Cults, Culture & Coercion with Dr. Steve Hassan

The violent coup attempt of January 6th which sent Oath Keepers to jail was justice. Until Trump pardoned all of those people who were convicted and in jail, including Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes. Now with recent events we are resharing our previous interview with someone who was involved. “America right now needs some exit ramps,” Jason Van Tatenhove said as we discussed his former role as national media director for the Oath Keepers, a group known for its far-right anti-government militia. While Jason would ultimately decide to leave the group in 2016 due to increasing racism and Holocaust denial within their membership, the Oath Keepers would go on to participate in the United States Capitol January 6th attack, led by followers of Donald Trump. Jason eventually testified before a U.S. House Select Committee about his position in media propaganda for the organization. He described their attempts at paramilitary tactics, plans for insurrection, and his relationship with Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, convicted of seditious conspiracy and evidence tampering. Jason publicly speaks about his concerns for continued paramilitary training groups and recruitment tactics in future election cycles. His book, The Perils of Extremism: How I Left the Oath Keepers and Why We Should Be Concerned about a Future Civil War, discusses the unsettled state surrounding extremism in America today and provides an insider view into the tactics used to recruit, train, and further radicalize persons with former military backgrounds, first-responders, and individuals who may otherwise feel disenfranchised by United States Democracy at this time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cults and high-control groups often use sexuality to access and manipulate a person’s emotional regulation. Some cults, like the Moonies, used it to create a barrier of fear and shame surrounding sexual thoughts or actions. Ellen Huet’s new book Empire of Orgasm explores how OneTaste, Inc. and its founder Nicole Daedone used the topic of Orgasmic Meditation to challenge boundaries and minimize taboos through coercive practices and were ultimately convicted of a forced labor conspiracy. Ellen Huet is an award-winning investigative journalist currently writing for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek. She also hosts the narrative audio series Foundering, from Bloomberg Technology. In recent seasons, she has worked on topics such as WeWork and OpenAI, as well as examining the trustworthiness of OpenAI’s leader, Sam Altman. The 2022 Netflix documentary called Orgasm, Inc.: The Story of OneTaste featured her investigative journalism about the group. Her reporting has also been cited in news outlets such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Slate, and many others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this engaging discussion, Alex Alvarová, a communications advisor and disinformation expert, shares her insights on digital propaganda and psychological warfare. She recounts her early warnings about Russian influence campaigns and the overwhelming tactics of information flooding that destabilize democracies. Alex connects online radicalization to cult techniques and emphasizes the role of AI in manipulation. Finally, she offers practical defenses against such influences, promoting education and community mobilization for a healthier information ecosystem.

Neo-Nazi sentiment has seen a recent resurgence globally, fueled by political polarization, economic disparities, and social grievances. The internet and social media have played a significant role in spreading extremist propaganda, while some politicians' normalization of hate speech has emboldened these groups. Combating this rise requires a multifaceted approach, including education, countering online extremism, promoting social cohesion, and addressing underlying grievances. My guest for this episode of The Influence Continuum was Kelvin Pierce, author of the memoir Sins of my Father: Growing up with America's Most Dangerous White Supremacist. His father, Dr. William Pierce, was a notorious white supremacist and founded the National Alliance, a prominent hate group. Dr. Pierce also wrote the novel The Turner Diaries, which racists widely cite as inspiration for their racist beliefs and actions. Kelvin was subjected to physical and emotional abuse and was taught to believe that Jews and non-whites were responsible for society's ills. Despite the personal abuse he suffered, Kelvin accepted his father's teachings and held onto these racist beliefs as he transitioned into adulthood. It shaped his worldview and interactions with others, even though he didn't openly broadcast these beliefs. Kelvin was able to shed his indoctrination, create the charitable organization "Divine Child Foundation" to help orphans in Georgia, publish his memoir, and live a life of activism and inspiration fighting racism and extremism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we near the end of 2025, Trump has implemented Opus Dei’s Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 to fundamentally gut America’s core values and checks and balances. The depth of harm is incalculable and Americans are 70% against Trump’s handling of the economy. Threats to free speech, ignoring Constitutional guarantees, unprecedented corruption and violence undermine people’s feelings of safety and security. So we are resharing this vital interview in the hopes of educating and motivating millions of Americans and people worldwide to stand up for democracy and rule of law. In this discussion with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, we discuss the subtle and often sinister ways authoritarianism intertwines with the psychological mechanisms of control. We connect the dots from my experiences with cults and coercive persuasion. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a historian, as an NYU professor and expert on fascism and authoritarianism. She is also a celebrated author,  Her book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present explores the tactics of illiberal rulers and the history of resistance against them. With a focus on unraveling the complex tapestry of undue influence in modern politics, my discussion with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat sheds light on the intricate relationship between authoritarianism and its psychological underpinnings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most troubling aspects of cult dynamics is the way they generate self‑reinforcing histories that can become chaotic and fragmented, leaving individuals disoriented within the broader narrative. We need knowledgeable guides who can help us navigate these stories while providing a grounding in their historical context. I wrote Chapter Three of my book, The Cult of Trump, about the parallels with Jones, Moon, and Hubbard. Don Lattin, this week’s podcast guest, concurred, though he personally likened Trump more closely in his mind to Jim Jones, whose leadership culminated in the historic tragedy at Jonestown. Lattin is a long-established and award-winning religion reporter. His work has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The San Francisco Chronicle. Both of us agreed that Trump exhibits traits of malignant narcissism and appears to be steering the United States toward escalating threats and harms.   The MAGA movement itself is a cult, is led by cults, and has demented authoritarian leadership written all over it. Don Lattin is a journalist who has specialized in writing about religions, cults, psychedelic history, cultural norms, and other fascinating topics since the 1970s. He’s written seven books, including Jesus Freaks – a True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge and Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy. He is also the author of The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America. I had the great pleasure of listening to his Substack channel recently and am honored to bring him on for an episode of Cults, Culture & Coercion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it feel like when an entire room seems to turn to shimmering gold, and you are certain you have just witnessed a miracle, only to later discover it was a hypnotic illusion? On this episode of Cults, Culture & Coercion, I sit down with my longtime friend, former client, and now colleague, filmmaker Jim Picariello. Thirty years ago, Jim was a devoted follower of Zen Master Rama (Frederick Lenz). His family hired me to help him leave the group, and together we unpacked how hypnotic suggestion, phobia indoctrination, and social pressure created those “supernatural” experiences and kept him trapped in a high-control cult.In this conversation, Jim walks us through his recruitment as an anxious college student, the engineered “golden light” experiences that convinced him Rama was enlightened, and the fears that cut him off from friends and family. We also talk about how his parents and I worked together to reach him ethically, how a single powerful hypnotic demonstration helped break the spell, and what it took for him to rebuild his identity and life on the outside.Today, Jim is a multi-award-winning filmmaker turning his story and decades of cult education into a dark romantic comedy feature called The Cult of Us, about two young people in different cults who fall in love and try to “rescue” each other. Along the way, we explore how fiction can teach people to recognize undue influence, authoritarian leaders, and coercive relationships in a way that is funny, moving, and truly life-saving. If you care about freedom of mind, rising authoritarianism, and how people actually wake up from destructive groups, this is an interview you will want to listen to and share. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Quick question. You’re born with your sexuality, and it stays the same your whole life... right? Well, no. This may be much further from the truth than initially thought. When I first watched Dr. Lisa Diamond’s TEDx talk on sexual fluidity, which began with a question very similar to mine, I immediately knew I wanted to interview her. Diamond is a psychologist and professor at the University of Utah whose groundbreaking research challenges the “born this way” narrative that has dominated LGBTQ rights discourse for decades. It might surprise you, as it surprised me, to learn that the “born that way” argument is outdated and scientifically inaccurate. However, Diamond’s research on sexual fluidity offers us a more sophisticated understanding of human sexual development. As a graduate student, Diamond had unearthed something that surprised many people when her book, Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire, was published in 2008. This is an utterly fascintating discussion that invited us to step out of the black & white, all or nothing ideology to embrace the neuroscience of neuroplasticity. We also discuss Folks on the Autism Spectrum who many naturally identify as bi-sexual, non-binary, or asexual. Diamond is brilliant and knows her social psychology research as well. Lots of more nuanced and related topics in this interview! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Cults, Culture & Coercion, I sat down with one of my most trusted colleagues and best friends, Jon Atack—author, artist, poet, musician, and the recognized world expert on Scientology. Jon’s latest book, If Scientology Ruled the World: Nazi Occultists, Sex Magick, Space Aliens, and the Second Coming, begins with a chilling thought experiment: what if Scientology actually took power? To be clear: Jon does not believe that Scientology — which is facing serious challenges in maintaining current members and recruiting new ones — could ever gain enough popularity to control any government, let alone all the world’s governments. Still, with its extreme beliefs and ruthless disregard for human rights, Scientology could serve as a stand-in for any authoritarian movement. And there are many active Scientology offshoots. As I argue in my book The Cult of Trump, authoritarianism exists worldwide, and harmful groups influence politics through lobbyists, cash, and manufactured populism. Maybe a Scientology group won’t take over, but the idea that a destructive movement could dominate a nation, or even the world, isn’t far-fetched. In this book, Jon connects the dots with Nazi occultism and Hubbard, destroys eugenics, Nazi Aryan race theory, and so much more. With Nazism on the rise worldwide, this is a really important book—easy to read yet fastidious in its research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are many reasons why parents or guardians choose to homeschool their children for some portion or all of their educational years. This can range from a child having a disability or neurodiversity, concerns about the quality of education, to other topics like moral or religious conflict with traditional schools. Ryan Stollar shared the story of his experiences as a homeschooled child of an Evangelical family upbringing. He also talks about some of the trauma that he has experienced or witnessed from homeschooling ideologies, including sexual and/or physical abuse. Ryan’s childhood included physical punishments from his parents, consistent with church doctrine. “There were teachers in evangelicalism who promoted how to raise and train children. And they always include corporal punishment,” he said. Ryan included that these punishments drove a wedge between him and his parents. He also noted that as he grew older and began speaking with other homeschooled children, he began to realize how bad some others had it concerning inadequate education, misogyny towards women’s roles, and other forms of abuse. This was when he decided to act in the name of future homeschool children to prevent their abuse. Ryan is the author of the book The Kingdom of Children: A Liberation Theology. He co-founded the website Homeschoolers Anonymous, where many people who have been homeschooled share their stories of experiences and trauma. If you care about children, and worry about what is happening in America, this is an interview you will want to listen to and share. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices