FBI’s Go-To ‘Cult Expert’: Trump Should Die in Jail
Imagine finding out the FBI is using a man who thinks President Trump is running a death cult to help train federal agents on how to identify “cult victims.” Sounds like a joke, right? Sadly, it’s not. It’s very real, and it’s happening right now. And what’s going down is a lot more dangerous than you think.
Meet Steven Hassan, a man so consumed by Stage 5 Trump Derangement Syndrome that he can’t even see straight.
Hassan actually wrote a book called “The Cult of Trump,” where he claims MAGA supporters are under some kind of Trumpy mind control.
Take a look:
So, how did Mr. Hassan earn his “cult expert” badge? Well, back in the 1970s, he was actually a full-blown member of the Unification Church, better known as the “Moonies.” The group was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, a self-proclaimed Messiah who claimed he was sent to complete Jesus Christ’s mission and create a new true family on earth.
Hassan was raised in a Jewish family in Queens, New York.[3] At age 19, while pursuing a poetry degree at Queens College, Hassan was recruited into the Unification Church,[4] and spent 27 months as a member.[5][6]
Hassan was involved in recruiting, fundraising, and political campaigning for the Unification Church of the United States. He was “a former Unification Church high official” and “a national leader of CARP” (Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles, the Unification Church’s campus organization).[7]: 37 He described living in communal housing and sleeping less than four hours a night.[8] He said that he believed Richard Nixon was an archangel and that, during the Watergate scandal, he and other members of the church engaged in prayer and fasting to “prove their loyalty to the president”.[4] He surrendered his bank account to the Unification Church, and quit college and his job to work for the organization.[4] Hassan said that “he was ready to kill or die for” Sun Myung Moon.[8] His membership in the church concerned and confused his family.[4]
After leaving that group, Hassan rebranded himself as a “cult deprogrammer,” and now, he’s the go-to guy for leftist academics, liberal media outlets, and, shockingly, the FBI.
But here’s the issue: Hassan was easy pickings for the Moonies back in the day, but instead of using that experience to promote personal responsibility and individual freedom, he’s turned it into a mission to pathologize any belief system that doesn’t follow the progressive narrative. Sounds a little culty itself, doesn’t it? What Hassan is pushing isn’t neutral psychology; it’s radical activism.
And yet somehow, this deeply biased, ideologically crazed “cult expert” has become the go-to guru for the DOJ and FBI when it comes to identifying so-called coercive control in everything from spiritual groups to political movements.
Hassan has now turned Stage 5 TDS into a weaponized excuse, a reason and validation to attack a political movement that he personally opposes.
Hassan paints himself as the ultimate authority on cults, sitting online shaming Trump supporters as brainwashed victims, all while using his own past weakness in the loony Moonie movement as some kind of credential to spot other “victims.”
Here’s Hassan pushing Kremlin fan fiction. This coming from the guy who thinks Trump’s a Manchurian Candidate and half the country are cult members. Hassan actually believes Trump is a “Kremlin asset” and might flee to Russia if convicted. This isn’t expert commentary; it’s MSNBC fever dream territory, and it’s being taken seriously by the FBI.
https://twitter.com/cultexpert/status/1694135183618797723
This is the man preaching “deprogramming” for MAGA while foaming at the mouth that Trump should rot in prison for decades. Meanwhile, he’s gleefully tweeting about elderly cancer survivors going to jail for walking into the Capitol.
https://twitter.com/cultexpert/status/1686553684732268544
Hassan just can’t help himself. He’s out here playing therapist on X, ranting about Trump being a “malignant narcissist” and warning people to hunker down like it’s doomsday. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so dangerous, because this guy’s twisted worldview is actually shaping federal trials.
https://twitter.com/cultexpert/status/1822238933297615132
This is not science. It’s self-help theater dressed up as federal training material.
You can’t use facts to help someone out of a cult.
When a person says, “I’ll support Trump no matter what,” it’s not because they’re stupid, it’s because their identity is wrapped up in the belief.
High-control leaders like Trump use psychological manipulation to create dependency, not just agreement.
Once someone’s sense of reality has been hacked, loyalty means survival to them–and any outside perspective feels like a threat.
This isn’t just political. It’s psychological. Unless we start treating it that way, we’ll keep pushing people deeper into the echo chamber.
What do you think?
https://twitter.com/CultExpert/status/1918638162672296400
In one of his social media posts, Mr. Hassan flat-out diagnoses President Trump as a “pathological liar,” then turns to Trump voters and offers them what he calls “permission” to admit they were wrong. It’s a classic manipulation tactic: shame the target, then position yourself as the redeemer.
Lying is not ok. People want and deserve trust from people with integrity. Trump, as a pathological liar, has set a standard usually reserved for conmen and criminals. What American would knowingly marry a pathological liar, or tolerate a child who lies all the time? Who would ever wish to enter into a business relationship with someone untrustworthy? Think about this, if you voted for Trump, please. And it is ok to admit that you made an error in trusting Trump.
Hassan’s pet project is something called the BITE Model, a mishmash of emotional, behavioral, and thought controls that he claims can help sniff out cult behavior. And sure, under certain circumstances, you could argue it holds some water. But like everything the left touches, what might have started with great intentions quickly morphed into a politicized weapon of mass destruction.
Below is a copy of Hassan’s BITE Model:
The FBI liked Hassan’s BITE Model so much, they plastered it on their own website. Now, they’re using Hassan’s BITE Model and agenda to justify lawfare prosecutions against groups like OneTaste, a wellness community the government is trying to rebrand as a trafficking cult, despite having no actual evidence or criminal conduct to back it up. Instead, prosecutors are leaning on former members who were coached to reinterpret their past choices as trauma after attending government-funded victim workshops hosted by none other than Mr. Steven Hassan.
Speaking of Mr. Hassan’s workshops, here’s a sample of how he talks today. He sounds like he’s addressing a room full of kindergartners. And yes, nearly a decade later, and yes, he’s still obsessing over President Trump.
If anyone’s giving off cult vibes these days, it’s Dr. Steven Hassan himself. In this bizarre X post, the so-called cult expert goes full doomsday prophet, warning that Trump voters in red states will soon lose their health insurance and suffer en masse unless Republican politicians break free from Trump’s “authoritarian control” and stop him.
Mr. Hassan offers no data, no facts, just unhinged projection wrapped in a messianic warning.
There will be millions of Trump devotees, especially in red states, who will be getting buyers remorse if they lose medical coverage! Mark my words! Of course millions who didn’t support Trump. Everyone will be suffering if GOP politicians don’t turn on Trump’s authoritarian control!
This is the man the FBI trusts to professionally sniff out “cult-like behavior.” Terrifying doesn’t even begin to cover it.
But, it gets worse…
Remember that sham OneTaste case we talked about earlier? Well, federal prosecutors ended up charging two former OneTaste members with “forced labor conspiracy,” a flimsy, obscure charge so bizarre it’s left even seasoned legal experts scratching their heads.
And when OneTaste attorneys asked prosecutors to clarify the charges, they were told to “look to the media” for answers, specifically, a BBC podcast featuring, you guessed it, Steven Hassan.
Keep in mind, the podcast didn’t lay out any criminal allegations, name actual victims, or expose a trafficking ring. It was pure opinion, innuendo, and a hefty dose of woo-woo cult jargon from the former Moonie himself…
You can listen to the entire BBC podcast by clicking here.
Ironically, the only actual criminal claim that came from that podcast involved Ayries Blanck, a former OneTaste member and the government’s star witness. She was actually dropped from the case after she was caught fabricating evidence with Netflix and lying under oath.
READ MORE: Tulsi just snagged a couple of BIG swamp fish… and one deep stater blew a gasket…
Whoops.
And, surprise, there’s a Steven Hassan connection here too.
Turns out Mr. Hassan was the personal therapist for both Ayries Blanck and another former OneTaste member who’s now a key prosecution witness.
Yes, the same guy who wrote a book suggesting Trump runs a “death cult” and his supporters are brainwashed zombies is now giving therapy to prosecution star witnesses.
We covered this topic in a recent exclusive highlighting Steven Hassan.
When applied to cases of sex trafficking and human trafficking, the BITE Model seems totally reasonable and even clinical. But when you actually look at what’s really inside each category, it starts to become clear how dangerously vague and easily weaponized this model really is if the DOJ decides it wants to apply it to perfectly lawful organizations like wellness companies, religious organizations, or even political movements.
Behavior Control
This section includes things like controlling your daily schedule, restricting leisure time, and demanding obedience. That could describe a yoga retreat, a military training camp, or, honestly, working in corporate America. It’s so broad it’s pretty much meaningless without context.
Information Control
This one flags any group that discourages outside media or “unauthorized” viewpoints. Sounds reasonable, until you realize how absurdly broad that is. Religious groups, political campaigns, and even therapists sometimes advise filtering what you consume. Telling someone to avoid toxic people or ignore smear pieces can now be spun as “cult behavior” under this model.
Thought Control
This category claims that using loaded language, discouraging critical thinking, or instilling “us vs. them” mentalities is a red flag. If that’s the case, every political party, activist group, and cable news network in America is a cult.
Emotional Control
According to Hassan, this includes making people feel guilty, instilling irrational fears, or discouraging “negative” emotions. So if a group teaches emotional regulation or encourages self-accountability, is that abuse? Is a teacher or therapist now a cult leader?
And here’s the bigger problem: none of these criteria require proof of force, fraud, or actual harm. It all comes down to how someone feels, usually years later, about their experience. It’s not about evidence. It’s about interpretation, emotion, and “vibes.”
This is the model the FBI is using to train agents. And not so coincidentally, it’s also the same exact model now being used to reshape the memories of witnesses in the OneTaste case.
And when you look closer at Hassan’s work, his extreme bias becomes impossible to ignore.
You can read the entire piece by clicking below:
Here’s Steven Hassan again, sounding more like a self-righteous internet prophet than a credible expert. He’s now claiming he predicted the 2020 violence and doubling down that conservative Christians are part of an “authoritarian cult.” This isn’t cult analysis; it’s political activism and social media rage-posting for clicks and attention.
Sadly, this is what lawfare is morphing into in 2025: the weaponization of psychology and the mainstreaming of TDS. The federal government is now leaning on partisan crackpots like Steven Hassan to help build sham criminal cases against groups like OneTaste, and yes, eventually against people, churches, and everyday organizations you’ve supported or been a part of. Don’t be surprised when Steven Hassan labels your local PTA a “death cult.”
Speaking of which, here we have Steven Hassan openly comparing Trump supporters to brainwashed Jonestown victims. This kind of emotional blackmail isn’t just manipulative; it’s downright dangerous. He exploited a pandemic to score political points, smearing half the country as suicidal cultists simply because they didn’t share his worldview.
And by the way, the people he smeared ended up being right.
We know Kash Patel and Dan Bongino have their work cut out for them, but here’s our hope: that Mr. Hassan’s whack-a-doo teachings and taxpayer-funded workshops are shut down for good. And if they’re still running, they need to be pulled immediately. Because someone with Stage 5 TDS has no business anywhere near law enforcement training or a federal courtroom.
https://revolver.news/2025/05/fbi-go-to-cult-expert-trump-should-die-in-jail/