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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCult expert flags 'loyalty oath' Trump's devised specifically to humiliate inner circle
By Tom Boggioni
Published March 19, 2026 9:43 AM ET
Donald Trump's seemingly quirky obsession with gifting ill-fitting shoes to his Cabinet members is far more sinister than it appears a calculated ritual of humiliation designed to reinforce authoritarian control over his inner circle, according to analysts who study cult psychology and authoritarian tactics.
Columnist Chauncey DeVega, writing for Salon, argues that Trump's habit of distributing $145 Florsheim leather Oxfords to favored advisers functions as a "loyalty oath" embedded within a larger pattern of public degradation and dominance.
The details are deliberately cruel. Photos show Secretary of State Marco Rubio's gifted shoes are dramatically oversized for his feet a humiliation Trump compounds by mocking officials about the size of their feet and what it supposedly implies about their sexual potency. Trump clearly knows the shoes don't fit, the columnist wrote. The point is precisely that they don't.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-humiliation-2676354313/
I can't wait for him and his bunch doing the loyatly oath in leg irons and chain with handcuffs wrapped around there waists and they are being brought in with orange jumpsuits on.........
Goonch
(5,538 posts)
turbinetree
(27,730 posts)MustLoveBeagles
(17,152 posts)Midnight Writer
(25,705 posts)CincyDem
(7,408 posts)barbtries
(31,345 posts)Also watch this movie, based on Lawrence Wright's book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Clear_(book)
or read the book which is also one of the best books about Scientology.
free on youtube! but I have Premium. It's such a good movie I think I'll watch it again today.
the humiliation and degradation of the cult members by L Ron Hubbard and David Miscavage in Scientology is completely off the charts. If there weren't so many people who lived through it to tell the story, you almost wouldn't believe it actually happened.
totally tracks that krasnov is that kind of so-called leader. It also confirms that maga is a destructive cult.
SamKnause
(14,942 posts)All of them are liars, crooks, scum of the earth and anti-American.
the nelm
(291 posts)paleotn
(22,641 posts)He surprises you. He can be. Possibly the most disgusting excuse for a human in history. We'd be hard pressed to find a worse one.
SergeStorms
(20,796 posts)Yet he continues his seemingly endless exploration of deeper dungeons in his mind. He's the absolute King of All Reprobates.
c-rational
(3,221 posts)littlemissmartypants
(34,267 posts)Thanks for the thread, turbinetree. ❤️
Exp
(1,019 posts)usonian
(26,502 posts)That is all.
mwmisses4289
(4,657 posts)FakeNoose
(42,299 posts)They probably have some kind of tracking device hidden in them anyway.
BaronChocula
(4,709 posts)They all deserve the humiliation.
I've seen shoe references over the past few days, but wasn't fully aware of the origin.
Mc Mike
(9,261 posts)somaticexperiencing
(599 posts)Sogo
(7,296 posts)in the 2016 Pres. run....
wolfie001
(7,947 posts)Appears to be in his late 30s. Looks unathletic as hell. Notice the waistline? Girthy. Maybe over 40"?
pat_k
(13,830 posts)... at any age, he has always struck me as a profoundly physically unattractive human . Perhaps it is just that he exudes the evil of a lecherous and cruel Jabba the Hutt, so that is how I've always seen him. It may not be his most dangerous delusion, but his fantasy that he is some sort of god's gift to women is truly nuts.
wolfie001
(7,947 posts)3catwoman3
(29,754 posts)live love laugh
(16,460 posts)Wednesdays
(23,073 posts)...the shoe thing is something I'd expect from Kim Jong Un, not the President of the United States.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,699 posts)Having a hard time feeling empathy.