From Propaganda to Psy-Ops: How the Christian Right Hijacked America

 


Cult Expert - Dr. Steven Hassan

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Nov 3, 2025 ✪ Members first on October 26, 2025 Political Extremism
Are we living through a psychological war for America’s soul? In this eye-opening episode of Cults, Culture, and Coercion, Dr. Steven Hassan, author of The Cult of Trump, talks with intelligence analyst Dr. James Scaminaci III, PhD, about fourth-generation psychological warfare, Trump’s cult-like following, and the Christian Right’s decades-long campaign to undermine U.S. democracy. Dr. Scaminaci, a former U.S. Naval Intelligence Officer with a PhD from Stanford, explains how figures like William Lind, Paul Weyrich, and Project 2025's The Heritage Foundation weaponized “moral conflict” and “spiritual warfare” to destabilize the legitimacy of government institutions. Together, they unpack the alt-right's propaganda tactics, psychological manipulation, and mind-control techniques at the core of today’s political crisis and why millions have transferred loyalty from democracy to authoritarianism and the Cult of Trump. If you want to understand how QAnon, Christian nationalism, and political extremism evolved into a full-blown information war, this conversation connects the dots between Cold War psyops, the Moral Majority, and modern media manipulation. Topics include:
  • Fourth Generation Warfare explained
  • How propaganda became a tool of coercive control
  • The Christian Right’s influence on U.S. intelligence and politics
  • The Cult of Trump and moral legitimacy crisis
  • The Heritage Foundation, Donors Trust, and covert funding networks
  • How psychological operations (psyops) manipulate faith and fear
📘 Watch, share, and comment: What do you think? Are we in a new kind of World War III fought through the mind? 00:00 The Cult of Trump and the War for America’s Mind 02:35 What Is Fourth Generation Psychological Warfare? 06:40 How “Spiritual Warfare” Became Political Propaganda 09:50 Attacking Experts: The Death of Knowledge and the Rise of Anti-Intellectualism 13:55 From Billy Graham to MAGA: How Faith Was Weaponized 17:45 William Lind, John Boyd, and the Blueprint for Modern Psychological War 23:20 Paul Weyrich, The Heritage Foundation, and the Christian Right’s Hidden Agenda 27:45 Inside the Moral Majority’s Playbook: Total Control and No Opposition 31:15 Is Trump a Mastermind or a Puppet? The Fourth Gen Warfare Debate 33:40 How Trump’s Base Became a Religious Army 36:45 Epstein, Blackmail, and the Intelligence Connection 47:20 QAnon, Fear, and the Manipulation of Moral Conflict 54:00 Moonies, the CIA, and the Origins of Cultic Political Power 59:30 Breaking Free from Mind Control: Finding Moral Courage and Truth #CultOfTrump #PsychologicalWarfare #ChristianNationalism #QAnon #MindControl #CultsCultureCoercion #StevenHassan #JamesScaminaci #FourthGenerationWarfare #HeritageFoundation #Propaganda #InformationWarfare #MAGA #Authoritarianism #PoliticalPsychology ******************************************** Learn more at: https://freedomofmind.com/ Subscribe to The Influence Continuum podcast: https://freedomofmind.com/podcast-3/ Enroll in our courses - https://courses.freedomofmind.com/col... Download a .pdf of the BITE model here! https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-c... Subscribe to the Freedom of Mind newsletter: https://freedomofmind.com/subscribe/ Read or listen to Dr. Hassan's books: https://freedomofmind.com/books/

57 episodes
Political Extremism
Cult Expert - Dr. Steven Hassan

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