Transcript

LIVE: Trump CULT EXPERT Reveals His TACTICS!!

From MeidasTouch · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 1 min · 8,883 words · 91 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "LIVE: Trump CULT EXPERT Reveals His TACTICS!!", an episode of MeidasTouch published February 2, 2026 (1 h 1 min, about 8,883 words). It mentions 27 people, works and ideas, including Anthony Davis, Dr. Steven Hassan, Trump regime, MAGA, Alex Jeffrey Prey.

What this episode is about

Dr. Steven Hassan, a cult expert and organizational psychologist, discusses the emotional impact of Trumpism in America, highlighting the pervasive sense of demoralization as a psychological tactic used to polarize and destabilize society. He explores how this collective feeling manifests in the populace amidst escalating political tensions and societal unrest.

Key takeaways

  • In the age of Trumpism, emotions aren’t secondary; they’re the main act in the political theater.
  • Demoralization isn’t just a tactic; it’s a collective malaise reshaping America’s social psyche and trust.
  • Empathy divides MAGA supporters from others—mourning democracy reveals deeper emotional layers than mere politics.
  • Eight to ten hours online risks emotional manipulation; stay woke, or you might get emotionally hijacked.
  • Hope exists: as despair grows, so does the potential for courageous leadership amidst chaos. Time to act!

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Anthony Davis, Trump regime, Supreme Court, Dr. Steven Hassan
  2. – 20:00: Alex Jeffrey Prey, Trump regime, Renee Mlin Good, Elon Musk
  3. – 30:00: Vladimir Putin, Alex Jeffrey Prey, Renee Mlin Good, Frank George
  4. – 40:00: Supreme Court, Citizens United, Joe Rogan, Frank George
  5. – 50:00: Nazi regime, Vietnam War, MAGA Republican, Elon Musk
  6. – 1:00:00: Alex Jeffrey Prey, ICE, Renee Mlin Good, Mark Millie
  7. – 1:01:12: Anthony Davis, Dr. Steven Hassan

Notable quotes from "LIVE: Trump CULT EXPERT Reveals His TACTICS!!"

  • It's Sunday, February 1, 2026. I'm Anthony Davis. Welcome to the Weekend Show, where we make the time to consider the news of the week. You can support my work and independent journalism at.
    about Anthony Davis · at
  • And as we speak, we seem to be in the midst of a an uncivil war with Minnesota literally looking like a war zone with ICE and border agents causing an enormous amount of discomfort to people, not least the murder of.
    about ICE · at
  • Attempt and we had some hearings recently and thank God for Jack Smith speaking truth to power and shame on the Supreme Court for giving Donald Trump, kingly immunity and shadow docketing all of these horrible permissions to.
    about Supreme Court · at
  • Kind of aching pain that we are currently living with. And maybe it's the case that MAGA the difference between MAGA Republicans in this moment who still support the Trump…
    about MAGA · at
  • Aberration. Most people feel and care. And I want to point out that Renee Good and Alex Prey, both who in my mind were courageous heroes, especially Alex Prey, they were white, they weren't black, they weren't Hispanic.
    about Alex Jeffrey Prey · at
  • And we're in a situation where Palunteer and Teal are and Musk hacked all of our private data, gave it to Russia according to a whistleblower who said the M got uploaded to a Russian IP.
    about Trump regime · at
  • Right? Well, you may you may not know that on Thursday it was announced that Trump has added a framed photo of himself standing with Vladimir Putin to the White House decor.…
    about Vladimir Putin · at
  • Well, he was asked about the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretty, and he said that he was more he felt more for Renee Good because her parents were Trump fans, and she he…
    about Renee Mlin Good · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Anthony Davis — Person · Host · 3 mentions · first at
    Hosts the interview, frames the episode’s questions around collective grief, propaganda, and practical resistance strategies.
  • Dr. Steven Hassan — Person · Main guest · 2 mentions · first at
    Primary expert guest explaining demoralization, gaslighting, and cult/mind-control dynamics in the context of Trumpism and U.S. politics.
    Also known as the cult expert, having successfully extracted himself from one in the 1970s. He's the author of four books, including The Cult of Trump. Dr.
  • Alex Jeffrey Prey — Person · Referenced victim/hero figure · 5 mentions · first at
    Central example used to discuss state propaganda/gaslighting and public reaction; described as an ICU nurse and protest participant killed amid ICE actions.
  • Renee Mlin Good — Person · Referenced victim/hero figure · 4 mentions · first at
    Paired with Alex Prey as a key incident used to illustrate propaganda, empathy gaps, and political violence under the Trump regime (as described).
  • Vladimir Putin — Person · Referenced foreign leader · 3 mentions · first at
    Referenced as the alleged external influence/beneficiary in claims about Trump’s alignment with Russia and symbolic gestures (framed photo).
  • Joe Rogan — Person · Referenced media platform gatekeeper · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a high-reach host whose platform could amplify Hassan’s message; discussed in terms of outreach/pressure campaign by listeners.
    I hear I don't know about you Anthony but I hear from people saying hey Steve you should be on Joe Rogan's show. And I'm like I was on his show 10 years ago.
  • Elon Musk — Person · Referenced political/tech actor · 2 mentions · first at
    Referenced in claims about data access/‘hacking’ and as part of a broader critique of authoritarian-aligned actors and propaganda gestures.
    These people are Nazis, not neo-Nazis, but they do have and are displaying Nazi tendencies, not least the Nazi salute that we've seen from Elon Musk and Laura Ingram and Tom Hman and Steve Bannon, but the fact that a lot of this mentality.
  • Frank George — Person · Referenced expert (psychology/neuroscience) · 2 mentions · first at
    Cited as a trusted neuroscientist/psychologist explaining pathological narcissism and how dementia may reduce executive control over personality pathology.
    I'm not a neuroscientist but neuroscientists I trust like Frank George what how they describe it is that with dementia the critical executive functioning part of our brain is getting less and less control.
  • Jack Smith — Person · Referenced public official · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as a truth-telling figure in recent hearings, used to contrast with perceived institutional complicity.
    It's five years since the violent coup attempt and we had some hearings recently and thank God for Jack Smith speaking truth to power and shame on the Supreme Court for giving Donald Trump, kingly immunity and shadow docketing.
  • Dave Troy — Person · Referenced expert source · 1 mention · first at
    Named as an analyst/expert the host relies on for interpretation of geopolitical dynamics (Putin/Trump/Epstein narrative).
    Shows a framed image of Trump and Putin at the summit in Alaska. some of my experts that I rely on, people like Dave Troy and others Yeah.
  • Seymour Hersh — Person · Referenced journalist · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced as an investigative journalist (My Lai, etc.) to contextualize U.S. historical wrongdoing and propaganda awareness.
    And there was just recently a brilliant documentary on Seymour Hersh called Cover Up and he covered the Mi Massacre and a number of other things, but it brought me back to the 70s and.
  • Mark Millie — Person · Referenced potential political figure · 1 mention · first at
    Raised as an example of a nonpartisan figure some want to run for president; used to discuss military credibility and resistance.
    Described that would bring balance and prevent something like this from ever happening again. I talked to one man who said Mark Millie, he should be run for president. He's not political.

Companies & orgs

  • Supreme Court — Company · Key argument · 3 mentions · first at
    Critiqued for its decisions and perceived alignment with the Trump administration.
  • ICE — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed in the context of its role in current political events and its impact on communities.
  • Heritage Foundation — Company · Strategy · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of the discussion on political strategies and their implications.
    A lot of the bad got undone. They were wishful thinking it was going to be the same. And we knew as experts tracking that Opus Day and Heritage Foundation project 2025, the…
  • DHS — Company · Case study · 2 mentions
    Mentioned in the context of its role in current political events.
    They attacked, that he was brandishing a gun, literal stuff that did not happen. and for you know the DHS secretary to say it with a straight face then for it to be repeated by Steven Miller and all of the individuals. I.
  • Colombia University — Company · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of academic research on the current political climate.
    The a professor at Colombia University, Kevin J. Daty. He published a paper a couple of weeks ago entitled the politics of emotions in the age of Trumpism which argued that the.

Concepts & topics

  • Trump regime — Concept · Core topic · 3 mentions · first at
    Discusses the current administration's policies and their effects on democracy and society.
  • MAGA — Concept · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Central theme of the episode, discussing the political movement and its impact on society.
  • MAGA Republican — Concept · Target audience · 2 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a demographic within the Republican Party supporting Trump's policies.
    Kind of aching pain that we are currently living with. And maybe it's the case that MAGA the difference between MAGA Republicans in this moment who still support the Trump…
  • Opus Day — Concept · Strategy · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of the discussion on political strategies and their implications.
    A lot of the bad got undone. They were wishful thinking it was going to be the same. And we knew as experts tracking that Opus Day and Heritage Foundation project 2025, the…
  • Citizens United — Concept · Key argument · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed in the context of its impact on political funding and democracy.
    Well, I want to get back to Citizens United, which is talk about a brainwashing use of words. It's the opposite. It's corporations unleashed, for dark money. And a lot of.
  • Second Amendment — Concept · Key argument · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of gun rights and their role in current political events.
    Two cartridges, the whole thing. The reality was it was in a holster on his back. He never took it out. He has a license for concealed and open carry.

Places & events

  • Nazi regime — Event · Historical context · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of historical parallels to current political events.
    Show, but I did a live stream with an she's written books on Nazi resistance of Germans during the Nazi regime. I had no knowledge of this until I read her books. there were…
  • Vietnam War — Event · Historical context · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of historical parallels to current political events.
    Right? And I wanted to believe that America was just and post World War II etc. I was in the last draft lottery to Vietnam. And by the age of 16, I was realizing I don't believe in this war in Vietnam. I think they're lying to us.
  • World War II — Event · Historical context · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of historical parallels to current political events.
    So I grew up in the American dream, right? And I wanted to believe that America was just and post World War II etc. I was in the last draft lottery to Vietnam. And by the age of 16, I was realizing I don't believe in this war in.
  • Grand Canyon — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as an example of awe-inspiring natural beauty.
    A big believer in a gratefulness practice, a wonder practice, which is about looking and remembering awe like when you went to the Grand Canyon and saw it for the first time.…

Full transcript with timestamps

It's Sunday, February 1, 2026. I'm Anthony Davis. Welcome to the Weekend Show, where we make the time to consider the news of the week. You can support my work and independent journalism at patreon.com/5minutnews. Our guest today is a licensed mental health professional and therapist with a PhD in organizational psychology. He's also known as the cult expert, having successfully extracted himself from one in the 1970s. He's the author of four books, including The Cult of Trump. Dr. Steven Hassan, welcome back to the Weekend Show.

Thanks so much, Anthony. I love your work and always a pleasure to reconnect with you on your show, which is fantastic. Stephen, since we last spoke, um, you know, we made a lot of predictions about where America might find itself if it subscribed to the re-election of Trump and how his regime this time around would be unleashed. Um, and as we speak, we seem to be in the midst of a of a an uncivil war with uh, you know, Minnesota literally looking like a a war zone with ICE and border uh agents causing an enormous amount of discomfort to people, not least the murder of of two um, American citizens. This has caused shock waves right around the country, of course. But really my first question talks about this feeling that we are all experiencing that this age of Trumpism is not just political. It's an emotional ordeal and and you know it settles into our nervous system and has reshaped how we think and feel and

imagine the future. Is is there a a word to describe this kind of collective depression or funk or sense of grief that we are all experiencing right now?

Wow. So, let me say that the word and it's part of psychological warfare is demoralization. And it's a technique that's been used by the CIA and and us on other countries we didn't like. And it's been used by Russia and China and Iran and Nazis and others on us to polarize us. So the idea, Anthony, is that we're in a coup. We're we're under psychological warfare siege through the media and social media and people are realizing that things are not normal. A lot of people were in in wishful thinking land that the because the first Trump presidency didn't destroy everything. It was terrible, but a lot of the bad got undone. They were wishful thinking it was going to be the same. And we we knew as experts tracking that Opus Day and Heritage Foundation project 2025, the Supreme Court hack of Opus Day, we knew this was going to be horrible and it's living up to our expectations.

But but basically, I want to say I'm I'm more hopeful now than I have been. It's been a year since he took over in power. It's five years since the violent coup attempt and we had some hearings recently and thank God for Jack Smith speaking truth to power and shame on the Supreme Court for giving Donald Trump, you know, kingly immunity and shadow docketing all of these horrible um permissions to to do war on the American people. But I'm happy to say that while people are exhausted and they're they're they're getting really really worried and and are skeptical, a lot of great people are stepping up.

And I'd love to see more leadership from the opposition. Uh and I'd love to see messaging that harvests all the disillusioned MAGA people because there's a whole lot of them. and and a lot of of of good can be done if we just get our act together.

The a professor at um Colombia University, Kevin J. Daty. He uh published a paper a couple of weeks ago entitled the politics of emotions in the age of Trumpism which argued that the um the understanding the present moment requires taking emotions seriously not as distortions of politics but as its driving force and amongst those emotions he describes that loss stands out as especially pervasive. I am feeling this. You know, my wife is feeling this. The people I interact with are all feeling this. And I, you know, I think that loss and grief is an area that we wouldn't immediately associate with the moment. But actually, it does quite a good job of describing that that kind of aching pain that we are currently living with. And and maybe it's the case that MAGA the difference between MAGA Republicans in this moment who still support the the Trump regime and everybody else is is empathy. You

know, empathy for people being abducted, empathy for cities being swarmed with with military personnel and that sadness, that sense of loss for the democracy.

Yeah. So let me say the human species has succeeded so incredibly because of trust and because we are social beings and emotional beings. We a lot of people walk around with the incorrect belief that we're rational. We're not rational. We're not we rationalize but we're emotional and social beings. and um the the the malignant narcissists, the Donald Trump's and many in his administration, one of the characteristics of this this psychopathological uh personality trait is no empathy, no ability to step into other people's shoes and feel. But that's an aberration. Most people feel and and care. And I want to point out that Renee Good and Alex Prey, both who in my mind were courageous heroes, especially Alex Prey, um they were white, they weren't black, they weren't Hispanic.

And Alex Prey in particular, uh is was was an ICU nurse at the VA helping helping veterans. And it's pissed off so many MAGA vets, so many people in law enforcement because their lives depend on critical care nursing and such. So I really want people to to start doing good inventory on their mental health. I want people to understand that when you're online 8 to 10 hours a day, all of this social media content is aimed at emotional manipulation, outrage, disgust, anger, or love and compassion, too, but a lot of outrage and disgust, you know, uh ble if it bleeds, it leads is the old um media expression.

And we need to to to really pay attention to our time. How much time do we need to be emotionally manipulated online? And I want to call out, we need people like you, Anthony, who care about facts, who want to be accountable for what you're sharing. We need we need experts that we can rely on for factual information to give us direction on how to move forward in a way to try to flip the the this the elections from what Trump wants, which is no elections or or or uh uh infiltrated elections and taking away ballot boxes and and making the post Did you hear about the post office will no longer postmark uh

mail in voting. That's a big problem if you Yeah, if your postark is problem. But I I want So I just want to say a few more things if I may, Anthony. People need to sleep 7 to N hours and most people are sleepd deprived and sleep deprivation is one of the most common brainwashing techniques in my bite model of authoritarian control as a mooney. And you mentioned that I was an occult in the 70s. As a mooney, I was sleeping 3 to four hours a night, 7 days a week. So I my critical faculties were not online at all. And if people are not getting 7 to n hours, you need to do lifestyle changes. Things like turn off your phone an hour to two before bedtime. Go to bed at the same time.

Wake up at the same time. Best to wake up with light. exercise first thing in the morning. Don't turn on your phone, [snorts]

listen to music. I advise people to charge it in the other room. Don't charge it next to the bed because there is that temptation because there's always something there. The doom scrolling that we often describe that you can find yourself waking up for the bathroom and and and then doom scrolling for an hour at 3:00 a.m. It's so unhelpful.

No, I don't. I So, I not only turn it off, but I put mine in a Faraday bag. And if your people don't know what a Faraday bag is, it your phone even when you turn it off is not off and it's sending signals all the time.

But this cuts the the link and so I carry a Faraday bag. I put my iPad in it, my my MacBook Pro in it because I don't want me to be online all the time. I don't want to be tracked all the time. And we're in a situation where where Palunteer and Teal are and Musk hacked all of our private data, gave it to Russia according to a whistleblower who said the M got uploaded to a Russian IP address when he was doing his Doge uh slashing. So, we're in a different reality and but we're going to get through this. There's no option in my opinion, especially if you care. You have children, you have grandchildren. I'm a parent, you're a parent. We have to be making choices that are smart and wise and where we can look at ourselves in the mirror and feel like we're contributing in a constructive way, even if it's a little bit every day. and and and so amplifying positive powerful messages is good. I'm

a big believer in in a gratefulness practice, a wonder practice, which is about looking and remembering awe like when you went to the Grand Canyon and saw it for the first time. For me, scuba diving and being underwater in underwater reefs that were gorgeous. These are the things that make us human, our our people we love. Uh we we we need to pay attention to recharging our batteries. If we're if we're low on batteries, time to recharge, not do more. Part of the problem, as I see it, and we've experienced this in the last couple of weeks, is an extreme level of gaslighting from the from the Trump regime that makes us feel like we're going mad. And I want to talk specifically about this contradiction, you know, contradicting things we see with our own eyes regarding Alex Prey and Renee Good with the fact that we have these videos. We've all watched them from multiple angles. And then to hear Christine Noom come out and say,

"Believe what I say, not what you see." That they were domestic terrorists, that they attacked, that that he was brandishing a gun, literal stuff that did not happen. and for for you know the DHS secretary to say it with a straight face then for it to be repeated by Steven Miller and and all of the individuals. I mean even Donald Trump initially was saying the same thing paring these scripts that make us feel like we have been deceived in some way. What is that? I mean I'm sure you have a lot of insight as to what they are doing there because it's not normal and we should not normalize it

right. So first let me just say gaslight if you haven't seen the 1940s film was a film about a woman married wealthy woman I should add married to a guy who wanted her fortune and was trying to make her believe she was crazy. And part of it back then was there was gas lights in houses. Believe it or we're age aging ourselves out. But the point is is that she realized because someone from the outside said, "No, the lights are going on and off." And she realized I'm not crazy. I what I'm seeing is true. Right? So it's about reality testing. The next point I want to make is that this is a very established propaganda mind control technique to uh by authoritarians to make people question themselves and not them. But the cure is what's called meta cognition or meta commenting meaning talking to yourself. And now I'm going to quote a former FBI trainer who said when he was training people to go

undercover, he would teach them social psychological techniques to expect to be done on them. And he said to his trainees, when you can name it, you can claim it. And it was a brilliant way of describing what works, which is that's saying to yourself, that's a lie. They're gaslighting us. This is psychological warfare. Every time you hear a lie, say to yourself, "That's a lie." Why? Because now we have neuroscientists who are tracking our brain reactions to lies. And we remember, you know, gerbles and the big lie and repeating the lie over and over again. Now, we know that with neuroscience that when the brain hears a lie over and over and over and over again, it starts to act as if it's true.

So, you're describing the illusurary truth effect as I understand it. The brain starts thinking it's true. Unless you when the the the coding is coming in and you're saying bull bull crap, lie. And I suppose if we are compromised because we're exhausted and we haven't had enough sleep and we are traumatized and we are depressed that it it's in that physical and mental state it is even harder to kind of have a have a kind of clear picture of what is true and what is false.

Yes. Except that we're not living in a post-truth world. That's a propaganda line. Truth still matters. Science matters. Physics matters. And we need moral values. And we need to be in our bodies and the here and now. And the way to stop the brainwashing that's happening in mass online is to understand yourself, to know your values, to have clarity about it, but especially to understand the techniques that are being used on us. and name them and claim them because for me people love reading the cult of Trump because I offered an explanatory framework. This was not coming out of the blue. This was based on 50 years of plus lived experience. I mean I was literally in the room. You've heard me say this before Anthony on previous broadcasts. I was in the room with Moon in 1974. He said, "Democracy is satanic.

God wants a theocracy. We're going to infiltrate the government. We're going to eventually take over the government. We're going to take over the world. We're going to amend the Constitution and make it a capital offense for people who violate our rules." And I thought it was a great thing as a as a brainwashed mooney. And when I woke up and got out, I was because I was educated about the Holocaust. I I understood I read 1984. I read the rise and fall of the Third Reich. But it happened to me. And that's part of my passion

to to tell the public, stop thinking it only happens to uneducated people who are not smart. Understand it's a feature of the human species to adapt.

But they know the truth is that we're all experiencing it now. You know, I too have studied the the Second World War and the one gap in my knowledge was always understanding how Germans were converted into Nazis and and and were kind of taken down this very dark road that led to the Holocaust. And I actually seem to kind of get it now, now that I'm seeing ICE agents behaving in the way that they are, being given this moral authority and blanket immunity and and and being able to be masked as well. I mean, interestingly, Nazi officers were rarely masked and uh you know, there's a there's the first difference, but I it is it will get to that point if something doesn't change in the meantime.

Yeah. Let let me ask you when Christine Gnome tells us that Alex Prey was brandishing a a gun and they were very specific. 9 mm, two cartridges, the whole thing. The reality was it was in a holster on his back. He never took it out. He has a license for concealed and open carry. It's legal in in Minnesota. You know, there's no issue here. He took it to a protest because only two weeks ago a woman was executed at point blank range. I mean, if you are a gun user or a gun owner, then I, you know, I kind of don't blame you to want to protect yourself and exercise your your Second Amendment right.

But when Christine Gnome told us the opposite of what we saw, does she know that she's lying? Is it done with intent? Or is she so brainwashed into the cult of Trump that she is just operating as maybe a German officer may have been and is just her complicity is so total that that she doesn't realize that she's operating outside the walls of reality.

So I don't know her. I so I can only speculate based on my life experience and especially when I was in the mooneyies and I do think the cult of Trump operates like a mind control authoritarian cult. When I was in the mooneyies and being told to lie, I had been trained into a mindset of us versus them, good versus evil, um, and and black and white, etc. uh and I was taught to do thoughtstoppping techniques whenever a doubt was arising in my consciousness like this is not true why am I lying I was taught to perceive it was demons invading my mind and my soul [snorts] so I would chant crush Satan crush Satan glory to heaven peace on earth etc and so and I was also kept so busy that I was never there was never any time to kick back and reflect and go, is this really what I want to do? Am I enjoying my life? So that you're putting out, you know, fire after fire after fire. That said, she knows that because it just

happened to Marjorie Taylor Green. She knows that if she speaks out and criticizes, she's out and she's a traitor, no less. and then to expect death threats from the Russian bots and whatever other MAGA people. So, it's a mindset and but I I I don't know her. I don't know who she was prior. I think the average, you know, American and and and citizen of the world likes to think that people were born evil and some people are born without empathy and they have this attachment severe attachment disorder as Donald Trump uh did as I documented in my book. But the more important thing is that I really want the public to see the technique that they're lying and call it out. That's a blatant lie. How can we follow and trust the administration on anything?

That's the messaging I want to hear over and over and over again. And I really I'm so happy celebrities are speaking out. Bruce Springsteen just wrote a song. I love Bruce Springsteen, the boss from New Jersey, I should add. But what I want to see is more celebrities amplifying former MAGAs who are now speaking up, right? I would love to see them pairing like learning from them and amplifying them because I think we can get a lot more people out of the cult of Trump joining the rest of us. But family and friends need to get past their anger and trauma because so many people have blocked or muted not invited family members who've gone MAGA to family events. And I've been saying from the beginning, love is stronger than mind control.

Understand if you attack the leader, the doctrine or the policy of a cult head on, you're just going to drive the cult identity deeper in and to make the cult identity believe they're being persecuted. The better thing is open-ended warm things like [snorts] forgive me, I want you back in my life. Let's not talk politics. If you want to talk politics, I'll listen. But learn to be a good listener and then ask questions like how are you feeling about the situation with Alex Prey open-ended let hear what they say because they may happily surprise you

or how how has your life improved with a year of Donald Trump in office and that might work and that might be feeling like a setup question by a professional interviewer.

Yeah, apologies. But the the bottom line though is that the brainwashing doesn't erase your core self.

Yeah. That's what I want everyone to understand. If there are friends or family that have gone MAGA on you and you've given up hope, change your belief system, please. And welcome people because people are going to be leaving. And we need we need to organize and and we need to get a me messaging campaign that's effective. And for me calling it as it is, I'm I'm utterly convinced that Russia recruited Donald Trump in the 80s according to Yuri Schvettz Craiger's books and his own behavior. I mean, he the guy came back from his first visit in Moscow and took out a full page ad in the New York Times against NATO.

It was not in his mind before he went to Moscow the first time. Like, look at the behaviors, not what he says, but the actual behaviors,

right? Well, you you may you may not know that uh on Thursday it was announced that Trump has added a framed photo of himself standing with Vladimir Putin to the White House decor. Um this is in the the palm room which connects the West Wing to the executive residence shows a framed image of Trump and and Putin at the summit in Alaska. Uh

some of my experts that I rely on, people like Dave Troy and others Yeah. uh told me that Putin was getting fed up with Trump not doing exactly as he was told. And it was Putin pushing we got to push the Epstein files and start weaning Americans off of Trump because he's not a reliable puppet anymore. And so I see that as a trying to give a bone back to the dog and say don't don't get rid of me yet. Right.

But the Epstein files, I need to mention them. Yes. Trump was is all over them. Last I saw was 13,000 mentions and they all

and only one or 2% of the files have been released. And so the the concern, it seems, is that Trump will even go as far as invading another country or capturing its its leader to distract from the Epstein files. It's that's and that's [clears throat] another thing I want to say to the public. Most normal people can't imagine the mind of a cult leader. They can't imagine the malignant narcissism. I interviewed a psychologist and neuroscientist on my podcast uh cults culture and and coercion. Hope you don't mind I plugged it. But Frank George uh taught a whole course on pathological narcissism and he he he coined uh homo sapiens narcissisticus.

He's like we have to understand his brain is not like ours and it's all about him. So if it if he's trying to stay in power, he will do anything. Well, he he was asked about the the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretty, and he said that he was more he felt more for Renee Good because her parents were Trump fans, and she he referred to to himself in the third person, as he often does. And and that's why he kind of, you know, he somehow managed to make the execution of two American citizens all about him. And that tells you everything you need to know about how unwell and compromised this this creature really is.

And honestly, I really think people who are close to GOP politicians, sons daughters sisters brothers aunts, uncles, need to be messaging to GOP people. this is a profoundly unfit to serve person in the White House and that he he can destroy the world if he's not stopped by the people around him.

Well, I I've said a few times on my programs now that I fear that he's the type of person that thinks he could win a nuclear war.

Yeah. And and and that is the problem, isn't it? that, you know, let's talk a little bit about the the the psychology of Trump just for a moment because there are two lanes here. There's the personality disorder, the malignant narcissism that you've described and him just being a terrible person. Maybe we can put that into that category as well. But the other one is dementia and and this is something that he actually kind of spoke about it the other day was referring to his father and all that thing but he wasn't specific and and dementia is hereditary and his father h had dementia and so we are seeing these kind of clear sundowning events. So how do we recognize the difference between him with his personality disorder on on one track and and the dementia on the other?

Cuz if we use him confusing Iceland and Greenland in his speech at at Davos, like you know, he he got it wrong three or four times in in one or two sentences and kept saying Iceland when he meant Greenland. Is that dementia or or is is that just his incompetence? Which category do do these issues fall into? I'm not a neuroscientist but neuroscientists I trust like Frank George what how they describe it is that with dementia the critical executive functioning part of our brain is getting less and less control over the personality disorder.

So that's how it's best explained to me. He's not going to get healthier. he's not going to be fit to lead. And so the question is, are people going to blindly follow him as he's destroying their livelihood, their future um as well as the future of the world? Uh so again, I want people who are listening to this to understand, get past the I can't believe this is happening phase, the disbelief. This is reality and it's it's we're either going to fight, flee, freeze, or fawn. Fawn means join MAGA in my opinion. Not an option.

Freeze. Do nothing. Fight is your only is our only option. And I don't mean violently. I mean with our voices, with our money, with our time. And we need to spend more time in with human beings in real life, not online pursuing influencers who may be bots.

Yes. Yes. Because I mean that's something that people say all the time in in in the comments to a lot of our commentary is yes. Yes. You know, the analysis is all very well, but what can we actually do about it? And I suppose because fascism hasn't really presented itself in the US for a while, people are not equipped to know how to take this on and and or even how to recognize it in the first place. I mean, the other problem we have is that the media is now complicit, it seems, and and and media ownership has obviously changed over time and now Donald Trump and his henchmen pretty much control much of the mainstream media. And then even social media like Meta for example which is Facebook and Instagram and and WhatsApp uh you know that that all falls under Facebook and and Facebook is effectively now working for MAGA too. So we you know we are kind of in a difficult place to see the different you know to to get any

clarity when when there are these obstacles. So let's just look at that for a second. What we can do and and and your description, these four options are are certainly very helpful. So let's say that we do choose the fight.

Mhm. Could we talk a little bit more about what that looks like? Obviously, as you describe, it's nonviolent protest, but you know, is there something else that that people can can do? Maybe because we, you know, you mentioned use our money. A lot of people don't have a disposable income to to to use. So, how do people put their best foot forward when they're facing this this kind of fascist takeover of government?

So, we live in a complex system world, meaning that it's not a linear solution. It's a multi-tiered solution. And there are some people with who are influencers who have a bigger uh audience etc. There are some people who have more money that is disposable that can be used for good and we need to be thinking about like I I hear I don't know about you Anthony but I hear from people saying hey Steve you should be on Joe Rogan's show. And I'm like I was on his show 10 years ago. I asked him to come back on and he didn't want me back on and I recently emailed but you should be messaging Joe Rogan. Hey, have have Steve Hassan back on. The guy who wrote the cult of Trump, we want to hear him. If he gets 30,000 messages to have me on, I bet he'd have me on, you know. So, that's like an inexpensive use of people's time. If you have read my book and you understand my values and what I'm trying to teach, that could be

really, really helpful. But just organizing locally, go to your library, take out a room, talk to your neighbors. We're going to get together and talk about what we can do. Some people organize a book club, but the idea is to gather community in real life with people that that can watch your back because when the times get hard, we need neighbors and we are facing a loneliness epidemic and I think it's largely postpandemic social media addiction that's been happening. Trump, just to go back to it for a second, also confused the words peace and war. Th this could be a problem, as I'm sure you can appreciate. Um, there's always talk of the 25th amendment and this kind of stuff. And you know, I've always said that I don't think that Republicans in Congress or the, you know, in in in the Senate especially would kind of ratify that because there is this allegiance to the the regime. And we've seen very

few defectors. you know, occasionally I mean people like Rand Paul obviously are prepared to to to speak out, but in the main the brainwashing has also gone on within the Republican party and and whilst you know the the Supreme Court clearly wouldn't remove Trump because they are also complicit, but the Republicans could and and make some change. They're not saying that what comes after Trump would necessarily be any better, but it it certainly might help kind of break down that cult if the leader is no longer at at the head.

Could we just talk to the the brainwashing or the pressure campaign or the leverage that Trump has over Republicans in Cong Congress for a moment? Why is there no, you know, this subordination thing? Why is there nobody that's prepared to recognize and see the the the destruction of the republic and want to deal with that?

Well, I want to get back to Citizens United, which is talk about a brainwashing use of words. It's the opposite. It's corporations unleashed, you know, for dark money. And a lot of politicians rely on dark money to get elected. And so they feel beholding to their donors, not just to Trump. And a lot of the donors downstream from Trump are the same people. So there's that element. The question though is if they really realize that they're helping to destroy democracy and destroy human rights, they should resign. If they, you know, seriously that's an option.

It's you know and then they may say but my career but honestly will you have a career will you have a country and and there there will be no end to purges as authoritarians get control look at what's what happens in authoritarian countries when anybody uh threatens the the powers that are are in

but we are almost there Stephen aren't we that's the problem so when you say when we look to authoritarian countries I'm looking at America now and America

Europe thinks we we're there. It's finally the European leaders are finally realizing that this is we're in a I loved Mark Carney's speech. I think he really nailed it. I think it was the third standing ovation in Davos history.

Yes. Meanwhile, in Trump's speech, people were walking out and and and it didn't really hold water, which infuriated him. But there the European leaders are our allies, the opposition here and there should be coordination happening and I'm not sure that there is but I've been recently asked to speak at a conservative gathering called principles first in February and I looked at the speakers George Conway, Adam Kinzinger, Adam Walsh, a lot people from the bull work and others and um Rich Lois who is leaving MAGA is is going to be speaking and I I want to be there. Thank you for inviting me and I want people to understand that this is really about planetary survival about human rights, rule of law, science matters, truth matters. And if you read their principles, I I believe in all of them.

Like things like the Constitution, we should follow the con and the Bill of Rights and

Well, those are things that Donald Trump doesn't really know uh what what they are as we've discovered. But but I is there because I'm starting to realize that when we hear this phrase, it's unamerican. It's unamerican to put troops on the streets. It's unamerican to treat people of color in this way, to kidnap people and separate families and, you know, to send people to concentration camps. It's unamerican to brandish weapons and all that. But I'm kind of starting to think that actually it's entirely American and that and that America has always been the Wild West and that if you were to interrogate those MAGA Republicans in Congress who are complicit not just to their donors but also to to Trump that they don't believe in human rights and they don't believe in democracy. And actually a huge part of of that con former conservative movement, I don't really refer to them as conservatives

anymore, is that they are they do not subscribe to this kind of liberal vision of the world where empathy and kindness and and and support and love for others counts for anything. It's all about money and it's all about white supremacy and not much else. So I grew up in the American dream, right? And I wanted to believe that America was just and post World War II etc. I was in the last draft lottery to Vietnam. And by the age of 16, I was realizing I don't believe in this war in Vietnam. I think they're lying to us.

They're they're they're they're they're they're dropping these the Agent Orange and everything else. So, and and I just want to add I was invited to Moscow when the Soviet Union fell by psychiatrists and psychologists, Anthony, because so many cults were going into Russia and they wanted to get a handle on what what's with these Western cults. So I was presenting to the to the mental health experts and and their reaction was but but Dr. Hassan you're describing the whole system of pedagogy of the Soviet Union and Dr.

Hassan don't you understand we would put dissident into psychiatric facilities for for speaking critically about the regime. Long story short, I said, "If the shoe fits." And what I came to learn was that by being there and I got to meet people who had never met an American and they they were raised to fear us, that we were going to nuke them. And I started riffing on how I believed in my government. And then I learned about the Vietnam War. I learned they lied to us. And there was just recently a brilliant documentary on Seymour Hersh uh called Cover Up uh and he he covered the Mi Massacre and a number of other things, but it brought me back to the 70s and yeah, we really did a lot of bad things.

Iraq and Afghanistan were pretty bad as well. and and right but that's not a reason to want to to end this experiment in democracy and forget about the aspirations yes

of what what liberal progressivism is about. I want women's rights. I want gay rights. I want to respect ind indigenous rights. I want minority religions to be respected.

But all of those things that you just listed are are on the chopping block. all of them.

And that's why there's not an option to just watch binge watch, you know, Netflix, but we really need to be spending every day some time and energy to contributing to the resistance. I'd like to call out Ann Nelson. I don't know if you've had her recently on your show, but I did a live stream with an she's written books on Nazi resistance of Germans during the Nazi regime. I had no knowledge of this until I read her books. Um, there were three million German citizens who weren't publicly critical of Hitler, but were doing everything they could to gum up the works, to sabotage, and to give intel to the enemies of Germany. And some 300,000 out of three million were found by the Gestapo and executed. But I had no idea there was an organized resistance during the Nazi regime. I think we need to be thinking if if we can't win this election, get the Congress back, get the Senate back, and win 2028 in a fair free

fair election, we're going to need to be thinking about how we're going to resist this. And it may be people are moving states, you know, moving to Massachusetts, to California, it's New York etc. as as as a protector because that that's how we're different than Germany. Germany was tiny compared to the United States.

There also there is some comfort in knowing that there are more of us than there are of them. And even though there are 10,000 potential ICE agents coming online soon, they still don't outnumber the the civilians who are are on the right side of history. And and whilst that will obviously cause skirmishes and I don't doubt that more people will be executed in the street. You know we we we you know nine people now have died in in ICE custody but I have no doubt that there will be many more because there doesn't seem to be any deescalation. There was this whole fake thing with moving Bino out and bringing Homeman in to Minnesota but there's been no deescalation. And so it it suggests to me, I actually saw a a video of of um Tom Hman at a Turning Point USA event doing the Nazi salute at least half a dozen times.

This is what we're dealing with. I've been criticized by some for saying that these people are Nazis, not neo-Nazis, but they do have and are displaying Nazi tendencies, not least the Nazi salute that we've seen from Elon Musk and Laura Ingram and Tom Hman and Steve Bannon, but the fact that a lot of this mentality is about white supremacy, the kind of, you know, the the the eugenics and that America is for Americans and Americans only. I'm quoting Steven Miller there. Th this is a real problem, isn't it? Because what what ICE is really doing is ethnic cleansing now. They've criminalized asylum. They've run out of criminals to deports and now they're looking beyond criminals to anybody o of of color and anybody who gets in the way of somebody being abducted.

Yeah. No, definitely. I so um I there's so many things I want to say, but I guess essentially what I want to say is any Jew that is supporting Trump and MAGA is going to have a rude awakening because the Christian nationalists don't view Judaism as a legitimate religious tradition and they're in cahoots with the religious extremists. in the Netanyahu administration which I put in the cult of Trump as part of the bad actors influenced by Russia I would add etc. So I think we need to come back to values like the Abrahamic tradition of having your tent open for any stranger to get water and food and comfort, right?

because you may need someone to give you food and water and comfort someday in the future. That's that's the future of of humanity is realizing we need each other and this kind of identity politics and cleansing anyone that isn't like uh the the the ruling power. It's it's never going to work. [clears throat] And America is a a country of immigrants. Let's face it. we invaded the indigenous people and wiped them out.

Right. Well, Trump has immigrant ancestry and he's married to an immigrant and his ex-wife was an immigrant. And I mean, this is the hypocrisy that that you know, so many of you know that there's so much kind of Irish blood in the in in and Cuban blood in in this in this administration. And it and yet it doesn't seem to count as far as they're concerned. Well, I think it's a messaging thing and they have bigger platforms than us, but I I'm I'm talking with uh a Hispanic uh expert and consultant who who has been

saying the Hispanics are waking up who voted for Trump even though they were in megaurches and their pastor said God chose Trump. They're they're seeing their loved ones captured and they're living in fear. There's a lot of people really waking up from the the trance and the programming. So, I I I guess I'm biased, Anthony. I'd rather be positive and hopeful and empower people than be cynical and pessimistic. I have my moments. I don't want to deny reality. Yeah. But I also

I I just really want a future that's worth living. I have a 23-year-old son. I want him to be happy. I want him to get married and have kids and, you know, I want I want everyone else to be happy and such. And what's happening now is evil. It's wrong. And and I just want to salute Alex Prey again and Renee Good. I I I heard a story. I think it's now valid that he had a skirmish with ICE a week or 11 days earlier and broke some ribs, but he was still out protecting women from being attacked by ICE. Like, I love this man.

A beautiful face. You can you can tell when you look at a photo. I mean, I'm very pleased they projected his image, you know, 100 ft high in Time Square because, you know, these people become heroes in these moments. Um, and I hate to say it, but I think the fact that these people were kind of white and middle class is part of the reason why it has uh reverberated so much. And obviously we know the history of of um police brutality towards black and brown people and you know it rarely moves the needle for change. But but the fact that these people were were white and as you say him working for the VA has made a huge difference because at the end of the day humanity should win out.

Ultimately, we are all the same despite our our skin pigmentation. But that's why I think it's so important, you know, the the adage of they came for the Jews and I said nothing cuz I wasn't Jewish, etc. It's like showing up as white people when Hispanics are being targeted, when black people's. It's so important.

Yes. And we we have seen that in the protest you know in in the BLM pro protests and in the women's march protests and in the no kings protests these these protests are are becoming much more integrated and there really is a sense that that there is a kind of a community that doesn't need to be split to the gay community or the black community or or you know women you know there's plenty of men at the women's march and I think that it's that solidarity that as you it does kind of make a difference. Finally, I just want to talk about one thing because there seems to be this kind of race against time like what's going to happen first, the the election of 2028 or Donald Trump's mortality.

It's almost like, you know, the the the the jury's out as to whether or not he is healthy or not, whether he is going to survive because of his health. We obviously know about the hand and the bruising and the the gate and the walking and the use of language or you know the poor use of language. But if Trump doesn't make it through for health reasons, this cult of Trump, does it go away when the leader disappears? Or if JD Vance was to um assume the role of president even before this 4-year term is up and and assume that that that role, how does the how is the cult affected?

How is that? Is that brainwashing? Does that change? Are people going to be as supportive of a JD Vance presidency and all of the the hellscape because JD Vance is very much into all of this stuff. In fact, further if you listen to his speech at the Munich Security Conference, you'll know that he is suggesting that that European nations need to move to the far right and and and you know are are having their what do they call it? societal erasia, cultural erasia, but I mean this is a very dangerous individual. So, so how how does the how does the country change without Trump?

So, I don't think he's going to last till 2028. Um whether he dies of natural causes by fear is another staged assassination. uh because I don't think he was hit in the ear and and miraculously recovered in two weeks with zero scarring in his ear. But my fear is that that somebody does take him out and makes him into a martyr. So that's I want him to be I want him to continue to keep doing damage the way he's doing by being opening his big mouth and lying the way he is. I don't think people are going to have the any charisma coming off of JD Vance at all. Um, he's a good he'll he'll read the scripts that are written for him, but he's not someone who's going to inspire people. I'll tell you my my gut fear is I saw a video of Baron Trump doing the Mussolini wave and Trump was smiling and that was like freaky weird scary crap.

But it reminded me that that Moon had his children and they were going to be his heirs for taking over the world. So my guess is that that Trump would like to keep it in the family is my best guess.

Right. Well, we're hearing that with this board of peace that Trump has created, this kind of scam organization that seeks to undermine the UN and NATO where Trump has made himself the chairman. All these authoritarian countries have signed up to be part of this board of peace. The irony is is not lost on us. But Trump can't be replaced. Only he can choose his successor. And they're talking about Donald Trump Jr. being the successor. What this does is it it guarantees Trump's future as world king outside of the US presidency and and and gives him this platform that you know, as you described with with Moon wanting to take over the world.

Yeah. Well, not in my watch. As long as I'm have breath, I am going to continue talking about brainwashing, mind control, how it's our mind, it's our body, and we should not give over our power and we should not allow fear to censor to for us to self censor. Yes. because we're afraid. And you know, I all I can say is we can focus on what's within our control to do and spend minimal time worrying about things that are outside of our control to do. And there are some individuals who have more influence, so they can have spend money or they can organize at a higher level than than a lot of the rest of us. But I've been saying this for I don't know six, seven years. We should have like a Manhattan project style thing where we get a lot of the most brilliant educated people together and map out a a 30, 40, 50year plan.

Yes. For how to recover from this. This is not going to be by 2026 or 2028. uh because the damage is so deep to the world order

and and certainly in this vacuum of any democratic leadership it seems that there is now a space for um new leadership maybe maybe a third party or a whole new system perhaps as you described that would would bring balance and prevent something like this from ever happening again. I talked to one man who said Mark Millie, he should be run for president. He's not political. He's not a Democrat or Republican. And he said that Trump's a fascist. That's what we need to organize. I was like, I don't know that he's interested in running for president. But it's interesting idea.

The the military is a good place to go, you know, because uh well, they have the clout to to shut this down.

That's right. It's it's funny, isn't it, that, you know, I've spoken to Americans who are praying for a military coup right now, but uh you know, if you if you look at the recent um events that have unfolded in Venezuela and and uh in Iran, you would kind of recognize that the military appears to be complicit, too. Um and and that is a worry.

Well, I'm not I'm not willing to sign off all the military. I guess I know some people who are in the military who reassure me that they really are following the constitution and not Donald Trump etc. But uh again, I really want to caution people from doom's predictions because we can we can fall victim of believing that that's what's going to happen. And and because we aren't believing in an alternate reality, we are not doing everything we can. And I really want to thank you for your platform. I want to say again people need experts they can trust to rely on them for independent journalism, investigative journalism and even if we are not on the big platforms with mil you know we we have people will find us and should follow you follow me and other people who are truth tellers and and um let's lift each other up and realize we're not alone.

rise to this challenge. It's so true. Okay. I'm so grateful to you for your expertise and and also for your optimism. Dr. Steven Hassan, thank you for joining the Weekend Show.

Always a pleasure. I'm Anthony Davis. Don't forget to support me and independent journalism at patreon.com/5minutnews. You can find my Substack at the Anthony Davis or you can join the FiveMinute News YouTube channel. I'll come back next Sunday with a brand new special guest and more factual news to discuss on the 5-minute news weekend show with Midas Touch.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "LIVE: Trump CULT EXPERT Reveals His TACTICS!!"?

Anthony Davis (Host), Dr. Steven Hassan (Guest).

What is "LIVE: Trump CULT EXPERT Reveals His TACTICS!!" about?

Dr. Steven Hassan, a cult expert and organizational psychologist, discusses the emotional impact of Trumpism in America, highlighting the pervasive sense of demoralization as a psychological tactic used to polarize and destabilize society. He explores how this collective feeling manifests in the populace amidst escalating political tensions and societal unrest.

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

27 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Anthony Davis, Dr. Steven Hassan, Trump regime, MAGA, Alex Jeffrey Prey, Renee Mlin Good. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "LIVE: Trump CULT EXPERT Reveals His TACTICS!!"?

The episode runs 1 h 1 min; the transcript is about 8,883 words in 91 timestamped sections.

More from MeidasTouch

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 2, 2026.