> The divide between religion and cult is just a distinction between what's deemed acceptable behavior by society.

This is misconception. It's not about the extremism of the belief. It's about the mechanism of control.

Take the "cults" of the moment: Qanon/MAGA, for example, operate like a personality cult in many identifiable ways, but are not actually cults, because you can leave without much difficulty if you set your mind to it.

On the fringes US politics encourages ostracising family members who do not agree, but these movements do not have a mechanism of control (financial control combined with a commitment to cutting off family members).

There may be cult sects within MAGA/QAnon that get close, perhaps (just as there are at the fringes of all strange and mainstream religious beliefs)

> It's not about the extremism of the belief. It's about the mechanism of control.

> but are not actually cults, because you can leave without much difficulty if you set your mind to it.

By that definition Islam should be considered a cult as it calls for severe consequences for apostasy, ranging from social ostracism to the death penalty. However it's not a cult, it's a mainstream religion.

Same with Judaism; interfaith marriages are highly discouraged (re: prohibited) by Orthodox Jews, which is another mechanism of control. But again, not a cult. Why is that?

My argument is it has nothing to do with the beliefs or mechanisms of control or anything, really. It's purely what's normalized by society vs what is considered aberrant behavior.

> By that definition Islam should be considered a cult as it calls for severe consequences for apostasy, ranging from social ostracism to the death penalty. However it's not a cult, it's a mainstream religion.

I make the distinction elsewhere that it is not the belief structure (e.g. apostasy) that I am talking about.

I am talking about how a cult cuts you off from non-believers entirely, and that is combined with financial control.

Islam, Judaism, they do neither of these things, at an individual level. And Islam really lacks "cult control" mechanisms because it has such a limited concept of hierarchy of faith or obedience to any non-family authority.

Cults work at the deeply personal, individual level.

It's definitely a cult for elected officials who join (according to your discriminating criterion)

That is an interesting concept. But actually, even in this extreme situation, relatively few Trumper officials have no friends on the other side of the aisle; that will change over time as things become even more impossible to defend, but the "it's just a gig" aspect of it has not entirely faded.

There is definitely more "control" at the executive branch level: FBI people have literally been told they will be fired if they don't cut off contact with former FBI Trump critics.

But even so, being told you will be fired is small beer compared to how proper cults deal with dissent, and the level of control (you won't get a job in this town) is different to the level of psychological control a proper cult wields.

They will get there over time, I think.