Newsletter: What Can YOU Do as Trump Continues to Threaten the Well-being of our Nation?
Resisting Authoritarianism Will Require People Willing to Work Together!
This week’s livestream will be tomorrow, Wednesday, August 27th, at 3-4 p.m. EDT. We plan to livestream on YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Facebook, and perhaps some others! I welcome everyone to tune in with questions and comments! Last week’s livestream was a great success; you can see the recording here if you missed it.
In this week’s episode of Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum, titled “The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion,” I spoke with Rebecca Lemov, PhD, Professor in the History of Science at Harvard, about her groundbreaking book. We cover the history of MK-Ultra and mind control research, touch on cults, and perhaps the most interesting is on how social media uses AI and our personal data to do mass persuasion by manipulating us emotionally. Everyone thinks they are invulnerable to undue influence. The fact is that unless you understand who is using it, the techniques being deployed, and have practiced protective strategies, you can be harmed. You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Of course, the video of the interview is on our YouTube channel and is embedded in the Substack post.
In next week’s episode of my Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum podcast, “Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler,” I spoke with author Anne Nelson about her latest book of the same title. She and I discussed how history is now repeating itself and how vitally important it is to stand up against tyranny to keep our democracy intact. The video of our talk is available in advance for our YouTube members, so now is an excellent time to become a YouTube channel member.
While I was speaking with Anne, she mentioned that she had just watched filmmaker Dan Partland’s excellent documentary, Untruth: the Psychology of Trumpism, in which I appear. She reminded me just how important it is for everyone to watch this compelling documentary, so please do check it out if you haven’t already!
Last week, we posted a special blog post for our paid Substack Members titled “MAHA: America’s New Wellness Cult Promoted by RFK Jr.” In it, I discuss Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), the worrying new rallying cry linking bogus “alternative” health fads to politics. Paid subscribers receive deep dive investigative analyses, case studies, timely commentary, special guest collaboration posts, and in-depth subscriber-only responses. So if the free posts help you understand more about destructive cults, influence, and control, please consider supporting my work and becoming a paid subscriber.
We are happy to announce the paperback publication of the Spanish version of my classic book, Combating Cult Mind Control, entitled Combatiendo el Control Mental de las Sectas.
Equally exciting news is that the new study on destructive and controlling groups is now live! This study can help you measure how much authoritarian control is in any group, from a country, a workplace, a church, or even a family or relationship. We encourage people to take the survey, even for healthy groups. Especially if you’ve done the study before, these are significantly shorter, and the wording has been changed. In addition, we now ask for feedback specifically on your experience answering both the 20-question and the 40-question surveys. Our aim is that we can eventually collect enough data to create a scientifically robust model of manipulative control. Please set aside a few minutes, go to bitemodel.com, and let us know what you think. And get a number on the Influence Continuum!
History provides a developmental framework for understanding the evolution of ideas, allowing us to trace their origins and track societal impact. Dr. Rebecca Lemov is a Professor of History of Science at Harvard University and a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Her timely 2025 book, The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion,offers valuable insights into how the past might influence our future surrounding the topic of Mind Control. Her work delves into the hidden history of these influence methods while exploring their disturbing implications for our AI-driven future, particularly focusing on the emerging concept of hyper-persuasion.
Read the blog post or listen to the podcast, below:
Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) is the new rallying cry linking alternative health fads to politics. In late May 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., freshly appointed as US Health and Human Services Secretary in Donald Trump’s second administration, marked the release of his agency’s MAHA report by raising a toast. This toast was not with champagne, but with shots of raw milk at the White House. Flanked by controversial influencer Dr. Paul Saladino (Carnivore MD), Kennedy downed unpasteurized milk in a celebratory stunt. The spectacle was cheered in certain wellness circles but alarmed scientists and public health experts.
Read the paid subscriber article now!
As always, please let us know what you think about these pieces or what you’d like to see us discuss in the future. Thanks so much!
What can I do as Trump continues to threaten the well-being of the most powerful nation on Earth? Good question. I hope you don’t mind if I use an analogy to provide you with my answer.
I bought a bus ticket when I saw the destination indicator on the front panel. It said, “Collective Consciousness.” The sign implied the bus would be heading in the “True North” direction that I wanted to go. But I’ve been on the bus for some time now, and every time I open my phone’s compass app, it tells me we’re heading south.
So, why am I using that analogy?
To me, “collective consciousness” and “human beings treating human beings like human beings” and “being humane” are different phrases expressing the same meaning. To me, being humane is the second hardest thing a human being can do. The hardest thing is living with the long-term negative consequences of being inhumane.
So, what is being inhumane?
If I am in the larger non-expert part of a group with a smaller expert subgroup that tells the non-experts what to think and what to do, then metaphorically speaking, I bought a ticket on a southbound bus. If I wanted to be part of a group like that, I’d be a Republican.
The thing I can do as Trump continues to threaten the well-being of the most powerful nation on Earth is keep telling the driver the bus is heading in the wrong direction. My only obstacle is that I’m not a member of the exclusive “expert” subgroup, so I’m not supposed to be part of the conversation. I’m only supposed to be in the excluded audience. “How is that human beings treating human beings like human beings,” I ask myself.
I hope that makes sense. If analogies weren’t helpful, we wouldn’t use them, but they occasionally obfuscate in lieu of clarify.
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