Is MAGA a Cult? with Terry Kelly
As Donald Trump enters the second year of his second presidency, many Americans and citizens of other democracies are asking themselves what the heck is going on.
Trump seems to behave as if he believes he is guaranteed whatever he wants. This behaviour includes ignoring his country’s constitution, the standard powers of Congress and the US Senate, mocking SCOTUS and rejecting international law and human rights. When surrounded with reckless enablers, the US President pardoned the criminals who stormed the US Capitol, and today is defending the ill-trained paramilitary “immigration officials”, who shot dead two US citizens in Minneapolis.
Ignore Greenland, Venezuela, Iran, Gaza, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Epstein and the threat of tariffs. Ignore the dodgy, ghastly ballroom. Not because we should, but because we need to ask “why”? Domestically, why is Trump still in office? Why isn’t the entire nation demanding his removal?
The answer is disturbingly simple. Because so many adore him. Millions of Americans believe he is a great president, returning the nation to some ill-defined vaguery – a place in the past. Many in positions of power ensure he gets what he wants either by action or self-preserving inaction.
So the real question is; Why is this happening? Why do they adore him, and comply with him? With Trump’s arrogance and fantasy dwarfing modern cult leaders, we should ask ourselves: Is MAGA a Cult?
Come along to The Mahogany Room at The Stolberg Hotel on the corner of Bell St and plenty Road Preston, from 6 PM for a meal and a chat with a reasonable bunch.
The talk begins at 7.30 and runs for up to an hour. We aim to finish up by 9.15 PM. Public transport includes train at Bell station, buses via Bell St Bus Company and the route 86 Yarra Trams line.
Groundwater (water beneath the ground surface) moves very slowly through bodies of rock/sediment called aquifers. The pore spaces in these aquifers are usually voids in either sand/gravel beds beneath streams, or extensive, sheet-like bodies of sandstone. Boreholes drilled in either of these situations will find groundwater no matter where they are drilled, so water divining in these cases will always be successful.
Futurologist Adam Ford will present an understanding of V-risk – the danger of value misalignment – and examine why controlling AI’s capabilities isn’t enough. He’ll look at how premature goal lock-in, shallow understandings of value, and human misuse of powerful AI could lead to nasty outcomes that are so-called ‘safe’ in theory but catastrophic in implementation.
Adrienne is a retired high school math teacher from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who discovered a world of skepticism from her adult children, who would buy her skeptical books and challenge her reasoning by identifying logical fallacies. Discovering the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia group run by Susan Gerbic and being trained as a Wikipedia editor opened a new world to her. She has spoken at numerous Skepticamps, Skeptics in the Pub, and the Western Canadian Reason Conference (WeCanReason).
