I’m No Longer Speaking to the Cult. Death to fascism. Freedom to the people.
I’ve been on this soapbox all week, and now I’m planting a flag in the ground: I’m done trying to reach those lost to the cult.
By “the cult,” I mean the MAGA faithful. The ones who have replaced God with a man. Who’ve traded the Gospel for grievance. Who chant Trump’s name in church pews louder than they do Christ’s.
It’s beyond politics now—it’s theological. If they still consider themselves believers, perhaps someone should leave a few copies of 2 Thessalonians lying around:
“The Antichrist will come at a time of general apostasy…
He will deceive many with signs and wonders, sit in the temple of God, and claim to be God himself…
He will promote a system of lawlessness…
Negotiate a treaty with Israel…
And initiate wars and conflicts.”
This isn’t subtle. It’s almost like the Bible was trying to warn us exactly what to look for.
We watched him desecrate sacred spaces with propaganda. We watched him post a photoshopped image of himself as the Pope, mocking faith itself. And when the MAGA machine screamed that critics “couldn’t take a joke,” they were doing more than trolling. They were testing thresholds—gauging how close they are to full messiah status.
And here’s the hard truth: for some, Trump has already replaced Christ. For others, he’s almost there. It’s not a campaign. It’s a conversion.
Trying to “save” these people is not only exhausting—it’s dangerous.
Historical warning signs are flashing.
As the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum documents in its series Everyday Encounters with Fascism, authoritarian movements don’t always begin with boots and marches—they creep in through jokes, normalization, and moral fatigue. Communities under fascist rule experience persecution, silencing, and the corrosion of civil trust until there’s nothing left but obedience and fear.
Scholars at UC Berkeley have warned us plainly: fascism once shattered Europe under the weight of propaganda, cult worship, and authoritarian lawlessness. Today, they hear clear echoes in the rise of American anti-democratic movements—movements steeped in the same dangerous rhetoric and tactics.
Jason Stanley, in How Fascism Works, calls it the politics of “Us vs. Them.” It thrives on division. It survives on fear. It spreads when good people try to debate evil on its own terms.
It is long past time to stop trying to reach the unreachable. Once someone has decided they are fine with racism, xenophobia, cruelty, criminal acts, and fascism, they are no longer just misinformed. They are collaborators.
And collaborators are not entitled to our energy, empathy, or education.
We need to reclaim that energy to protect and build with those who believe in something better.
Every moment we spend trying to win back the indoctrinated is a moment we aren’t building with those who still believe in humanity, equity, and community. We must stop trying to convert the converted and instead fortify the committed.
History has taught us that fascism flourishes when the opposition is divided. The time for moral centrist hand-wringing is over. The time for hero complexes is over. The time for unity with those who’ve chosen authoritarianism is over.
The time now is for us.
It is for building networks of care.
It is for mutual aid and defense.
It is for courageous policy and principled organizing.
It is for artists, teachers, neighbors, clergy, and youth.
It is for truth.
It is for survival.
It is for liberation.
So let them go. Leave the cult behind. Shake the dust off your feet and move.
Build with those who know that freedom is collective.
Who know that ethics matter.
Who still believe in facts, in justice, and in each other.
Death to fascism.
Freedom to the people.
And to hell with the cult.
CALL TO ACTION:
If you’re ready to stop wasting your breath on the indoctrinated and start building real community, here’s what you can do right now:
Start or join a local mutual aid or anti-fascist group.
Support Black, brown, immigrant, queer, disabled, and working-class leaders in your city.
Read and share resources like How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley or Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook by Mark Bray.
Host teach-ins, art circles, or healing spaces that reaffirm truth and community.
Speak up. Not to the cult—but to the people who still need to know they’re not alone.
The cult is loud. Let us be louder. Together.