Neurobiological mechanism exposes Trump’s 'psychological grip' on MAGA

People cheer as U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at a MAGA Inc. event in Sterling Heights, Michigan, US., August 31, 2026. REUTERS/Jeff Kowalsky

In right-wing media, many pundits are debating the MAGA movement's post-Donald Trump future and wondering who its next leader will be. The names being mentioned typically range from former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to Vice President JD Vance. But the group Leaving MAGA has a totally different focus: getting disillusioned Trump supporters, includes conservatives, out of the MAGA movement altogether. And according to The Guardian's Fabiola Cineas, a crucial part of Leaving MAGA's approach is understanding the "psychological grip" the movement has on people.

Rich Logis, Leaving MAGA's founder, is himself a former Trump supporter who is now a scathing critic of Trump and MAGA. Logis views MAGA as more than a political movement — he believes it functions like a religious cult. And Leaving MAGA is offering psychological support for ex-MAGA supporters as well as members of their family.

Cineas, in The Guardian, explains, "Leaving MAGA's weekly online support group isn't for people in MAGA — it's for the people who love them. That includes spouses, adult children, parents, siblings, friends and extended family who have watched someone close to them become 'not the person who they once were,' said facilitator Julianna Forlano."

Therapist Forlano, according to Cineas, "has worked with families of people with narcissistic personality disorder and in addiction recovery." And she employs "a framework used in addiction and recovery circles, treating the psychological grip of constant fear-based media and conspiracies like a disease."

Cineas reports, "According to Forlano, people overcome with this type of fear adopt a 'with us or against us' mindset and can easily turn against family members.

"The mechanism is neurobiological, she said: people who consume a steady diet of fear narratives become fearful in general, adopt a 'with us or against us' mentality and start treating loved ones as threats," according to the report.

Forlano told The Guardian, "What's happening in families and in marriages, and between mothers and daughters and fathers and sons has to do with behavior ... The mind is functioning as a dope seeker."

MAGA Republicans showing cult-like behavior, according to Forlano, can quickly become enraged — even over something totally benign.

Forlano told The Guardian, "You could say something as simple as: 'The tomatoes in my garden aren't growing,' and that person will respond by saying: 'Well, climate change is a hoax' ... The supportive nature of the community has been healing. It helps people find their footing again."

Since getting out of the MAGA movement, Cineas notes, Logis "now supports Democrats." And Leaving MAGA member Stephania Messina, according to the Guardian reporter, went from being part of the far-right evangelical Quiverfull movement to joining the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Messina told The Guardian, "It wasn't my job to vote or to know who to vote for. I was just supposed to submit to my husband and do what he thought was necessary. I was being indoctrinated into Christian nationalism."

From Your Site Articles