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[ SAY WHAT? ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/say-what)
# Nope, Not A (Terrifying) Cult
September 19 2022
Written by Abby Zimet.
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SAY WHAT? - Whoa. The frenzied, hateful, gonzo [**base -**](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/inside-the-cult-of-trump-his-rallies-are-church-and-he-is-the-gospel) in thrall to a cheap con man they blindly deemed "a vessel for God" - albeit a smiting, lying, transactional, grifting one - was always bad. Now, it's worse. Like, Leni Riefenstahl worse. With the pressure mounting - lawsuits, prosecutors, a Jan. 6 Committee bearing down - a flailing Trump has veered sharply to the right, [**threatening ](https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/15/trump-warns-of-problems-like-weve-never-seen-if-hes-indicted-00056911)mob-style "problems like we've never seen" and[ posting ](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-qanon-conspiracy-meme-storm-b2166618.html)brazenly QAnon-flavored missives and [**photos,**](https://twitter.com/EricColumbus/status/1569681073616945157?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1569681073616945157%7Ctwgr%5Efb5e98b708f05e15ee28733e83d7fed88deac5e3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Fraised-finger-heil-hitler-trump-ohio-rally_n_6326b54de4b046aa02401709) including one sporting a "Q" lapel pin with, "A storm is coming." Subtle. Aptly, he ended "the week he went QAnon" with a feverish, hate-spewing rally in Youngstown, Ohio. Ostensibly there to endorse cracker Senate candidate J.D. Vance - ever-gracious, he sneered, "J.D. is kissing my ass" - he was really there to [**rave,**](https://twitter.com/digby56/status/1571358512428773376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Escreen-name%3Adigby56%7Ctwcon%5Es1) literally. Ulysseus? Introduced by an equally demented Klan Mom MTG - he is the GOP's "one true leader" and God help us all - he railed to the [**less-than-massive**](https://twitter.com/andreapitzer/status/1571513247768911872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1571514545361014784%7Ctwgr%5E33299b896164f5ccbdd9c32e370723588577310d%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2022%2F9%2F18%2F2123633%2F--This-is-the-week-when-Trump-became-Qanon-Crowd-responds-with-bizarre-hand-sign-at-Trump-rally) crowd about a fictional America [**in ruins**](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1571286005491146752): No border, invasion by "millions of illegal aliens," crashing economy, enemy-of-the-people media, "horrible convicts," spying Obama, an "unhinged persecution." Aaron Rupar - thanks again for sitting through this - [**summarized**](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1571286005491146752) the tired jeremiad: “Murders, shootings stabbings, r-r-r-rapes, carjackings are *skyrocketing.*”
But it was at the [**end**](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1571308887248179200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1571308887248179200%7Ctwgr%5E07e53bfa8fbf0d66adfbad72f5d38dc39bde9c5e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.inquirer.com%2Fopinion%2Fcommentary%2Ftrump-qanon-music-ohio-rally-20220918.html) that things got *really* [**bizarre**](https://sports.yahoo.com/creepy-one-finger-salute-trump-124432953.html) - creepy, Wagnerian, Jonestown-Kool-Aid bizarre. As Trump began his final, hypnotic, hyperbolic lamentation of "a nation in decline," his babbling was theatrically accompanied by the [**swelling ](https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/trump-qanon-music-ohio-rally-20220918.html)soundtrack of somber strings in the QAnon anthem "Wwg1wga," a ridiculous title representing their puerile, stalwart slogan, "Where we go one, we go all.” Reportedly written by one "Richard Feelgood," it's meant to portray the rising storm that will soon [**destroy ](https://www.grid.news/story/misinformation/2022/08/10/no-dumb-questions-what-is-qanon/)the global satanic cabal of pedophiles out to get Trump - who in turn already [**used ](https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/official-video-posted-trumps-social-media-account-appears-use-qanon-song)the song in a post, prompting excited QAnoners to declare it "THE mother of all Q proofs." Yes, we are all in fascist middle school. As the music rose, the toxic sick old man[ blathered**](https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/status/1571475307990863872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1571475307990863872%7Ctwgr%5Ec3bc5d9d61a5799eb9ca06def12c230f6c4b3166%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Fraised-finger-heil-hitler-trump-ohio-rally_n_6326b54de4b046aa02401709) about election fraud, Hunter Biden's laptop, how "Whatever they do to me, I will endure their torment," and a cognitively impaired president - Biden not him - whose failings mean "we may end up in World War 3." In response, the rapt crowd [**raised, ](https://twitter.com/VABVOX/status/1571455690480173056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1571455690480173056%7Ctwgr%5Ebdefa01566ab5f25fd748936e4df664eed65e2a6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.inquirer.com%2Fopinion%2Fcommentary%2Ftrump-qanon-music-ohio-rally-20220918.html)en masse and zombie-like,[ ](https://twitter.com/VABVOX/status/1571455690480173056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1571455690480173056%7Ctwgr%5Ebdefa01566ab5f25fd748936e4df664eed65e2a6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.inquirer.com%2Fopinion%2Fcommentary%2Ftrump-qanon-music-ohio-rally-20220918.html)a straight-arm, index-finger, eerie [**salute**](https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1571530509204815874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1571530509204815874%7Ctwgr%5Eef5d1ca918648aaa1242e8dee8d5d751d53a1e9d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2F100217169554) toward the stage that we could swear we've seen before. Oh, right: 1930s Nuremberg. We assume the armbands are on order. But it's definitely not a cult.
*([**Abby Zimet**](https://www.commondreams.org/author/abby-zimet) has written CD's **[Further](https://www.commondreams.org/further)** column since 2008. A longtime, award-winning journalist, involved in women's, labor, anti-war, social justice and refugee rights issues. Email: )*
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