The problem with your Trump equivalency is that the majority of Trump "supporters" I know don't like a lot about Trump. In general, cults are built on people who can't see the flaws of the leader. Ask most Trump supporters including Melania and his family and they will give you an extensive list.
Instead, most Trump supporters see Trump as someone who identified a "parade" and got in front of it. When Trump told Biden that Obama and Biden are the reason he ran for office, he was telling the truth. It was clear to Trump that a very large number of Americans were disappointed with the policies of the Obama/Biden administration and the last thing they wanted was four more years of it under Hillary Clinton.
The reason most Trump supporters continue to support Trump as well as why he has attracted many supporters from minority groups like Hispanics and African Americans is because they are "economic" voters not "cult" voters... the typical Trump supporter will answer the question as to "whether their family is better off than before Trump was elected (at least prior to the pandemic) with a "yes" answer. And statistics support that response.
Contrast that with voters who oppose Trump. Many of those voters are voting in an almost "cult" like way... rather than enumerate the policies that Biden is running on (many don't even know what they are) default with a list of expletives about why they "hate" Trump. This form of "visceral hate" is precisely the kind of emotional response that leads to poor decision making.
Trump's focus since he has been elected has been to build up the blue collar working class in America. People who work with their hands. "Knowledge" workers up to now have been insulated from a lot of the globalization that occurred under Obama, while benefiting from "dumping" and outsourcing of production overseas through lower prices. The failure of these "knowledge" workers to recognize the plight of their fellow Americans was compounded by the media, who embraced Obama's dream of lifting the world up even if it meant pushing these blue collar workers down.
Think about Biden trying to say with a straight face that he would turn coal miners into programmers... seriously. How many fifty year old coal miners believe that... but to the well off suburban family it sounds really nice... we are going to replace those dirty coal stained clothes with a short sleeved shirt and tie...
Trump is no cult. He is simply a leader that recognizes we need an America that "works" for everyone. The word "works" is the key. Not an American that "takes care" of everyone, but an America with a job for everyone that wants one.
Democrats are promising that they will "take care of everyone". Trump is running on a platform that his policies will allow people to "take care of themselves". Each of those promises are attractive to a different group of people...
This concept permeates everything...
Look at the Covid response of Democrats and Republicans.
Democrats argue people should stay home even if their jobs and livelihoods will be destroyed... why... because the government will take care of you... so stay home and be safe. Your business may be destroyed... your job might be gone forever... but don't worry the government will take care of you. Where the goods and services are going to come from that we all depend on remains an unanswered question.
Trump's response has been we have to learn to live with the virus and get back to work. We should be as safe as we can be, work like hell to develop a vaccine, improve therapeutics, but none of that can interfere with the need to "get back to work". To save American businesses from going under and keep American jobs. Americans are prepared to take risks to preserve their independence, tell them how to be safe while still working... don't tell them to stay home.
Democrats want a country where people are dependent on government... the "ultimate" cult. Who can raise a voice against "the hand that feeds you". Trump wants a country where people have the independence that comes from a good paying job and the security that comes from knowing you can pay your bills. That person is the kind of person that tells the government to "stick it in your eye".
Most people raise their children to become "independent". Now we have a new "progressive liberal" ideology permeating the country that argues, you will never be independent. Nothing captures that more than when Obama told a hard working small employer that "you didn't build that". The inference is you are always "dependent" on us... nothing is yours... you will never be independent... You will never escape the "government"... you belong to us...
To which I say... BS... the government is suppose to work for us.
