In psychology it's called
conditioning. Much like pedophiles "groom" their target or a man seduces a married woman, Trump has conditioned many Americans to distrust anything said by anyone except for himself. Note the sources his fans use; all are simply quoting Trump himself or writing something that Trump has already endorsed.
The claims the relationship between Trump and his fans as being a cult of personality is accurate. Additionally, then the Cult Leadership praises scientific advancement as Hitler did, then followers develop new technology like jets and rockets. When the Cult Leader attacks science and praises pseudoscience, then pseudoscience is supported by his followers.
Several years ago Fox News kept talking about "Sheeple" and the blind masses following a "Messiah". Now Fox News itself is the Sheeple and pushing pseudoscience on COVID and claims of election fraud. I expect several court cases on fraud and abuse of power in 2021. Probably a few murders or severe beatings too as Americans exact revenge on those who have mislead our nation into killing over 270,000 fellow Americans. Trump will be safe due to his guards, but every public figure who supported Trump's agenda is at risk regardless if they were in government, media or simply on Twitter.
It's like Six Degrees of Seperation: Every American who died of COVID has relatives. Most relatives will accept the loss as part of nature or even blame themselves for following Trump. OTOH, all it takes is a few really pissed off Americans to take down several members of Trump's cult.
https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality
A cult of personality or personality cult arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create a larger-than-life public image through unquestioning flattery and praise. The term often refers as well to leaders who did not use such methods during their lifetime, but are built up in the mass media by later governments.
A cult of personality differs from general hero worship in that it is specifically built around political leaders. However, the term cult of personality is often applied by analogy to refer to adulation of non-political leaders; an argument could easily be made, however, that the only notable differences to be found between the terms "hero worship," "cult of personality," or even, more simply, excessive admiration are largely in the context of the person making the accusation.
