On Cults of Personality

from Twitter


It’s been amusing watching Tom defend this tweet for an hour, an obvious sign he stepped in it.



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Most definitions of a “cult of personality” cite the likes of Stalin, Mussolini, Mao, and the Kim Dynasty. While various scholars have attempted to apply the term to any number of US presidents, it is an obvious stretch.

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Tom’s definition of a cult of personality is when “their strongest supporters brook no criticism whatsoever” which aligns completely with what one expects of “strongest supporters.” In other words, he’s defining the term down to meaninglessness.

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Moreover, Tom casts a net wide enough to capture not only Trump, Obama, and HRC, but also Bob Dole. Imagine! A cult of personality minus the personality!

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Which brings me to my main point. Tom feels comfortable saying such outlandish things because he belongs to what I’ll call a cult of anti-personality. It’s a poor name, but I’ll explain what I mean.

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In a cult of personality, media portrays the figurehead in an idealized fashion, with a focus on shallow traits, in order to legitimize his rule. (This is obviously only part of what constitutes a CoP.)

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In the case of Trump, we have the near opposite: media portrays Trump as irredeemably flawed, the focus remains on shallow traits, but negative ones, with the purpose of delegitimizing his presidency.

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Tom is not only subscribed to the media-driven effort to demonize Trump, he has a personal hand in the disparagement. At the very least, by his own definition, it’s clear that Tom will brook no praise of Trump.

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