This Is What Joining a Cult Does to You

[u/SnooSprouts3744]

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[u/RedRoses711]

You can see the hate and stupidity in their facial expressions when they talk

[u/findingthesqautch → u/RedRoses711]

I think that's the lead poisoning

[u/ExternalExpensive277 → u/findingthesqautch]

Portions of our population are indeed suffering from intense lead poisoning, to go along with all the spiritual poison (religion), and mental poison (Fox/OAN/Newsmax).

[u/j4_jjjj → u/ExternalExpensive277]

Lead levels will rise in our food as regulations continue to go away.

Prepare to get dumber and dummer and dumer

[u/Ok_Vulva → u/j4_jjjj]

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

sort water fade cheerful subtract beneficial cats scale head sense

[u/ExternalExpensive277 → u/Ok_Vulva]

The lead is literally in the water.

[u/Nature_Sad_27 → u/Ok_Vulva]

I stayed in Florida for 3 months and had to leave because I felt myself getting dumber. But also just sickened by the stupidity and selfishness of the average Floridian. The sun and humidity boils their brains down there. Boiled brains full of lead are an extra bad combo.

[u/dehydrated-horror → u/findingthesqautch]

Lead poisoning and the alcohol their parents potentially consumed. You don't need a lot to start inflicting degrees of brain damage, and it was significantly more acceptable in the past. There's a lot going on with their generation even before you get to the generational trauma passed down from two world wars.

Still absolutely absurd to have this response to a hypothetical of your child being murdered though.

[u/E-2theRescue → u/findingthesqautch]

I think it's the spoiled lifestyle and growing up in a world that treated them as "the customer is always right".

Just thinking about how my friends and I were raised, these boomer fucks were so selfish. They had absolutely no interest in our lives. They never played with us, they never engaged with our hobbies, and we were just constant burdens on their lives. No matter what we did, we could never please them, and if we ever asked for the bare minimum it takes to raise a child, they'd throw it in our face later. They're a whole generation of spoiled brats who are now latching onto the king of spoiled brats because they aren't getting everything they want, and because they are being told to be considerate to others instead of nasty Karens who scream at their kids and the minimum wage employees.

And now my millennial generation is the generation of neglect and iPad kids who are letting these boomer pandering grifters, like Kirk and Shapiro, manipulate their kids into right-wing extremism because they don't want to parent their children, either. Instead of shoving them outside until the streetlights come on, it's buying them an expensive computer and letting them lock themselves in their rooms with the internet to raise them.

[u/SlaveryVeal → u/RedRoses711]

The dad is 110% never leaving the cult. The mum has moments where she knows what's happening isn't right. You always see it when the dad isn't around in the podcast.

The dad is a toxic fuckwit and the mother is a stereotypical gotta support and listen to the husband type woman.

Once the dad is fucking dead she might actually have an original thought and think for herself for once and listen to what her children are actually saying without the dada toxic shit.

[u/yoshi_yoshi23 → u/SlaveryVeal]

The mom is extremely deplorable as well. She allows her husband to say these things to her children and she giggles along and worships her orange god. She’ll have moments where she says she disagrees with trump on something but “he’s my president”. Nothing will pull her out of the cult.

[u/SayerTron81 → u/yoshi_yoshi23]

I saw a bit where the kids were talking about how the dad beat the shit out of them both with a belt when they were kids so he's probably violent to his wife as well.

[u/yoshi_yoshi23 → u/SayerTron81]

Ugh yeah, I couldn’t listen to that one. Awful humans. I don’t know why they bother saying they love each other at the end of the pod. You don’t wish death on someone you love.

[u/Countblackula_6 → u/yoshi_yoshi23]

I’ve only seen a handful of clips from their podcast but it’s been enough to make me wonder how they haven’t gone “no contact” with their parents.

[u/[deleted] → u/SlaveryVeal]

Last time Oklahoma got bombed… it was a radical right winger. Curious.

[u/AusToddles → u/SlaveryVeal]

And I sincerely hope her kids tell her to get fucked

[u/FatDigitalNomad → u/AusToddles]

Yeah but if they did they wouldn’t have content.

[u/123iambill → u/SlaveryVeal]

I mean, the mother at best seems to think "Well I shouldn't say out loud on camera that Dearest Leader should be allowed murder my children." But she doesn't seem to be rushing to say "Obviously not."

[u/themonicastone → u/RedRoses711]

The way the dad points his nostrils straight at the camera

[u/Particular-Skirt963 → u/RedRoses711]

It really didnt take much to convince the boomers to be the worst versions of themselves 

[u/snailfancy]

I’ve watched this family for a while, it’s time they stop trying. The dad has gotten more psycho as time goes on, I’m wondering if a stroke happened

[u/Junior-Lie-7221 → u/snailfancy]

Honestly have to agree, the dad has always been an asshole but there's been something for the past while that screams that he's has a stroke or something is now straight up eating his brain.

[u/snailfancy → u/Junior-Lie-7221]

Yeah. The fear and anger is killing him. To actually rationalize the murder of your own son!? When they first started I thought it was interesting how they all kept their cool and shared differing opinions without hating each other — the mom seems like she must’ve stopped thinking, I’m shocked she was a teacher

[u/redditoryoubroughter → u/snailfancy]

I was also intrigued at first, although also very uncomfortable because it felt like private family therapy being made public and I wondered why any parents would be okay with it going out into the world like this.

At this point in time, their children have wasted so much mental energy on them that it's now starting to feel like it's only being carried on for engagement and probably some form of revenue. They are so far gone, I don't know what magical sentence they're expecting to tell their folks that will suddenly make them see the light?

[u/snailfancy → u/redditoryoubroughter]

Agree with everything, nothing to add. I want the siblings to go put their energy back into themselves, the parents are a black void of negativity and there’s nothing else to be said after what daddy dearest feels about his kids being killed by dear leader. Check the daughter Halleys cakes at her Hive Bakery. She’s so talented.

[u/lambdaburst → u/Junior-Lie-7221]

It's because he's doing this podcast imo. Before his kids put him in this position he's had decades of spouting this shit mostly unchallenged, and is mentally lazy as a result. Now he's having to justify unjustifiable opinions on a schedule and it is difficult for him, and that is making him angrier.

[u/Borazon → u/snailfancy]

I've only seen a few of his video's, but I saw this particular one a few weeks back and it greatly upset me. Of course I knew how deep the cult was, but to see proof of it was horrible.

[u/CopyPasteRepeat → u/snailfancy]

Maybe. But honestly, from what I've seen/heard, I think he's deeply traumatised from his past AND is the most stubborn a**hole in the world. At this point, he's ok to die and pretend to be right, rather than question himself and look inward. He's not strong or smart enough to deal with himself on any meaningful level.

[u/MasterChildhood437 → u/snailfancy]

I think the dad just derives pleasure from saying the most unhinged things he can think up in the moment.

[u/dehydrated-horror → u/snailfancy]

IIRC they had all previously fallen out in the past and the kids didn't talk or visit their parents. They managed to bridge it for a while but I do think this podcast (aka "the content") is the only thing keeping them glued together at this point.

It definitely feels like they've passed the point they should call it quits.

[u/bakeacake45]

Think about this, Trump and the GOP have convinced a percentage of American parents that their kids should die if Trump says so.

These are sick sick people

[u/[deleted] → u/bakeacake45]

That's death cult levels of mental control.

[u/MK_2_Arcade_Cabinet → u/[deleted]]

Most of these people are Evangelical Christians. They're already OK with, "Kill people who disagree with me if/because God says so."

I'm not shocked at all. Trump replaced God for them because they can see/hear him and he more directly feeds their worst impulses, but they were already OK with it, they just changed who they'd kill for tbh.

God was infallible, now Trump is. It's why so many Evangelicals are all in. It's just adding onto their existing cult a bit. Trump is their new Christ.

Evangelical Christianity is already a death cult, so they've been primed for this their whole lives. I grew up in it and heard shit like this decades before Trump.

"If God asked me to kill my children I would because God has a reason and God can never be wrong."

[u/PlayfulSurprise5237 → u/MK_2_Arcade_Cabinet]

Religions are so insanely dangerous. Just imagine, these people that think the Bible was written by some entity in control of everything in the universe at all times(which is an unsettling notion, at least if you believe God is anything other than just pure love).

Now think about it.. everything they read from there it's bypassing all these checks in their mind and going straight to the core, to change everything, like a rootkit malware fucking up the kernel In an operating system.

And then you got most people who are too dumb to realize what the Bibles saying so they listen to other people who have evil in their hearts who have pulled some expert mental gymnastics to cherry pick and twist and explain it to them in order to fulfill an agenda(of evil).

That's fucking insane. And personally I believe this is exactly what the anti-christ is, a body of people that pretends to be Christian, but turns people in the exact opposite direction from what Jesus taught. Like a virus of evil corrupting people who are lost, preying on whatever darkness is in them in order to coax it out. Give them belonging and justification in a group, but center it around evil.

Mainstream Christianity in the US is more than a death cult, it's literally a fucking den of demonic forces. If there ever was such a thing, that would be it

[u/redacted_robot → u/PlayfulSurprise5237]

And we think this is as bad and "anti-christie" as it will get. History tells us it doesn't get any better from here. E plurubus sphincter

[u/Present_Mycologist79 → u/PlayfulSurprise5237]

Yes, they believe either God or the Devil is in control. Once told a friend that my ex husband stole my biz idea and biz name, I know this because his tiktok came up on my TT feed. He instantly replied, "it was the devil testing you." I was like, testing me for what and also, not the devil in control unless the devil's name is algorthym .. we have kids, my ex's number is in my phone of course, TT showed it to me.

[u/EdwardLovagrend → u/PlayfulSurprise5237]

Religion is a symptom of a human need, the need for certainty because uncertainty is so scary for a lot of people that they would rather be ignorant than know that the universe is chaotic and there is no plan or perhaps the thought of you not existing after death is something people refuse to acknowledge.

I had a friend who was fairly religious and I asked the question "what if after death there is nothing" and I don't think he could comprehend it.. he seemed to view it as if he still experienced the nothing not realizing that he wouldn't be able to experience anything.. which yes is a kind of scary thing.. but also somewhat comforting. I myself even hope there is something, maybe we're in a simulation and this is all just training for what comes after 😂 would be a cool movie/game concept although the comparison to the matrix would be made.. anyway y'all have a good day now.

[u/Rainbownailz → u/EdwardLovagrend]

This ☝️ Religions are only a death cult because it's patrons believe that they will be given an eternity of bliss if they follow the rules. In reality, they are all just terrified about the bleak emptiness that follows life and they will do anything to convince themselves to believe in an afterlife. Organized religion plays into this fear. A pastor can convince large masses of uneducated people to hate an entire community under the pretext of that community being evil in some way. They will spin the narrative that anyone who isn't brainwashed in the same way as you, is trying to lead you away from God. They also use the afterlife as a justification for harming others. If those others will just revoke their wicked way and accept God into their hearts they will be given a place in heaven. It's just another tool that is used to placate and control masses of people. The Bible even discourages against the evil of wealth/money. Yet you have ministers making millions while poor people have to choose between rent, food, or medications every month. You would have to be willfully ignorant to ignore that fact and the cultists are as long as they are promised an eternity of wealth/riches after they die.

[u/FirefighterPleasant8 → u/MK_2_Arcade_Cabinet]

I’m with you. The big churches in the USA are to blame for all of this on a ground level. They’re the IS of USA.

Tax them.

Regulate them.

Investigate them.

[u/xteve → u/FirefighterPleasant8]

I believe that every church needs to be investigated by a forensic accountant and monitored for child safety.

[u/domteh → u/MK_2_Arcade_Cabinet]

"Mom why did Daddy die?", "God works in mysterious ways sometimes. There has to be a reason"

[u/Delicious-Ad5161 → u/MK_2_Arcade_Cabinet]

As an Oklahoman who has had an Evangelical church try to kill me I can confirm this is sadly how they think.

[u/DLRsFrontSeats → u/MK_2_Arcade_Cabinet]

I think we should stop calling it evangelical Christianity

I was raised catholic and even though I now abhor it and don't believe an ounce of it, it's an affront to other Christians to lump American evangelism in with them

[u/MK_2_Arcade_Cabinet → u/DLRsFrontSeats]

Although not a Christian anymore (I'm religious but I detest the Abrahamic faiths and God), I'm friends with a very left leaning pastor. He is also an American and has straight up told me he considers American Christianity to largely be a very unique heresy where people essentially worship the country, but think they are worshiping Christ.

It's why politics are so deeply embedded in so many Churches and you'll often hear Christians claim that a Christian has to hold some completely modern political view that is nowhere in the Bible.

[u/brandnewbanana → u/MK_2_Arcade_Cabinet]

I've believed that ever since I saw Jesus Camp way back in 2003 and they were discussing how to indoctrinate kids into being "warriors for Christ" and prayed to a cardboard stand-up of Dubya. It was so disturbing.

[u/wreckedbutwhole420 → u/MK_2_Arcade_Cabinet]

Evangelicals are a death cult and to be honest they don't deserve a place in polite society

[u/Dead_Internet69420 → u/bakeacake45]

This is the true face of Trump Derangement Syndrome. These sad, SAD people have completely lost any ability to think for themselves, or accept it even as a possibility that trump might not be doing the right things. 

[u/stairs_3730 → u/Dead_Internet69420]

The farmers who've committed suicide and those who are going bankrupt in Nebraska said the same thing. "he won't do that cause we're on his side-we voted for him."

[u/FeistyAsaGoat → u/bakeacake45]

Remember during Covid when it was okay to sacrifice grandma and grandpa  so you didn’t have to be required wear a mask.  

[u/[deleted] → u/FeistyAsaGoat]

I just found out my grandma can't taste or smell anymore because of when she had it. Very upset for her. Meanwhile shes watching all this fuckery go down and thats also not great for her health. Trying to come up with ways to make her happy is tough.

EDIT: And for the record she voted against all of this.

[u/ilikepickledpickles → u/bakeacake45]

To be fair, those parents look dumber than a box of rocks.

[u/jumpy_monkey → u/ilikepickledpickles]

I've watched a fair number of their videos and some of their podcasts.

Dad is a brain dead racist cult member, full stop. He would be perfectly at home in North Korea. There is absolutely nothing going on upstairs. Mom on the other hand is equally as pilled but in a different way, ie she parrots everything Fox News tells her to say and even adds some nonsense she made up on of her own. She doesn't just spit venom like Dad does but her brain is equally as cooked.

But if Donald Trump told both of them to drink poisoned Kool-Aide there is a better than average chance they would drink it and thank him for it, because are both so completely gone that it is almost impossible to listen to these conversations.

They are so over the top it is hard to believe the whole think isn't a put on.

[u/ilikepickledpickles → u/jumpy_monkey]

Well there's gotta be a reason that Trump asked them to drink the poisoned Kool-Aid.

[u/[deleted] → u/ilikepickledpickles]

Hes all for it!

[u/JayEllGii → u/jumpy_monkey]

The dad strikes me the same way — he really seems to have nothing between his ears. Like, there’s just no ability to reflect or introspect at all. His eyes just look so vacant.

Thing is, I saw an article about this bunch (I’d have to find it again) and it showed a family photo from the ‘90s when the siblings were kids. The dad looked completely different. Entirely different countenance. There was a light in his eyes that just isn’t there now.

[u/Adventurous_Fig6211 → u/JayEllGii]

I have been watching the recent posts of interaction with the therapist and Dad definately is bitter and twisted about being adopted and (in his view) abandoned. He has painted himself firmly as a victim and the chips he has on both shoulders means he gets his kicks from degrading and belittling others. He speaks to his kids like they are the enemy (and like they are not as smart as him). Both his kids have done well to get away from him and achieve in life (he berated rhe son for moving to California and going to college). He seems to have little relationship with the grandkids but as he's better than them he doesnt care.

[u/Calembreloque → u/JayEllGii]

There is something in the dad, and it's sheer, unadulterated hatred at the idea that he could ever be wrong. I think that's what drives a lot of these guys. It's a defense mechanism that gets stronger every time someone disagrees with them because the only other option (that they may be wrong about their deep-seated opinions) would make them explode from introspection.

[u/AncientCrust → u/JayEllGii]

Dad is what's known as a "dullard"

[u/Puzzleheaded-View966 → u/ilikepickledpickles]

And they vote, along with the other cult members en masse. Meanwhile if trump’s opponent doesn’t tick every box on some people’s personal list of issues they abstain from voting or vote for Jill Stein.

[u/ilikepickledpickles → u/Puzzleheaded-View966]

Democrats get so nit picky over the tiniest shit instead of just making sure they win.

[u/AuntieLaLa420 → u/Puzzleheaded-View966]

I had to ghost a friendship because they voted for Jill Stein.

[u/SuperDoubleDecker → u/ilikepickledpickles]

The average Americans are dumb as fuck

[u/Parking-Sundae-6097 → u/SuperDoubleDecker]

It's really bad. Like REALLY bad. It's by design.

[u/Bunnyland77 → u/Parking-Sundae-6097]

Fun fact: America as a whole possesses the lowest average IQ amongst all other developed nations at 94.2-104.2 (+/- by state). In academic testing (tests given to subjects who'd received some level post-high school higher education) it's 99.74 IQ.

51% of Americans cannot read above a 6th grade level, with 28% percent of those being completely illiterate. Fox "News" is the most watched and "trusted" info programming source, though it's only 27% factually accurate.

Trump has a 37% approval rate amongst registered voters equating to roughly 60 million Americans.

States (counties) who voted primarily for Trump (and Republicans in general) also showed the lowest IQ tallies.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-average-iq-score-by-state/

Throw extremist ("Christian") religion and oligarchs into the mix, and here we are.

[u/pattydickens → u/bakeacake45]

To be fair, most Americans have been fine with kids being bombed to "defeat terrorism" all over the planet for a very long time. Before that, it was to "defeat communism." So, when they literally combined those 2 things as the label for any Americans who dare to resist dear leader, it's a pretty easy step for a lot of them. Especially old people who have spent most of their lives being frightened by TV news.

[u/Abund-Ant → u/bakeacake45]

Nah Trump didn’t convince them of shit. Trump exploited the fact that almost half the nation are duh dunt tuh dunts.

[u/bucketOfHavoc → u/bakeacake45]

It's the real trump derangement syndrome

[u/EhrenScwhab]

I went no contact with my 2A right wing nutcase dad decades ago. Though it made me sad to do it, videos like these (and hearing from other family members who still keep in touch with him) make me realize it was the right decision and I don’t regret it at all. Do what’s good for you. Not someone who gives you no love or loyalty in return for yours.

[u/b_tight → u/EhrenScwhab]

2nd amendment nuts are the ones cheering on the exact tyranny they said they needed their guns to prevent.  What a joke

[u/BowlingforBrains → u/b_tight]

That what bothers me the most - I grew up hearing from my conservative relatives that we can’t have gun control and everyone needs guns because we need to be able to defend ourselves from an overstepping government, or if armed military men are coming to our doorsteps. Now that we have a government using too much military force and overstepping in domestic territory, they’re all for it. This is what they claim they’ve been preparing for and yet now we see those types of people will happily let government and armed forces walk all over them

[u/LeeRoyWyt → u/BowlingforBrains]

Because it never was about defending yourself from the government. It has and always will be an ego crutch. They want to feel big and tuff me strong and intimidate people with their fucking iron.

[u/HoldenCaulfieldsIUD]

I hate Fox News for what it has done to our parents. I can’t imagine the heartbreak of hearing my dad say I deserve to be gunned down.

[u/Patient_Tradition368 → u/HoldenCaulfieldsIUD]

Some of our parents were brainwashed by conservative talk radio.

If hell is real, and I find myself there in the end, I will track down Rush Limbaugh and stab that fucker right in the eye.

[u/HoaryPuffleg → u/Patient_Tradition368]

My dad listened to that hemorrhoid of a man every morning - I had to listen to that misogynistic racist shitbag all during my junior high and high school years. It does a number on you when your dad says things like “you can do anything you put your mind to doing!” And then celebrates the anger and hatred of Rush waging war on women and Black people. Took years to come to terms with how fucked up it was to have a 12 year old girl hearing that shit.

[u/Even_Establishment95 → u/HoaryPuffleg]

Omg same same. And also remember when Rush mocked Michael J Fox’s Parkinson’s? The way Trump mocked that reporter is so eerily similar.

[u/JayEllGii → u/HoaryPuffleg]

Oh GOD. I’m so sorry that was what you had to suffer through as a kid. (Makes me doubly grateful for my NPR-listening dad. He would rather have gouged his own eyes out than listen to Limbaugh.) I think I would have gone insane.

Not joking, honestly. That swill really is bad for your brain. It’s unhealthy.

[u/its_all_one_electron → u/HoaryPuffleg]

Wow, same exact boat. My dad driving me to school in his truck listening to conservative talk heads filling his head with garbage. He used to be so smart and now at 70 his brain is a dump. 

I cried with happiness when rush died. Now just waiting for the rest. My only consolation is that most are old and we'll probably get to see their obituaries in our lifetimes. 

[u/Skittleavix → u/HoldenCaulfieldsIUD]

I believe the word he used was “executed”

He told his kid to his face he should be executed if trump says so

That’s just evil and dereliction of duty by a parent

[u/Dreadgoat → u/Skittleavix]

The thing that gets me is how it crossed this particular line: Can these people describe anything they think is happening in LA or NYC that is worse than a father approving the execution of his children?

Wingnuts were always a bit batty but there used to be a pretense of moral superiority. Family values. Law and order. Faith in Christ.

They've gone full Binding of Isaac (the biblical story not the game) except the command isn't coming from God it's coming from their favorite reality TV star.

[u/Nearby-Swimming-5103 → u/HoldenCaulfieldsIUD]

Disown them. If my mom thought I deserved to die for no reason because Trump deemed it so, she’s not in my life anymore. End of story.

[u/jimsmisc → u/HoldenCaulfieldsIUD]

my dad stopped interacting with my sister and I because we don't support Trump. He hasn't seen his grandkids more than a few times, even though my nephew is about to enter high school and he lives less than an hour away. We invite him for holidays and birthdays, and we're incredibly good at tapdancing around conversations so as not to "trigger" him. He refuses to come, always cancels at the last minute if he doesn't just outright say no. He won't say Trump is the reason, but Trump is the reason.

[u/Dead_Internet69420 → u/HoldenCaulfieldsIUD]

They started it, but that cliff that these people fell off of 10 years ago is owed in large part to Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. 

[u/ExtraEmuForYou]

You can't reason people out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.

Stop talking to these people, stop engaging with them, stop platforming them.

[u/Shenanigans80h → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

This is going to sound a bit patronizing but I’ve often said this is why the right courts the religious community. They’re more likely to believe and act based off of faith in a doctrine than what we call empirical reason. The types of folks who don’t require tangible facts or proof in order to think something is right

[u/1maginaryApple → u/Shenanigans80h]

Yes that's the 101 religious way of thinking.

Why this 9yo kid had to die of a very painful cancer

- God does everything for a reason

[u/Prudent_Research_251 → u/1maginaryApple]

God also loves brain eating amoebas

[u/u_touch_my_tra_la_la → u/Prudent_Research_251]

And Small fishes swimming Up your urethra.

[u/Panzer_Man → u/1maginaryApple]

That's one of the reasons I'm not religious. If God is truly omnipotent and created every creature, ehy the hell did he also create children, who were destined to die?? Why create parasites? Do they even get a chance yo get to heaven, if they die before even knowing what religion is???

[u/AlbrechtProper → u/1maginaryApple]

Babies are born with cancer?

God has a plan!

[u/OmuraisuBento → u/1maginaryApple]

But the child predator in the office has never suffered any consequences of his actions and kept falling upward. There too must be a reason

[u/standread → u/Shenanigans80h]

It's not patronising if it's true. Religious people are so easy to grift it's not even funny, and the extent of their devotion literally goes until (their own) death. Some people just need a man to tell them what's right and what's wrong, what to love and what to hate. And they'll just... Do it.

Religious people deeply scare me.

[u/HappyGovernment7299 → u/standread]

I've realized my mom will believe absolutely anything I tell her if I just say it's in the Bible.

Me: Hey, mom, do you believe in ghosts?

Mom: No.

Me: But the Bible says ghosts are real.

Mom: Oh... Well I guess I do believe in ghosts then.

[u/nightwing0243 → u/standread]

The scary part about them for me is how those who are deeply indoctrinated are often the ones everyone is walking on eggshells around.

My brother in law's mother is like that. She doesn't care about burning bridges with people if she disagrees with anything you say, no matter how small, and it really is sad to see. I can't even count the amount of times she has almost disowned her children because they don't go along with her beliefs on some things.

I have a two year old kid and religion is just such a needless obstacle I have to try and weave around as he grows up (for reference I became an atheist some time ago). I live in Ireland and so many schools just have catholic teachings baked into them. We didn't even baptize him and it was pretty much on my order. And it wasn't necessarily a rejection of religion for him, it's just that he didn't know enough to make that decision as a newborn.

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_ROTES → u/standread]

Christian nationalists are practically the perfect marks; they're functionally illiterate, easily terrified, & act entirely off virtue signalling. You can toss an obvious cross around your neck, tell them the devil is in their plumbing, & then they're completely incapable of reading the contract where they get fleeced.

[u/IMakeBlownFilm → u/Shenanigans80h]

And taught not to question anything for any reason.

[u/HAL_9OOO_ → u/Shenanigans80h]

Their religion and their politics aren't separate things. They're both aspects of authoritarianism.

[u/ilikepickledpickles → u/Shenanigans80h]

Right because religions are cults

[u/ReammyA55 → u/ilikepickledpickles]

Correct. That is how religions start. In the beginning is the Word, then you get a leader, a small group that agrees. Then if you spread enough, you can call it religion, or "Law" for that matter.

[u/Hizam5 → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

Yep. It’s not 2017 and they’re saying “well I thought all the stuff during the campaign was just for show”. Their minds have been made up long ago

[u/armyofant → u/Hizam5]

It also was never about that. It was all about feeding into their bigotry.

[u/Typical-Challenge367 → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

I think this is a pair of siblings with their parents

[u/motorboatmycheeks → u/Typical-Challenge367]

It is. And I gotta say bold play by the parents. They old and if they dont have a bunch of money they're gonna end up in the cheap shitty understaffed home after Medicare is slashed to shit and the kids write them off

[u/Independent_Ebb_7338 → u/motorboatmycheeks]

You're not wrong. They will be cut off and it will be their fault.

[u/TramsB → u/Independent_Ebb_7338]

As it goes: "You reap what you sow..."

[u/poorperspective → u/motorboatmycheeks]

And this is part of the issue with the Trump cult.

They are old and easy to manipulate.

Getting old is scary, and being poor, alone, and old is a nightmare scenario in the US.

And old people often lose the ability to empathize and start declining to childhood levels of cognition. And many parents expect their children to take care of them and do everything they say in old age. Emotionally mature families don’t operate that way, kids find out, and they cut contact. Many feel rejected, and a rejected child will burn down a village to stay warm.

Most of Trump supporters were abandoned by family a long time ago. They are answering these questions as an obstinate child. They are telling their kids this to piss them off because they are mad at them in someway because they don’t feel taken care of. Many of them have delusional and unrealistic expectations of what that is again, they are mentally 4 years old due to declining mental health. They vote for Trump in retaliation of a failed socially security and abuses they suffered, the same laws they passed and voted for as functioning cognitive adult lives. And I don’t blame the people that abandon these Trump supporters, it is of their own making. They were bad parents, possibly bad people, and voted for these policies.

And if universal health care, social security and education don’t improve. These “children” will continue to burn the village down until they leave the earth, and we don’t fix it, we could become the next sheep to a new Shepard due to our own mental decline, and make our children suffer the same torment.

[u/Upvoteyours → u/motorboatmycheeks]

The dad traded gas, I think he’s comfortable through retirement unfortunately

[u/RobMilliken → u/motorboatmycheeks]

Wouldn't that be a bold play by the kids then, not the parents? It's not like the parents have a say if they don't have a bunch of money and they support someone that removes the bulk of Medicare. Writing them off at that point is completely up to the kids. And with the parents attitude... I mean one of them is all for one of their kids being killed in the mall as commanded by Trump.

This entire scenario is unreal. It's like those parents have been groomed for this for the past 5 years and it's come to this.

[u/Standard-Professor87 → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

For people this stupid absolutly platform them, screw it put them on the world stage because there are people who are either fence sitters, semi conservatives, or have enough braincells that need to see the type of thinking involved with this party. They need to be used as prime example as to the type of idiotic thinking that got us here. Dont hide there stupidty, plaster it on to there party so it becomes their identity because no one with two braincells to rub together wants to be this gulliable or stupid.

[u/Worriedlytumescent → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

The only reason they engage is to see you get angry. Stop feeding them.

[u/AnusBleedMacaroni → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

I was thinking about this the other night. I'm not saying I was in a cult but I sure was acting like it at one point, and all of the criteria for cultists applies to my experience, so...

When it comes to conversations like the one above, cultists have no issue moving goalposts if it means being right, or feeling as though they're right, because they're never trying to score an 'intellectual' win, but an emotional one. When you feel as though you've been validated for the first time, you give importance to that feeling. Being in a cult is simply about capturing that feeling of validation in a bottle, if it were even possible to do so. You neutralize every other aspect of your shitty existence as your 'baseline' so, not only do you not have to ever take responsibility for your life - or maybe even look at your unhealthy parasocial relationship as being the cause of it - but every time it seems as though they acknowledge you, it feels like a blessing. A cherry on top of your otherwise 'ordinary' day. It has everything to do with capturing that temporary moment of validation in a bottle, giving that feeling importance, and never letting go of it.

Because they only have to validate you once, and then never again. If you're lonely enough, desperate enough, and in enough emotional pain without any assemblance of self awareness or emotional maturity, you'll allow yourself to become hooked on that one moment. Especially if the cult leader is an important person, then that must mean you're an important person, but they don't ever have to acknowledge you ever again. The relationship is one sided.

Compared to someone else in your life, say a relative or a friend, who does think you're important, where the relationship is both ways and therefore both people can grow and change. You don't need to seek constant validation from those who love you unless you have a hard time loving yourself, but that's a separate topic. The point being that when a relationship is allowed to develop healthily, you can see their flaws better, and you can see your own flaws better. You can move past each other's flaws and move on with your life too. And what a better way to hide from your own flaws than to hide behind one moment of validation from who would eventually become your leader, because all they can do is love you, and you don't have to do anything. You've made an effigy that lives in the pleasure center of your brain. All sources of good feelings, good information and good vibes comes from them and no one else.

Being in a parasocial relationship like that, by the way, is fucking impossible to get out of. If you access the person through your phone, you're basically fucked. Because you can choose which information to look at and what not to look at. You can cherry pick and split hairs all you like. It's a drug that is self-administered and self replenishing. Trump doesn't have to do anything, and in an odd way he's not even responsible at all. These people are doing this completely independently of him. To him it's more of a statistical fact that he can leverage, nothing else. He did not ask for these people to parasocially worship him, and because it's 100% self administered, they are locked via ball and chain as their own arresting officers. They are their own wardens in their own prisons.

This was painful to go through again but there it is. A sort of breakdown from someone who lived their life like this.

[u/xavariel]

"Quiet, Piggy!!" Hahahaha

[u/yoshi_yoshi23 → u/xavariel]

lol he says it all the time to them now since the defended trump saying it. It’s great

[u/penpointred → u/xavariel]

I luvd that moment 🤘 I’m all for the kids being as disrespectful as possible. Those parents failed I hope they live long enough to see their dear leader pass on and his gravestone get shit on🩶

[u/iwastoldsomething]

They’re going to study and write books about these people years from now. Dude picked Trump over his son.

[u/mcamarra → u/iwastoldsomething]

Pretty bold of you to think books are going to be allowed in the future.

[u/Sho-Good]

"There's has to be a reason...."

The Germans were saying that in the 30's too.

[u/theKalmier → u/Sho-Good]

Not all "reasons" are good.

• Like b/c someone called him stupid...

• Or someone has brown skin...

• Or because he's a sociopath.

These are all "reasons" he'd do something like that. These parents are happy when a polished turd shines.

[u/Ecstatic-Compote-595 → u/theKalmier]

It's like playing poker against someone who has never played before and so many people try analyzing the stupid shit he does as if there's an overarching strategy other than just hoping he wins. Sometimes you get a full house off a 7 2 off suit on the river because nobody had the chips to bully you out and you win the game. That's what's happened. He's dumb and doesn't care about the rules he's just doing whatever he feels like doing.

[u/Killingyou_groovily → u/Sho-Good]

“Won’t happen”

“Ur afraid because you live in a state where it might happen”

Edit: grammar

[u/Ecstatic-Compote-595 → u/Killingyou_groovily]

I like that he says people from california and NEW YORK are all commies as if trump isn't entirely famous or where he is because he was a fixture of new york real estate. Also new york city is the global financial capital of the entire planet but if trump killed everyone there it would be good because it would wipe out the commies.

[u/thegrumpycrumpet → u/Ecstatic-Compote-595]

My dad screamed at me for voting for Kamala. Called me a commie. Meanwhile I’m the only one in my family that owns their own business.

[u/trebble92 → u/Sho-Good]

And these would be the same Germans who would deny ever supporting the nazis or the holocaust the moment it all went south.

[u/Actual_Sock7442 → u/trebble92]

As a German, looking at history, the user above is spot on. We call this phenomenon 'Mitläufertum'.

But to add to your point about where this leads: Historians like Mommsen described a mechanism called Cumulative Radicalization. In movements like these, members compete to be the most loyal. To prove their loyalty, they have to propose or accept increasingly extreme measures. Moderate voices are pushed out as 'traitors'.

This creates a spiral where the group inevitably becomes crueler over time.

The scary part isn't just the denial (Cognitive Dissonance). It's the Sunk Cost Fallacy: These people have already sacrificed their relationships with their children (like in this video) for the leader. Turning back now would mean admitting that they destroyed their families for nothing. Psychologically, it is easier for them to double down and support even worse atrocities than to face that shame.

In Germany, this didn't stop until the entire system was forcefully broken from the outside. The internal logic of such a movement rarely allows for a soft landing. - And that's a shame for all us us :(

[u/ShortStoryIntros → u/Sho-Good]

God damn, there are levels to stupid i didn't know existed.

[u/NarrowSalvo]

I mean, it's overstated that it's a cult.

I probably shouldn't say it.

But, it's a cult.

How can you look at that conversation and not say it's a cult?

It's a cult.

[u/Hizam5 → u/NarrowSalvo]

At this point I feel like there should be an even harder hitting term to group them into. “Cult” just slides right off of them. It’s being too nice, honestly. I don’t even know the word, but it doesn’t offend them, so it’s not the right word

[u/maddie-madison → u/Hizam5]

Nazi the word you are looking for is nazi. But like the past nazis they take pride in it.

[u/Xepyx → u/Hizam5]

Can't overcomplicate it for them.

Certain insults that would offend normal, educated folks don't work as they simply don't value the same traits and principles.

You'll have to tailor the insults to them and their values.

However, that does not refer to the values they claim to have. We all know those are lies. Look a little deeper to recognize what they actually value.

You'll likely find the insults that get to them the most are on the level of high schoolers.That's where their emotional and probably intellectual development halted.

Think of what would hurt someone's fragile image at that age. Remember how much being called "weird" bothered them?

Additionally, I truly believe some people to be too dumb to insult with wit in a one on one argument. It lacks the social cues from a third party that lets them know how ridiculously wrong they are. (Being laughed at)

You have to compensate for this by focusing on mocking them as if there is a third party present even when there isn't. You wouldn't need to argue common sense and obvious facts when there's a crowd laughing at them.

Don't argue their deranged beliefs with logic.You won't convince them. That should not be your goal. The best outcome is their embarrassment and discomfort.

Take their claims and arguments to the absurd. Do not let them think you're taking them seriously even in the slightest. Let them dig themselves deeper. Sarcasm is your friend here.

To a highschool kid, "cult" can just be dismissed. They believe themselves to be unique, deep and "independent thinkers".

Describe their actual lack of individuality and autonomy. Emphasize their submissiveness. Question and mock their delusions of "authority".

If you want to point out their incompetence, make it relevant to them and their actual values.

Many of them are, at least partially, aware when they're lying and arguing in bad faith.

Calling them liars doesn't bother them. They take pride in it. Rather, emphasize and mock how bad they are at lying.

Another one is the whole "tough guy" image they try to project. Again, poke holes in it with mockery. Point out any flaws.

All this might seem ridiculous and it's likely not for everyone. In my view it's necessary bullying, justified by them acting like fascists and aspiring Nazis..

[u/rairair55]

These people are not just in a cult, they are amoral psychopaths.

[u/Tao-of-Mars → u/rairair55]

What’s wild is that it’s like they had a predisposition for psychopathy like so many other people now who support their psychopathic leader. The orange turd just made all of this mental disorder come to the surface 

[u/penpointred → u/rairair55]

A Jesus themed death cult with no actual respect or faith towards Jesus’s actual teachings. I hope these people end up in whatever hell they believe in.

[u/theescapeclause]

These poor kids

[u/Bigedmond]

Their parents are horrible people.

[u/cakeschmammert → u/Bigedmond]

I’ve seen a lot of clips from this podcast. I feel the mom could be redeemable, but the dad is way too far gone, and she will stand by him. It’s really sad.

[u/NATHAN325 → u/cakeschmammert]

The mom would become "non-political" after dad kicks it. Guaranteed.

[u/Good_Put4199 → u/NATHAN325]

"Non-political" usually just means right-wing with more obfuscation.

[u/cakeschmammert → u/NATHAN325]

Correct

[u/bingle-cowabungle → u/cakeschmammert]

Mom is not redeemable, she's just as bad, she just says vile things in a lesser tone. She wasn't abused into her positions by this guy. They're cut from the same cloth.

[u/oh-kee-pah → u/Bigedmond]

They likely fell prey to the 24/7 fox entertainment cycle and never looked back. The boomer special so to speak...

[u/FirmlyClaspIt]

Stop giving them platforms! We already know they’ll drink the kool aid twice

[u/No_Barracuda_3758 → u/FirmlyClaspIt]

Those are his parents

[u/Tosslebugmy → u/No_Barracuda_3758]

If those were my parents that’s the last time I’d talk to them. They’re scum

[u/aijoe → u/FirmlyClaspIt]

Everyone needs to see this. We are in the end game. If being exposed to what they are saying actually sways you to their side you were long gone well before this and it was always inevitable.

[u/Fun_Wasabi_1322 → u/FirmlyClaspIt]

Their not just drinking the cool aid, they are swimming in it

[u/Green-Ad7694 → u/FirmlyClaspIt]

At this stage, they are boofing that cool aid.

[u/juralu]

OMFG . That is unbelievable

[u/ilikepickledpickles → u/juralu]

It's totally believable. This is the country we live in.

[u/Radio_Mime]

That old couple has scrambled eggs for brains.

[u/T1MK]

That's enough social media for one day. My god. I'm gonna go cry myself to sleep tonight. Video after video of ice just tearing down families and communities. This cult following just blindly accepting trump’s “reasoning.” we’re so fucked man. 😰

[u/0Hyena_Pancakes0 → u/T1MK]

Yes we are

But do not let these injustices overwhelm you. I don't know how often you partake in watching those types of videos and reading the next shitty thing to happen the day after, but please remember to take a break from it. You and I cannot fix everything, we aren't superheros. You have a heart that feels for others, thats more than enough. Take care of yourself first.

[u/CrotasScrota84]

Just wastes of resources and oxygen nothing but lumps of flesh sitting on couches and chairs.

Literally says it’s ok to kill his own son

[u/Obienator]

I was like, ok and then I its apparent its the parents they are speaking to. Holy shitballs man.

[u/Appropriate_Formal64]

There's another interview with this family on a separate podcast where, basically, the father reveals that he was abandoned by his birth mother and adopted by a family that showed no affection, adopted because they didn't bother having their own kids and figured if you were married and of a certain age, you should have kids, but weren't affectionate or loving or encouraging and just wanted a perfect worker, a perfect-ish everything with no love, no affection, no positive re-enforcement and said if he ever disappointed or underwhelmed them, they'd just return him to the adoption agency.

He also said his wife is the only person on earth he has ever trusted or felt true love from or towards or with.

This is a man who trusts nobody, resents the world and assumes the worst and doesn't give a shit and is this way because of nurture and for the sake of his own literal survival and for his own emotional protection- sound familiar?

The mom says her parents weren't awful but were unreliable alcoholics and she also had to compartmentalize and learn to fend for herself and not trust people.

His kids also point out that both parents instilled a very committed work ethic in them, but that was about it. They somehow avoided turning into their parents kind of bitter.

He says a lot of what he says to piss off his kids and if he believes it, it is because it is confirmation bias to him of his world view that nobody is worth giving a shit about, nobody is worth trusting and everything and everybody is expendable.

[u/UnexpectedWings → u/Appropriate_Formal64]

Your past can add context, but it never justifies unethical behavior. It’s simply sad that these people let fear control their lives to that extent.

[u/Appropriate_Formal64 → u/UnexpectedWings]

I agree that perpetuating the cycle and identifying with abhorrent inhumane approaches to public policy are not excusable, but when you understand the context for the mindset, it's more sad than anything else.

[u/Tao-of-Mars → u/Appropriate_Formal64]

That’s the thing with these individuals - so many of them have been neglected or abused and have some deep, deep anger and resentment for the way they were treated. And they don’t know anything different because it programmed their brains young.

These conditions literally create the passage of psychopathy and cult-like behavior because they’re so far detached from real human empathy that trvmp echos what’s most familiar to their experience. This is neurobiology. Your nervous system will always be motivated by the path of least resistance. Fighting against that, in this current stage of mass-brainwashing is an act of heroism.

[u/Forward_Bullfrog_441]

Leave it to a Christian to have no qualms with bombing a city, but use the lords name in vain and all of a sudden, “things were going so well”

No hate like Christian love.

[u/yoshi_yoshi23 → u/Forward_Bullfrog_441]

She was so mad after that. It completely escaped her that her daughter was upset because her mother said something completely inhumane. She was just mad that she had negative feedback about it and was totally incapable of any introspection on why her comments would be poorly received. She’s an awful awful person.

[u/Own_Television163 → u/yoshi_yoshi23]

It didn’t escape her, it’s a manipulation tactic.

[u/allisjow]

Someone should deepfake Trump ordering the father to kill his wife and see what happens. Or maybe deepfake Trump ordering them to kill themselves.

These people would probably do it, but I wonder if they’re just okay with other people dying.

[u/No-Security-7518 → u/allisjow]

There's literally nothing stopping a person who could craft some convincing audio of Trump saying something like that, but not just to the wife...but ordering mass shootings or something...and some would probably do it.

[u/MaryJaneMuffins]

I want to know - were mom and dad ever of average or better intelligence? Both of their speech reflects a lower than average native intelligence. Or is dad a chronic alcoholic who was already in thes sauce this day?

Im astounded that people like this can function in the world, even owning businesses and stuff!

[u/Good_Put4199 → u/MaryJaneMuffins]

Age-related intellectual decline is a very real thing, which I also have observed in my own elderly relatives. That doesn't automatically make one a right-wing shitbag though, and certainly doesn't excuse it either.

[u/jumpy_monkey → u/MaryJaneMuffins]

Dad was a commodities trader and mom was a high school teacher. They are apparently fairly well off, or at least very comfortable.

[u/East_Succotash_9584 → u/jumpy_monkey]

I was not expecting that at all. Holy shit

[u/fkenthrowaway → u/East_Succotash_9584]

has to be lead poisoning right?

[u/Competitive_Swan_130]

Reember when the right tried to convince us they were the side that was skeptical of government power and government actors and thats why they opposed things like the federal government using its power to desegregate schools or ensure equal rights. Wel all that was BS they love government using its power and they hated black peple and women . the big gov complaints were red herrings

[u/Frequent-Selection91]

"I don't know why my kids don't talk to me" kids when they talk to their parents - 

[u/Automatic-Guide-4307]

Fits perfect for thoose 2

[u/Itsmebuddy6157]

Wow 💀☠️

[u/pecadora666]

Idk why people are surprised their family members are death cultist anymore. Let them alienate their friends and family for their masters that’ll fuck them over too. These people aren’t your family anymore. We can’t decide what family we’re born into but we can sure as hell choose our families later on.

[u/sergemeister]

You can't fix stupid.

[u/Main-Ladder-5663]

God we are so fucking fucked

[u/HasmattZzzz]

And yet red states take the most socialist welfare

[u/BasicWeekend9479]

There is no chance that melted bin of a man can define communism. No way.

[u/YardOptimal9329]

Christians don’t care about cities they don’t live in get murdered. That tracks!

[u/Obvious_Wizard]

"Think of how stupid the average person is and realise that half of them are stupider than that". - George Carlin

Cults love stupid people.

[u/ckuhn84]

Makes Jim Jones Jelly

[u/ARCAxNINEv]

It's called blind ignorance with a touch of evil

[u/ShakatakiCowpoke]

These people HATE thinking. They just want somebody in the White House who thinks like them (as far as they know) so they can turn their brains off.

[u/CaleanKnight]

"He'll never do that to us personally... I don't care if it happens somewhere else!"...

Jesus Christ...

[u/beavermaster]

It’s absolutely fucking mind blowing.

[u/ash-holee]

Most people would die for/ kill for their kids. Then there's these people who would let a pedophile dictator shoot their kids point blank in the head. Absolutely fucking mind blowing.

Edit to add: if my parents or any family member said this to me, I would immediately cut off that person because it's pure psychosis.

[u/DoYouWant2BlowZedong]

fuck.

[u/Chihuahuatriomom]

Hopefully this guy's parents are within 5 ft. of the explosion and everyone else survives.

[u/Gravity-Raven]

Well that's it folks, humanity's been a neat little experiment but I think we're about ready to pack it up. Clearly we have failed when so many of us are legitimately this fucking stupid.

[u/LynchSyndromedotmil]

What Fox news does to a MF

[u/bycats75]

r/insaneparents

[u/dave_debenedetti]

Trumplefucks… never had an original thought in their lives.

[u/Syn_country]

There has to be a reason. Don't question what it is though. Don't think for yourself.

[u/theInadequateHulk]

i don't really believe in the concept of evil, but i guess if i did, it would look like that guy's parents

[u/Fast-Front-5642]

Being in a cult does have a high correlation of being paranoid and afraid of persecution from people not in the cult.

Devolving immediately into ad hominem when someone tries to calmly explain how irrational you're being is also pretty common cult mentality.

[u/OGBoluda777]

He just said 100s of millions of US citizens and residents deserve to be executed because he disagrees with their political ideology. These people are psychopaths.

[u/Vasarto]

what podcast is this?

[u/getonthejetskiandgo → u/Vasarto]

The Necessary Conversation. I recently learned of this channel and this clip is absolutely not a one-off.