idea to pay people to canvas and survey Americans so as to get them to register to vote, Knock on doors, “get in comm”, “find their ruin”, let them talk, listen to them, acknowledge them, understand them, and then enitice them to register to vote using the game of possibly winning a million bucks…”What do you have to lose, its a game”…and then, here’s someone who actually listened to them and “understood” them…I definitely have that picture, yes.
So to wrap up, it sounds wild and its definitely subjective on my part and I do hope I’m very wrong but I think Elon Musk is the cult’s best shot. He’s going to occupy a very high position in the Trump Administration. He will have a lot of power.
Yes, I already hear the evil cackling and smell the banquet-sized orders of KFC…
Shit is gonna get surreal…
Honestly, Mark? He is what he is. and he is who he is. That he has actually been RE- elected via not only the Electoral College but with a clear majority vote to me says who we really are as a country, who and what we are as Americans. For 8 years I’ve been reading that people like me live in a bubble, that people like me don’t know the real America, that we neither know or understand real Americans, etc. I didn’t believe it, couldn’t perhaps. I thought I knew the real America today. Well, I didn’t.
they were right and I was wrong. Its that simple.
Excellent observation and point regarding Duggan and Cardone. In Trump’s universe, they’re a few notches down from even his D list. I’ll be surprised if their names ever come up.
Jeffery, very good points. Another source for history. Thom Hartmann and Heather Cox Richardson.
It’s McDonald Trump. at least we know he will be flipping burgers when he goes to prison.
And yes what were and are people thinking?
Have yiu thought to reach out to Pres. Joe Biden or Harris and Elizabeth Warren. Asking to open an investigation and or hold congressional hearing into the tax exempt status of the cult. McDonald can’t contest anything now. Try to get it on the agenda.
I don’t have that far of a reach.
As a one last Hail Mary to put them on notice. Take note I will all blow up AGAIN eventually.
ps. The shaved head bald look is in.
Ugh indeed! Mike, I’m sorry your cancer treatment is no longer effective. I’m sorry Scientology turned your own children against you. I appreciate all you and Leah did to bring Scientology’s abuses to light to the masses.
It would be a shame to see all the work you and others did to reveal the sins of Scientology only to have it buried by the Justice Department and then have this destructive cult go on for decades more abusing kids and their offspring and on and on.
Would you consider releasing all of your communications with the Justice Department, the proof provided to them, as well as your own testimonials in what role you and others played covering up their crimes? There are thousands invested in taking down this cult now because of what you and Leah amplified. Those invested in the cause could share it farther and wider and exert increasing pressure on the Justice Department, no matter who is in power. Just look at all the fines the Catholic Church has been paying out even though we have a Catholic POTUS, so there is that. At the very least, the damaging information would be preserved through being widely distributed.
It would be amazing as a final fuck you to David MisCavige that you would be the one to finally end this travesty L. Ron Hubbard created. As a bonus, it would also be a nice fuck you to that grifter with the large channel which is doing absolutely nothing to actually end Scientology. How would he even survive if you actually ended the thing he pretends to fight against? He wouldn’t have even held any steam if William Gude hadn’t been dropped in his lap. There are plenty of people William inspired that would gladly amplify your voice. I believe Nora reached out to you about doing just that so maybe get back to her on that to brainstorm how to get it done?
Best regards to you and your family!
🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️. The nightmare continues.
With Trump, loyalty only flows in one direction.
He has demonstrated this over and over again.
He didn’t lift a finger to help Rudi Giuliani when he got into such heavy trouble.
Look how he treated his one-time lap dog Mike Pence.
We will have to see how this plays out.
Yes, how ironic that the silver lining of the Trump presidency is that he is a sociopath for whom no one’s existance is really real and no one’s problems are really real unless they somehow tie in with problems he’s having, all of which means that nothing can and does last in his life, and the only way someone is ever relevant in his life or real for him is if and/or when he or she is being of use. Don’t believe me? I’m a Northeast coast liberal, a bubble-dwelling, Trump-hating “elite”? Ok, I’ll go with that. Whatever. But here’s a reference to back up what I’ve just stated and it comes from his daughter. Watch the documentary, “Rich Kids”. Ivanka is featured as one of them. In it she tells exactly who and what her father is; how, when she was a teenager, just after he divorced her mother Ivana and moved out (to another floor in the same building) she followed her mother’s advice about how to hold onto her father, so that he wouldn’t forget about her altogether. Watch it if you dare 🙂 Point being, his very inability to become genuinely attached to anyone in a non-transactional way is what will prevent him from doing any lasting damage -key word being “lasting” because he WILL do damage. And all the people who helped him get elected, i.e, Gaits and that bimbo Gabbard, etc., basking in his warmth and praise now will all eventually screw up in some way and become no good, disloyal, bumbling incompetents, and told so, or if they don’t screw up they’ll get extremely tired of him and lose patience and screw up and in that way become no good, disloyal, bumbling incompetents, and told so 🙂
He(Drumpf) will definitely do lasting damage via his policies(domestic & foreign), judgeships, appointed officials, executive orders, etc.
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters.” — Antonio Gramsci.
Gramsci is quoted constantly, his remarks are apt for today, this does indeed seem to be the time of monsters (as a time between settled systems) and a kakistocracy (rule by the worst) is present.
In many ways Trump is among the worst humanity has to offer and the people he surrounds himself with are the worst, and Machiavelli noted that the easiest way to judge a man is by the people he surrounds himself with. Trump has the worst of the worst.
Well said.
I will definitely check out your blog again, it’s been a while since I have done that! Thanks.
Agreed in part but they’re not HIS policies. He doesn’t really have any policies. All he will be doing is holding rallies and entertaining his worshippers, “truthing” his untruths and outright lies via stream of consciousnessness inane/non-sequitur/vulgar crap, and providing fodder for endless clicks benefitting the various media both pro Trump and anti Trump spewing out endless praise, cesure, speculation as to what he really means, speculation as to what could be the consequences to the US and the world, etc. if he actually follows thru with whatever threats he happens to be making in the early morning hours, etc., etc., and on and on about him ad nauseum, informing us not at all about what we actually need to know.
The Trump Show is our 21st century Corn and Games. He is the bright shiny object to be dangled in front of us for the next 4 years to delight, entertain, amuse, bore, repel, disgust and utterly horrify us so that our attention is one way or another captured while Project 2025 gets implemented.
Steve Bannon came right out and explained the stratagem: “Flood the media with shit”. That’s waht he said, exactly and that’s what they’ve been doing for the past 8 years and that’s what they have planned for the next 4 years. I made up my mind, though, I won’t be watching, reading or listening to the Trump Shit Show, and its not sour grapes because Harris lost. Its because I realized that paying attention to this is a waste of time. I’m not going to learn anything. Admittedly, I am horrified. I never thought I’d be embarrassed to be an American, but I’m embarrassed and ashamed now. And horrified. So that makes me owned, I suppose. OK, I admit it. I’m owned. But also because I see the game, I’m also bored. Is it possible to be both horrified and bored? Maybe I’m just bored of being horrified. I think that’s it.
Ugh 🤬 Just when you think the cult may go away not safepointing. Great Creator, help us!
But Pam, remember one thing: Donald Trump is uncontrollable. NO ONE has EVER been “safe-pointed” for long with him. He isn’t intelligent but he has great animal cunning, plus he has, don’t forget, Steve Bannon and Roger Stone at his back always, advising him. Bannon and Stone (both of whom I loathe by the way) ARE intelligent, very highly so AND they have their finger on the pulse of Trump’s core base of worshippers AND these men are also master manipulators of the media. THEY are not going to like Scientology or want ANYTHING to do with it. On THAT I would bet money. So, yes, for a while, Trump will be enamoured with Miscave, there will be a love affair. But it won’t last. Nothing, no business or relationship lasts with him. And always when it ends, his associates come away worse off than they were before. No one gets very close to him and lasts with him including his wife which is why they live “together” but she keeps her distance. She keeps him at arms length to preserve her marriage. The exception would be his daughter Ivanka. But her mother is dead and her husband is now a billionaire so she doesn’ really need Dad any more – although wait, he’ll be the President for the next 4 years so he might still be useful. He taught his daughter well.
Aquamarine, you speak the truth!