Are We All in Cults Now?

Daniella Mestyanek Young escaped a notorious sex cult, then joined the Army where she studied terrorists—and recognized the same coercive tactics everywhere. The author of The Culting of America, she reveals in our podcast how cult dynamics pervade American life, from MAGA's authoritarian tribalism to corporate culture. We're obsessed with AI threats, she argues, while missing the real danger: human manipulation operating at scale through social media and political movements demanding absolute loyalty. Get full access to Talk Cocktail Podcast at jeffschechtman.substack.com/subscribe