Truth remains enemy of Trump sect

            Cults in the news:

            In dusty little Moffat, Colo., seven people are charged with the strange crime of corpse abuse.

            The Love Has Won commune couldn't let go -- months after its leader expired -- committing her decaying remains to a corner bedroom.

            Not to be too judgmental toward these poor people.

            They're not at all unlike another group in the headlines with difficulties letting go.

            The stench of decay has caused a few to flee, but committed members of the Trump Is Lord cult aren't budging.

            Observe Republicans in Congress who oppose a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.

            Why in the world would they oppose it? Because Trump has criticized it.

            Republicans are aware that the more we know about the events the more we'll know of the insidious role of the cult leader who remains the head of the Republican Party.

            One Republican who doesn't consider Trump the lord and supports the bipartisan commission, Sen. Mitt Romney, has said, simply, "I'm going to worry about the party. I'm going to worry about what's the right thing for the country."

            But what about what's right for the cult?

            Trump is Lord wants us to just "move on" from events in which people died and a cherished symbol of self-rule was wrecked by terrorists.

            The GOP obstructionists really don't want us pondering how one loud voice and one Big Lie could cause so much destruction.

            Understand that closed societies based on religious fanaticism take many forms. Trump's genius was to tap into more than one.

            For one, he managed to convince the hangers-on of a bygone culture that he could raise coal from the dead.

            Woe to Rep. Liz Cheney for not realizing the depths of the mind control that has taken root in the Trump cult in her home state of Wyoming.

            The New York Times sent a reporter to find out what Wyoming residents think about Cheney and her refusal to abide by Trump and his Big Lie.

            The account featured this revealing exchange at a Cheyenne bar:

             "Trump lied, and she had the guts to call it out. I respect her for sticking to her guns."

            "She messed up. She went against the whole team. Of course everyone's mad at her."

            "Yeah, but she told the truth."

            "Hey, I'm in oil. I'm always going to be for Trump."

            The fact is, as the Times pointed out, Cheney is one of the most conservative members of Congress.

            When the issue was oil development or just about any political posture supported by the Trump administration, Cheney was all in. She just wouldn't support his lies.

            As prosecutors signal that they have shifted their investigation of the Trump Organization from civil matters to criminal matters, be ready to hear cultists equivocate. Should this criminal probe bear fruit, be ready to hear this con man compared to the man on the cross.

            Whether the cult is Heaven's Gate, the People's Temple, the Branch Davidians, the Order of the Solar Temple, or more, we've seen many fall for charlatans who demanded utter fealty. Never before have we seen a major political party under similar sway.

            On pure political terms, Republicans owe the man nothing. He lost the White House. His party lost the House. It lost the Senate. He launched an insurrection. He faces more legal problems than a Mafia chieftain.

            But Republican Party leaders will be in the Mar-a-Lago pipeline any day for words from the cult leader about what to tell the followers.

            The directive will be simple: "Just keep feeding 'em lies." 

            Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.