A leader who demands absolute loyalty is a bad leader
A leader's character is part of his leadership, and Donald Trump's public character is abysmal.
Donald Trump is a very thin-skinned and brittle man. He tries to use bravado to hide that, but his brittleness is obvious in the way he conducts himself publicly. He lashes out at not only mild criticism, but at people who praise him but not lavishly enough. We saw this when he implied that Fox News should fire Kayleigh McEnany for insufficient praise of him.
Trump's primary attack on Ron DeSantis for running against him is that DeSantis' candidacy is "disloyal." But Trump's attack on McEnany proves once again why the "loyalty" card does not play outside of Trump's most devoted followers. Trump has no loyalty to anyone but himself. If someone disagrees with him on anything, he will turn against that person and deem him (or her) a "traitor." Trump raged at and publicly undermined his own attorney general for nearly two years and eventually forced him to resign for recusing himself from the Russian "collusion" investigation, despite the fact that Jeff Sessions loyally implemented Trump's agenda and the fact that he took a big political risk when he became the first U.S. Senator to endorse Trump.
Character matters. Trump apologists have dismissed his character, because we need a "fighter" and conservative policy. But a leader's character is part of his leadership, and Trump's public character is abysmal. David French was absolutely right in 2017 when he said that Trump's vengeful Tweeting matters and that conservatives should condemn Trump's public behavior. Even some Christians have defended Trump's vile Tweets and Truths, ignoring the warning the Holy Spirit gives us in Proverbs 25:28.
Donald Trump demands constant praise. Trump becomes enraged at even the most mild criticism, as we saw in 2015 and 2016 when he raged against Megyn Kelly for months because she asked him a question. Trump takes policy disagreements personally, raging against Mitch McConnell and claiming that McConnell supported spending bills "because he hates Donald J. Trump." Trump even lashes out at those who praise him but do not do it lavishly enough. So now we need to be brutally honest. This is how a cult operates. Donald Trump is a cult leader.
No, this does not mean that everyone who voted for Trump in 2016 or 2020 are part of a cult. It would be silly to say that 62 million and 74 million people are part of a cult, and I voted for Trump in 2020. But as I have been saying for seven years, there absolutely are people who are part of a Cult of Trump, and who do see him as a Messianic figure. Trump sees himself as a Messianic figure. That is dangerous, and we must not dismiss that danger out of loyalty to our political "tribe" or opposition to Democrats.
