Social Engineering, Kingship & the Emotional Terraform

(Companion to “God, Trump, and the Narcissistic Trap”)

You know that feeling in your gut that something’s off? That uneasiness in the pit of your stomach when you know you’re being lied to? That’s what this whole piece is about.

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Social Engineering in Plain English

People hear “social engineering” and think it’s some hacker trick or CIA-level mind game. But honestly, it’s simple. Humans have been at this for thousands of years. Kingdoms conquering kingdoms. Rulers folding entire cultures into their own.

It’s always the same steps:

• Break the old story.
• Destroy or outlaw the rival gods, books, or rituals.
• Rebrand what’s left so it looks like it’s always been part of the new order.
• Train people to believe obedience is love, and loyalty equals survival.

Rome did it. Christianity did it. Every empire does it. Burn the temple, rebuild it as a church. Take the local holiday, slap a saint on it. Old goddess? New virgin. Boom. Authority secured.

It’s not mystical. It’s social engineering.

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Capitalism Is Just the Latest Costume

Fast forward a few centuries and the robes turned into suits. The rituals are different, but the structure is the same. Capitalism is the modern version of the king-code. The pyramid is still there, but now it’s got a corporate logo stamped on the side.

Think about it:

• In church, you kneel, sing, tithe. At work, you clock in, obey, produce, pay taxes.
• In church, the priest speaks for God. In capitalism, the CEO speaks for “the market.”
• In church, you’re born a sinner who has to make it right. In capitalism, you’re born into debt and spend your life trying to catch up.

And advertising? That’s the new sermon. Commercials preach salvation through stuff. Influencers preach lifestyles like scripture. It’s all engineered to trigger your emotions and keep you in line. See how emotional advertising works — brands deliberately tap feelings like fear or belonging to change behavior.

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The Emotional Hook

Here’s the dirty secret: none of these systems run without your emotional energy. Fear, shame, belonging — that’s the fuel.

• Fear keeps you looking to authority for protection.
• Shame keeps you policing yourself so you never rebel.
• Belonging keeps you clinging to the group, even when it hurts.

That knot in your stomach? That’s intuition. Same feeling you get when someone lies straight to your face. Our entire culture is built on that lie, which is why so many people walk around gray and monotone, half-dead inside.

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How Victims Become Replicants

Here’s where it gets real dark. Victims of narcissistic abuse sometimes start acting like the abuser. Psychologists call it identification with the aggressor. You learn to survive by mimicking the tyrant.

That’s what I see in MAGA supporters. They don’t just defend Trump — they become him. They take on his language, his rage, his paranoia. They replicate the very psychosis that’s controlling them.

And it’s not new. History shows this over and over:

• Nazi Germany scapegoating Jews and gays.
• Rome outlawing local cults.
• Stalin purging artists and teachers.
• McCarthy inventing “enemies” to destroy lives.

It’s the same pattern: find a target, whip up fear, demand obedience, punish doubt.

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The Narcissistic Wound

And then there’s Trump himself. When he got called out for trying to overturn the election, what did we see? Rage. Denial. Blame-shifting. Not accountability. Because in his mind, he’s perfect. He can’t be guilty. That’s the pathology.

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Even if convicted, he won’t believe he’s wrong. Narcissists don’t.

The Bigger Picture

And here’s the kicker: this whole system we’re living in — the politics, the church, capitalism — it’s all the same machine. It’s greed dressed up as morality. It’s power dressed up as divine order. It’s an egregore feeding off your fear and attention.

The only way out is to see it for what it is. Name it. Track where it came from. And then starve it. Don’t give it your worship, your loyalty, your clicks, your fear.

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Binding

I see you.

I feel you.

You have been witnessed and released.

By my word, my breath, and my will, the field is clear.