According to the training, MAGA is a “cult on a national scale” that “presents an image of bringing the country back to a white majority and white power.”
A new training out for therapists and mental health professionals paints President Donald Trump as a cult leader and the Make America Great Again movement as a "cult on a national scale." The course, designed for therapists, is entitled The Impact of Donald Trump on America - A Cultic Studies Perspective and it was held on August 7, 2025.
The course is a violation of ethical guidelines for therapists and encourages therapists and mental health professionals to position themselves both in opposition to Trump-supporting clients and to bring activism into their treatment.
The course was led online by Jamie Marich, Ph.D. who listed her pronouns as she/they/we and is a clinical trauma specialist. She was joined by Dr. Janja Lalich, a sociologist and cult expert. Chief executive officer of Healing Selves Therapeutics Heather LS Scarsboro, who also listed her pronouns (they, them, we), joined them as well.
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View on XThe class, designed for mental health professionals, made the claim that Trump voters are cult members and Donald Trump is a cult leader. According to the training, MAGA is a "cult on a national scale" that "presents an image of bringing the country back to a white majority and white power."
The "cult" members, they say, see Trump "as someone who promised them he would make America great again, and for them that meant getting rid of the black and brown people…I think that's what most people bought into," stated Dr. Janja Lalich, who has written several books and appeared on several documentaries on cults. She continued to say that the United States was built on racism and the "MAGA crowd" doesn't care about the price of eggs, but "…all they care about is that he [Trump] is getting rid of black and brown people in our country. That's a sad thing to say, but that's how I see it."
Lalich held a leadership position in a left-wing political cult for ten years after the Vietnam war. She explained that what defines a cult is a transcendent belief system and the MAGA belief system is "grounded in racism." However, Dr. Janja Lalich did not give any specific examples of her claim.
Later in the training, Dr. Lailich expressed her belief that "We have to challenge ICE in every state." She believes illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States unchallenged and implied that those who support border laws are racist.
Since August of 2017, Donald Trump has been directly accused of being a white supremacist because he was said to have praised neo-Nazis who were present at a rally in Charlottesville, VA. He had not praised them, but had instead defended those "on both sides" of the debate over the removal of Confederate statues in that town. About the defenders of the statues and those who wanted to remove them, Trump said there were "very fine people on both sides" of the debate. His next sentence offered clarity: "I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists — because they should be condemned totally." He was talking solely about the debate around tearing down historical statues.
The other main instructor, Dr. Jamie Marich, specializes in trauma and describes herself as a trauma survivor. She wrote "A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Life" (2023). She supports embracing dissociation, a debilitating psychological symptom of trauma. In addition, Dr. Marich wrote a personal memoir entitled "You Lied to me About God." She began the training by stating that she teamed up with Dr. Lalich because of her interest in what she describes as "spiritual abuse." Dr. Marich described the Catholic Church as "cultish" and blames religious beliefs and churches for the negative traits she associates with Trump supporters.
The instructors acknowledged that there are political cults both on the right and on the left. In fact, Jania Lalich talked about being in a political cult for ten years that worshipped Carl Marx and "The Communist Manifesto." Dr. Marich shared that when she offered this course previously, many accused her of being in a cult, but she further explained that those critics were using what she described as a common defense tactic. She said people in cults accuse others of being in a cult. She did not turn this around on her own accusations.
The third clinician, named Heather LS Scarsboro, shared that she has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) and she advertises that she is a member of the DID community to her patients. . DID is a rare mental health condition that stems from complex trauma. It was previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder. It is also a current trend on TikTok, according to Psychology Today.
The course emphasized that cults recruit their members by using fear and other strong emotions. Janja Laich shared with the class: "Most days I sit around and cry," when asked about why trauma victims support Trump. All of the instructors agreed that trauma victims are easily recruited into what they believe is the MAGA cult because abusive patterns are familiar to them. Scarsboro said, "You would be surprised by the number of systems who actually are pro-Trump." "Systems" refers to a person who has DID.
An audience member asked "Does it [Trump leadership] feel like home because of coercive control?" Laich answered "It could be." Scarsboro nodded and said, "MAGA feels like what's normal to their nervous system. Or they are still in that chaotic abusive stuff, what I call the trauma dungeon. They haven't left the trauma dungeon."
The class instructors accused Donald Trump of being authoritarian because he filed a defamation lawsuit. The course was not specific about what the lawsuit was about, however, Trump did win a lawsuit against ABC for falsely claiming that he had been found liable for rape—he wasn't. He was found liable for sexual abuse against E. Jean Carroll, who claimed that at some point in the 1990s at an unspecified time he touched her inappropriately in a department store dressing room.
Laich wrote in her handout that Trump is a controlling cult leader because he calls Americans "his people." Dr. Janja Laich also cited the recent firing of the Borough of Labor Statistics' data chief, who misquoted labor statistics, as reason to believe Donald Trump is the next Hitler. Trump was also compared to Mao Zedong, Kim Jung Un, and Pol Pot.
While the course leaders accused Trump supporters throughout the training of being ruled by fear, the instructors expressed their dread towards Donald Trump and his supporters. Laich described The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as "the lynchpin of what is happening." When asked if there's any hope that this cult can be stopped, Dr. Janja Laich stated.
"Well, they stopped Nazi Germany didn't they? We have to hope that there will be enough resistance. You know, we need to keep going to those protests, we need to keep resisting, we need to keep speaking out in whatever way we can, we need to do the boycotts when they happen. There is another big boycott happening in September…I don't know if I can answer that because I go back and forth… there are days when I say I don't think I'm going to see this change in my lifetime, and that's a hard thought. And then another part of me is like, yes, let's just fight these f*ckers."
An audience member asked how Mexicans and other minorities could support Donald Trump and MAGA's ideas. Laich quoted statistics on low literacy rates in the United States and explained that Mexican Trump supporters are illiterate and not smart.
"There is not a lot of critical thinking," Laich stated. She also declared with certainty that people voted for Trump because they are selfish and seek to gain financially. Marich agreed and said, "Trump gave people a blank check to be awful," without giving any specific examples. Marich also declared that some people are influenced by "toxic capitalism."
This class also emphasized that people voted for Trump due to misogyny. Marich said that Trump voters demonstrated their misogyny by not voting for Kamala Harris. The instructors emphasized how the "rise of The Christian Right" contributed to misogyny because they want to "control women" and are "anti-abortion." Marich recommended the documentary "Reversing Roe" on Netflix as a source for this claim. The reversal of Roe vs. Wade gave states power to set abortion laws, and removed that authority from the federal government.
According to both instructors, women can be misogynistic too. "Let's be clear, women can be misogynists too. We internalize a lot of those feelings. That's what we need to do to stay safe and protected," stated Marich. However, according to Laich, if Trump supporting women don't hate themselves, they are controlled by their husbands. She explained, "If you are a right-wing woman, you are going to go along with what your husband says." These claims were made with no evidence or examples given.
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A member of the class asked what media sources are unbiased and accurate. PBS, BBC and MSNBC were recommended. Specifically, MSNBC Rachel Maddow was cited, the reason given being because she stated that we are in for a "dictatorship," regarding Trump's presidency.
During the discussion on clinical practices for working with the Trump "cult members," much of the emphasis was on the therapists' own "self-care" and protection from their Trump supporting patients, rather than tools to support their clients' needs. They also encouraged self-disclosure of political beliefs. They supported signaling left-wing values such as posting a trans flag or putting "We believe black lives matter, no person is illegal, love is love, etc." on their websites. Two out of the three instructors displayed a pride flag throughout the training.
Marich advised the class to use motivational interviewing techniques on Trump supporters to help them see things differently. Motivational interviewing is typically used with addicts. However, there were no clear clinical guidelines outlined in the class, only general suggestions, some which were contradictory. For example, Marich recommended using EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), which is a therapy practice used for trauma, while Lalich advised against it, due to the similar hypnotic nature of cults. It was unclear if some of their suggestions for people in other cults applied to those who they believe to be in the Trump cult.
This therapy training provides three continuing education credits to mental health professionals and it was explicitly political. According to The National Board of Certified Counselors policy, This course violates section E: Qualifying Program Contact Restrictions and Prohibitions. It states under #3 Political and Religions content Restriction: "The program content cannot state or imply in any manner that individuals who act inconsistent with, or who do not accept, a particular political or religious belief or principle are dysfunctional, or otherwise inappropriate, or that the belief itself is unacceptable or incorrect."