{"id":45142,"date":"2025-11-17T12:09:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T20:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45142"},"modified":"2025-11-17T13:53:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T21:53:46","slug":"45142","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/45142\/","title":{"rendered":"I covered the Jonestown massacre. Donald Trump is giving me flashbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Opinion<\/a>\/\/Open Forum<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the anniversary of Jonestown approaches, I can\u2019t help but see ominous echoes of Jim Jones in Trump<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones speaks at San Francisco\u2019s Glide Church in 1975. On Nov. 18, 1978, Jones led more than 900 of his followers in a horrifying ritual of murder and suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.Janet Fries\/Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Don Lattin, Contributor Nov 15, 2025 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gift Article<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump has long given me flashbacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was a young reporter in the 1970s and 1980s, I covered the \u201ccult wars\u201d of that era. I followed the controversies surrounding the South Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon and the ill-fated saga of the Rev. Jim Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most notorious cult leader of the 1970s, Jones ran the San Francisco\u2019s Peoples Temple, which fled the city to a remote South American jungle compound in Guyana named Jonestown. On Nov. 18, 1978, he led more than 900 followers in a horrifying ritual of murder and suicide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we approach the anniversary of that massacre, I can\u2019t help but see ominous echoes of Jim Jones in Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U.S. military personnel unload bodies of Jonestown massacre victims from a helicopter at the Georgetown, Guyana, airport on Nov. 23, 1978. Associated Press<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those echoes first surfaced in my mind when Trump became a serious presidential contender. They only got louder in his subsequent runs. That\u2019s when Trump offered his \u201cI was indicted for you\u201d defense to his MAGA base. \u201cIn 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people forget that for most of Jones\u2019 life, he was not considered a \u201ccrazy cult leader.\u201d An ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ church, he was seen as a respected \u2014 albeit feared \u2014 progressive political force in San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Trump, the Peoples Temple leader had undeniable messianic tendencies. Jones compared himself to God or Jesus Christ. He preached a left-wing message of \u201capostolic socialism.\u201d Only he could save his followers from the CIA and the cruelties of a corrupt capitalist regime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To my ears, that paranoid, grandiose message sounds like the political flip side of Trump\u2019s constant boasts that only he<\/em> can save his aggrieved right-wing base from the oppressions of the \u201cdeep state\u201d and its corrupt left-wing politicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and some of his key supporters increasingly see the hand of God in the president\u2019s authoritarian crusade for social salvation, often citing how he barely survived last year\u2019s assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people have told me that God spared my life for a reason,\u201d the MAGA savior said. \u201cAnd that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump strategist Steve Bannon recently predicted that \u2014 despite the constitutional ban against it \u2014 Trump will be chosen to serve a third term in 2028. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very imperfect,\u201d Bannon told the Economist. \u201cHe\u2019s not churchy. But he\u2019s an instrument of divine will.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Election Day 2028, as it happens, falls on the same month as the 50th anniversary of Jonestown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * * <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not the only one with knowledge of the cult wars who sees these parallels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonestown Institute founder Fielding McGehee told me he got numerous calls and emails from former Peoples Temple members back in 2016 when Trump famously declared, \u201cI could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn\u2019t lose any voters.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe message that they repeated over and over again was, \u2018I just heard the voice of Jim Jones,\u2019\u201d McGehee said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Peoples Temple member Jordan Vilchez is also among those who see frightening similarities between Jones and Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted in a 2021 essay<\/a> that temple members publicly espoused principles of freedom yet slavishly obeyed a leader who \u201cspewed cynicism and disdain\u201d toward anyone who opposed him. \u201cWe were browbeaten and filled with fear and despair rather than a vision of vibrant possibility and hope.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Trump and Jones, Vilchez wrote, obsessed with power over others, sowed division and confusion, crushed dissenters, exploited the shadow side of followers, cultivated a persecution complex and shaped a cult-like following. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-cult activist Steve Hassan, a former member of Moon\u2019s Unification Church, also told me he has Trump-induced flashbacks from his time as a \u201cMoonie.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hassan, founder of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center<\/a>, recalled an infamous moment early in Trump\u2019s first term, when television cameras recorded his cabinet members heaping slavish praise upon the great leader. \u201cWe thank you for the opportunity and the blessing to serve your agenda,\u201d Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scene reminded Hassan of private meetings with Moon back in the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of us in the room understood how blessed we were to be in Moon\u2019s presence,\u201d he wrote in his book \u201cThe Cult of Trump.\u201d \u201cWe adored him as the greatest man who ever lived. If we had doubts or criticisms, we were taught to block, or \u2018thought stop,\u2019 them. If we dared disagree or point out inconsistencies, we would be kicked out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

America had a four-year break from the messianic madness of Donald J. Trump, but his volatile mix of politics, prophecy and self-promotion has continued with the Second Coming of his Presidency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reached a fever pitch following the Sept. 10 assassination of Charlie Kirk, the influential Christian nationalist, Trump ally and instant martyr for the religious right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump plays with fire as he seeks to inspire Christian nationalists and other like-minded sects who see an apocalyptic war between the forces of good and evil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Moon died in 2012, long after declaring himself to be the new Christian messiah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, his son, Hyung-Jin \u201cSean\u201d Moon, runs a Unification Church splinter group called Rod of Iron Ministries. Headquartered in Newfoundland, Pa., he and his followers worship with AR-15 rifles and proudly wear crowns of golden bullets. They seek alliances with MAGA and other right-wing nationalist sects<\/a> and hold militia-type trainings in the rolling hills of a state founded by Quakers preaching a message of brotherly love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve seen in recent years how outbursts of violence can come from the radical right, the far left or from people so deranged that it\u2019s hard to place them on the political spectrum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump immediately responded to Kirk\u2019s murder by turning up the temperature and declaring war on \u201cleft-wing lunatics.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where we go from here is anyone\u2019s guess. But, in my experience, when you throw apocalyptic prophecy and \u201cspiritual warfare\u201d into the political mix, don\u2019t expect calm from troubled disciples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Lattin wrote about the Peoples Temple for the San Francisco Examiner <\/em>in 1978 and was the Chronicl<\/em>e\u2019s religion writer from 1988 to 2006. This piece is drawn from his new Substack series, \u201cMessiahs I Have Known.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov 15, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Lattin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opinion\/\/Open Forum As the anniversary of Jonestown approaches, I can\u2019t help but see ominous echoes of Jim Jones in Trump Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones speaks at San Francisco\u2019s Glide Church in 1975. On Nov. 18, 1978, Jones led more than 900 of his followers in a horrifying ritual of… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45142"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45142"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45170,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45142\/revisions\/45170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}