MSNBC Guest Says Republican Party Is Delusional, President Trump Supporters Are ‘Cult-Like’
There was no shortage of criticism for the Republican party and supporters of President Donald Trump during MSNBC host Joy Reid’s AM Joy show on Saturday, as one of her guests explained why he believes Trump supporters are “cult-like” in their loyalty and admiration for the 45th president.
According to Newsweek, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts held nothing back as he reacted to a recent poll that revealed a majority of Republicans believe that Trump is a better president than Abraham Lincoln.
“[The Lincoln poll] sort of speaks toward the delusionary aspect of the Republican Party right now. This is not a party, this is a cult, and it has been a cult for a long time,” Pitts told Reid.
Pitts also pointed out that he believes there have been many instances of extreme loyalty to the president that should be called out, including a recent one involving outgoing Energy Secretary Rick Perry claiming that Trump is the “chosen one.”
Reid seemed to fully agree with Pitts’ assessment of Trump supporters, as she said that proof exists that it’s a “racial and religious cult of personality in which his base is solidly among the white evangelicals that almost worship him and say that he’s the chosen one of God.”
Pitts kept the conversation going by comparing the way Christians worship and praise Jesus Christ to the behavior he said that Trump supporters exhibit for the president, even in the face of what he called a display of “incompetence” and Trump’s “idiocies.”
“When I say that, I’m not being rhetorical. I mean that literally, that there is a very cult-like aspect with what we’re seeing going on with Trump,” Pitts added.
Reflecting on former President George W. Bush’s administration, Reid offered a comparison between Trump’s administration and Bush’s saying both displayed a “one must not question” element to their presidencies. Pitts agreed with the MSNBC host, but said the primary difference was that Bush was a “recognizable adult.”
“There was a soul there,” Pitts said in reference to Bush. “[With Trump], there is no bottom. Trump supporters want easy answers, they can’t deal with the complexities.”
Reid went on to say that while Bush misled America into several wars, toward the end of his time in the White House, he knew the gravity of what had taken place during his presidency. She said that Bush was “fundamentally a decent guy” and that there was “heart there.”
This isn’t the first time Pitts has harshly criticized Trump. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Pitts wrote an open letter to the president last year in the wake of deceased Sen. John McCain’s funeral, asking the president if he ever thinks about his own funeral and what legacy he will leave.
Pitts argued that while McCain was far from perfect, his imperfections could be overlooked in a eulogy as opposed to Trump, who Pitts’ claimed has committed such serious, unforgivable mistakes that it would be difficult to overlook them upon his death.
