Trumpcast

Why People Fall for Trump’s Political Cult

A cult expert weighs in on Trumpism.

View Transcript
Illustration depicting a female with a microphone

Listen longer

Slate Plus members get ad-free versions of all Slate podcasts, plus extra segments, bonus episodes, and more. Try it free today.

Join Slate Plus

Episode Notes

Virginia Heffernan talks to Steven Hassan, author of The Cult of Trump, about why we fall for cults, Donald Trump’s brainwashing, and stories of his own deprogramming from a political cult in the 1970s.

Podcast production by Melissa Kaplan. Engineering help from Merritt Jacob.

About the Show

A podcast from Slate chronicling Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency and his current administration. Journalists Virginia Heffernan and León Krauze talk to reporters, historians, psychiatrists, and other experts to help explain who this man is and why this is happening, right now, in the United States of America.

All episodes

Host

Follow