by Annie Dawid, Author of Paradise Undone, A Novel of Jonestown
“A master at creating alternate realities, Jones continually fed his followers a steady diet of lies.” from Jonestown: An American Family Tragedy, by H.J. Jones [no relation to Jim Jones]
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/22/stories-from-the-trump-bible
For the last 21 years, I steeped myself in the alternate reality created by the Reverend Jim Jones, which culminated in the mass murder/suicide of Jonestown, Guyana, Nov. 18, 1978. My studies resulted in the 2023 release of Paradise Undone: A Novel of Jonestown (Inkspot). For my next Jonestown book, Fathom these Events: Stories of Jonestown, due on the 50-year anniversary of the massacre in 2028, I remain immersed in that particular alternate reality.
I know cult leaders. I know their patterns, their hierarchy of needs, their demands for absolute fealty. No room for doubt. Jones left almost 1000 followers dead. What does he have in common with Donald J. Trump?
Donald Trump in the United States, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Viktor Orbán in Hungary and similar authoritarian leaders must shape, alter, and, above all, distort the world view of their followers.
First, some notes on why I see the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement as a cult, and Trump analogous to a destructive megalomaniac leader like Jones.
Objective outsiders cannot understand how, after Trump refused to acknowledge the massive threat of the 2019 coronavirus, with the United States “achieving” the highest death toll among developed nations — nearly a million dead in the richest country on earth — his followers chose to re-elect the responsible party.
While a 21st century national cult reinforced by means of the internet bears little physical resemblance to the isolated Peoples Temple members sequestered in a jungle compound patrolled by armed guards, MAGA members choose their figurative isolation. They limit themselves to MAGA-approved media, such as Fox News and Trump-endorsed podcasts. They attend rallies designed to amplify the echo chamber effect of their online diet. Although mainstream and legacy media are available at their fingertips, they do not see these as legitimate sources of information. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” George Orwell, 1984.
Scientology, Jehovah’s Witness, Hare Krishna [the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)] and other well-known contemporary cults all have websites to attract followers.
Survivors of these groups also build websites to counsel those who have already left or are considering leaving. They offer services and practical advice to those re-entering the “real world.” So, too, the Maga cult: https://leavingmaga.org/
There you will find stories posted by various individuals offering their personal trajectories from True Believer to Voluntary Outcast. Some are shunned by family members still in the cult. On this website, narratives are supplied by both men and women, young and old, all races, classes, rural and urban. https://leavingmaga.org/they-left-maga/
Following is a brief sample:
An unusual angle on the Jones-Trump confluence comes from former congresswoman Jackie Spier in her recent memoir, Undaunted: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage and Fighting Back. Spier went to Jonestown on the ill-fated Congressman Ryan investigatory trip. When Jones’s security forces let loose with their gunfire on the Port Kaituma airstrip, Nov. 18, 1978, Spier was shot multiple times and left for dead.
Years later, she won Congressman Ryan’s House of Representatives seat and served for 15 years, including the moment on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump followers ransacked the Capitol. In an interview, she said, ‘I was in the House gallery when January 6 took place. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I survived the jungles of Guyana, and I’m going to die in this tabernacle of democracy.’ ”
Spier continues: “I was watching a video this morning where someone at a Trump rally said, ‘He could kill someone at the White House, and I would still support him.’ That’s the kind of absolute control that a cult leader somehow mesmerizes followers to follow. He has all of the trappings.”
