I consider Maddow more of a "columnist" than an anchor, but I think it is also legitimate to question that entire style of broadcasting in the name of news. I don't like it. I don't watch MSNBC for the same reason I don't watch FOX. It's news with editorializing within the scope of the story. A more proper format would be for a news anchor to lead off with the facts of the story at hand, and then Rachel to take over and do her thing. That would be okay with me. I used to watch her because she was entertaining and had good takes, but I haven't watched any significant amount of MSNBC for a long time.
For breaking news, I tend to favor CNN, but that's getting bad, too. But Trump does pose a special problem in that he lies so blatantly and frequently that it becomes necessary for anchors to fact check in real time. This is a problem that isn't easy to solve, unless they simply (my preference) refuse to report on him at all.
When I was in journalism school, one of my professors (this was long before Fox and MSNBC were around) waved a copy of Time Magazine in the air, then read a long story within the magazine that he said he didn't ever want to see us emulate. He called the news story "editorializing." I've been cognizant of that ever since. Unfortunately, it is quite common now, even in print.
As for my own stuff, they're just rants, basically. People can take issue with them like you did, but they have little or no impact on the body politic because there are few readers in relation to the whole. Based on my total views, I'm not moving the needle at all.
As for corroborating the "cult" issue, it's fairly easy to find on the Google machine. You can probably aid the search by including "psychiatrists" in the filter.
Either way, my issue isn't with the everyday Joe or Jill who supports Trump (although with 4 indictments and 91 felony counts, and 22 or so women who have accused him of sexual assault and one who has proven it in civil court, my patience is running thin). It's with the hardline supporters of insurrection. There are a lot of them. My gut says it's like a cult. Not the kind you can't leave voluntarily, so my definition may be more expansive than yours.
More like the definition of a gaming cult, or the cult around AR-15s, or, less markedly so, the cult around Taylor Swift.
Take care!
