President Donald Trump at a MAGA rally in Mesa, Arizona in 2018 (Gage Skidmore)
Dr. Steven Hassan's model of things cult leaders do to control others walks through specific examples, from clothing to pledges, and in a new video, ex-cult member Jim Picariello explained how MAGA has become a victim of Donald Trump's control.
Hassan's model is known as the BITE method for controlling people through undue influence. BITE stands for Behavior, Information, Thought and Emotional.
Picariello explained, using the model, that Trump is "reinforcing mind control" in some subtle and other outlandish ways. It may seem silly, but when Trump was buying his Cabinet officials shoes that didn't fit, Picariello said, it falls under that first column for "behavior." Examples include "control of physical environment, rigid rules, rewards and punishments and dependence and obedience."
"They were exactly the same style, and everybody was — what did they do? They wore them anyway just to show that they had allegiance towards Trump," said Picariello. "Now he's controlled their behavior."
Wearing the red MAGA hats is the more obvious option. "Everybody wears the hats. They feel like they're a part of a group, something bigger than themselves. It's human nature to want to do that. But when you can inspire one person, many people to behave in the way of wearing clothes — like, for instance, when they were wearing the ear bandages, right?" he said of the 2024 convention after a bullet grazed Trump's ear. Another was their "lock her up" chants and the administration's "prayer meetings." At the recent event in Dallas, Texas, Trump had his supporters swear an oath to him and the GOP. Another is Trump's obsessive decorations of the White House.
Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton began studying the Chinese government's mind control. He described the ritualistic nature of their language use. Picariello said that Trump's frequent use of "thank you for your attention to this matter" is an example of that.
The "Information" section of the BITE model, Picariello said, is perfectly illustrated in Trump's recent decision to ban the press from the White House.
If there is "any news — [the] negative news story is fake, right? So just ignore that. It's fake news. Calling the media the 'enemy of the state.' you remember when he was doing that, which is a classic authoritarian thing to do. So, you can just discount all of that and that way you're only getting your information from one or few places that agree with Trump's MAGA's point of view," he said. Meanwhile, Trump is crafting AI propaganda showing himself as strong and powerful, to reinforce the language with images.
Another is changing the names of things like the Lake of America, the Gulf of America and his recent decision to eliminate the word "artificial intelligence" and instead refer to it as "super intelligence."
Under "thought control," Picariello explained that setting up his own social media site is a good example of that. It wasn't enough that he convinced his followers to ignore unpopular news reports; now he can create his own information bubble for everyone to join in together.
"This is something that bleeds into information, obviously, right? So the information that's coming out of Truth Social is a very narrow way of looking at the world and often factually incorrect," continued Picariello. "But you're creating a thought process of how to consume information. Creating a limited vocabulary. You know, 'this is tremendous. This is the best!'"
He related it to George Orwell's 1984, which isn't merely about thought control but also changes how we think about something.
"And this is a real thing," Picariello said. "You know, it changes the wiring of your brain if you think about things enough. And then conspiracy theories. I don't have to go on [about] the 2020 election is 'the big steal.' January 6 was the Feds, or was the left wing, or was whatever[.] But, that's controlling the way we think about what should be reality. And then and then ... he acts crazy, literally crazy. He says the most ridiculous things, and then the people who support him, what do they do? They come out later and go, 'Oh no, he really didn't mean that.' Or, 'Oh, you know, Trump. He just exaggerates.'"
It's the actual gaslighting, said Picariello, saying that something isn't happening even though it's happening in front of their eyes. He compared it to The Wizard of Oz, who shouts, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"
Finally, on the list, is emotion. Fear is a big one for Trump. He said that Mexicans and other Hispanics were drug dealers and criminals, creating the classic "us vs. them" pattern of manipulation. It helps people in the group have a common enemy to work against.
"Then everybody can just focus on the enemy while nobody's sort of distracted by the ... economy or jobs or or healthcare or anything like that," he added.
Another example is when Trump labels someone who criticizes him as someone who simply "hates America."