Failed presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters of former President Donald Trump to undergo “formal deprogramming” during a Thursday interview.
Featured in an interview with Christiane Amanpour on CNN, Clinton attempted to make a distinction between Republican lawmakers who recently voted with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown and what she described as the “cult” following of Republicans allied closely with Trump.
“I mean, we had very strong partisans in both parties in the past, and we had very bitter battles over all kinds of things- gun control and climate change and the economy, and taxes – but there wasn’t this little tail of extremism, waving, you know, wagging the dog of the Republican Party as it is today,” Clinton said.
The former Democrat presidential candidate said that “MAGA extremists take their marching orders from Donald Trump,” adding that Trump has “no credibility left by any measure.” Clinton claimed that Trump is “only in it for himself” as he continues to fight multiple indictments. She also questioned when MAGA supporters would eventually “break” with Trump.
“Because at some point, you know, maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members, but something needs to happen,” she said.
Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential election, told Amanpour that she believes Trump will once again be the Republican Party’s nominee in 2024.
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Asked how she has “processed” the fact that Trump is continuing to campaign for election despite facing an unprecedented amount of indictments for a political candidate, Clinton claimed that Trump’s popularity as a candidate is a “classic tale of an authoritarian populist,” suggesting that he has a “grip on the emotional, psychological needs and desires of a portion of the population.”
Clinton claimed that the current base of the GOP views Trump as “someone who speaks for them” and that the base continues to remain loyal to the former president by attending his MAGA rallies, wearing MAGA merchandise, and voting for him due to “psychological” and “emotional reasons.”
“For whatever reason, he and his very negative, nasty form of politics resonates with them,” she said.
“It is like a cult, and somebody has to break that momentum,” Clinton added. “And that’s why I believe Joe Biden will defeat them, and hopefully then that will be the end, and the fever will break.”
