Hillary Clinton Says MAGA ‘Cult Members’ Need To Be ‘Deprogrammed’

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton blasted supporters of former President Donald Trump, particularly in the wake of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“Maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members… and sadly, so many of those extremists, those MAGA extremists, take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure,” she told CNN. “He’s only in it for himself.”

While Clinton predicts that Trump will likely be the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, she believes Joe Biden will be able to beat him a second time.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Clinton said, “One will wreck our democracy. One violates the law on a regular basis. One appeals to the worst in our collective psyche. The other gets things done… Why is that a hard choice?” 

She also commented on the current Republican leadership race in the House of Representatives, after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) was removed from his position on Tuesday. Democrats were joined in their votes by a small group of disgruntled right-wing GOP members.

Clinton called the GOP “an absolute hostage situation with its most extreme members.”

“[McCarthy] was not continuing to be captive to the far-right extremists,” she said. “So they toppled him. It was a very small number as you at the vote. But now we’re reaping the consequences of their misbehavior.”

Front-runners for the Speaker position are Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisana). Rumors circulated that Trump might be interested in the role, but Trump officially threw his support behind Jordan late Thursday. Clinton described Jordan, a co-founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus, as “one of the principal ringleaders of the circus.”

Clinton urged the new Republican speaker, whoever they may be, to rein in the party’s right wing.

“There needs to be a backlash against the control that this small group of extremists have,” she said.