Amanda Montell

Huh.

Okay. Very self-flagellating.

Oh, no.

Especially when your definition of cult leader is as loose as mine. Loosey goosey. Yeah. Endless, endless entertainment. I was thinking also, like, as soon as people stop exploiting others, our podcasting careers are just going to tank.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, do you think do you? I actually wasn't aware that Germany was sort of like jealous of Britain's colonization efforts.

Hitler is obsessed his whole life with like, why didn't this happen to us? yeah oh yeah yeah okay okay that's key context because if a whole nation a fledgling nation whatever nation that's trying to build itself has you know a like popular kid in school to to look up to and feel jealous of oh yeah that can create that can create to use the school analogy

Some kind of like in-cell inferiority complex type behavior, which is what I'm getting here.

Yeah.

Oh, so true. No, your career stability is like on lock.

Yeah. Rugged, masculine expansionism, manifest destiny. Yeah.

Wait, I can't get over the irony of us throughout the United States celebrating the European Renaissance and Europe celebrating some fictionalized and surely very problematic and fucked up vision of the early days in the US. It's truly the grass is always...

Oh, my God. No, you're basically a tenured professor in the program of bastard studies.

I really I it's like my my partner will talk about video games sometimes. That is a video game, right?

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

Wait, I have a question.

What does this guy look like?

Oh, yeah. OK. Yeah. I just like forgive me. I just I need a visual here.

Okay, I'll describe it.

Yeah, there's Alfie H. Oh my God. Okay, so he looks like dudes on my side of town in Los Angeles, Loki.

Oh, yeah. Let's not dox me. But, you know, this is what I'll say. This is what I'll say. His his his his mustache is shaped like Squidward from SpongeBob's legs.

And that's exactly it. Yes. And it's white and his glasses are perfectly round. They're Harry Potter glasses, honestly.

For sure.

No, this was super on purpose.

So although similar to Elon and Alfie, the hairline, the hairline is impressive.

Totally, which is honestly amazing, especially considering that he was such a bad person. You would think that, like, that would have affected his hair.

You know what I just thought is like because the obviously like the use of euphemism within the Nazi regime and their campaigning is well studied and documented. But I will never get over it. And if this guy Alfie had his roots in creative writing, I bet he was a master of euphemism. Oh, yeah.

Holy shit. Oh, my God. I'm pumped. Okay, I said this at the beginning before we started recording, but, like, please don't apologize that we're not doing a co-leader. As you can imagine, I'm, like, kind of sick of it. But I'm on a World War II kick. I mean, actually, it's been an extended kick. It's been an extended kick.

Do you like computers? Yeah.

Fuck. Jesus.

So I'm... Is it appropriate to say, like, I'm pumped to talk about this Hugenberg fellow?

uh this is alfred hugenberg it would be fair to call him the elon musk of weimar germany that's the first thing that's the first thing that came to mind that is the first thing that came to fucking mind because like elon you know he's playing ball but he you know that he just disdains the shit no he thinks they're pitiful he thinks they're like small potatoes i i allegedly in my opinion

I am so dumbfounded by this guy's disposition. He wanted to be a creative writer. I'm still stuck on that. And then he suppressed it to become someone interested- A hedge fund guy. Yeah, in hedge funds. I'm just like- What how does that how does that make sense? Like, is he truly like a Renaissance man and so adaptable? Or was he never truly an artist to begin with?

And he just kind of like told himself he was suppressing his artistic tendencies. But really, he was meant for this.

The BuzzFeed era hadn't hit yet.

Wait, I actually have two questions about that. Well, no, I have a comment and a question. So...

bringing it to cults people do the same thing making comparisons between donald trump and jim jones and we love and including myself oh yeah like you i love i love to point out rhetorical similarities the way that they weaponize they exist for sure yeah yes yeah but there are extremely noteworthy differences that are equally important to emphasize and jonestown was a

I don't know. I don't know what's going on in that noggin of his. Thank God. But that's the first thing that came to mind.

unprecedented and since unreplicated thing. And Jim Jones read Nietzsche and Donald Trump doesn't read anything.

That'll never happen again. No, honestly, that's a great point. But there was some drama with a plane, and that's really happening.

But my question related to this somewhat, and this is a really basic question, so maybe this will sound like kindergarten level, but I don't really understand and have never really understood... How German nationalism among these guys like Hitler and Alfie, how was it so raging? Like, I don't I don't find that. I mean, I know Trump, but Trump doesn't have American nationalism, I find.

He uses it, yes, but I don't think he feels it in his soul.

Yeah. No, that's already helpful because like a novelty when something is brand new, you like don't really know what it means yet because you don't have the context in the retrospect. But yeah, it's sexy. It's exciting. It's like AI stuff now.

Yeah, yeah.

It is utterly fascinating that living through present political times, we think like, oh, this label that describes this particular group of thinkers, that correlation will be perennial. That will always mean that. But, you know, it's like, no, but no, it can flip so fast.

I'm so excited. Again, I'm not sure if that's the right adjective, but like on the edge of my seat, on the tips of my toes.

Better, like like morally better.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're like more valid, valuable humans.

Oh, good.

I feel really free. I feel really safe.

Wait, was that guy? Was he was he an art collector?

I think I went to an art exhibit in Zurich that was exhibiting his art collection and like trying to reckon with how those pieces were acquired. It was really interesting.

Oh, my God.

It's just like, I just sold your neighbor a stack of Bibles.

Yeah, I just I any any time someone can pull off saying the words Giddy and Hitler in one sentence, I'm like, we are cut from the same cloth, my friend.

Oh, my God. Maybe this is going to sound like a fucked up thing to say, but maybe he needed more love. Did his parents... You know, who... Well, his dad dies right away.

No, that's why he needed the crowds.

Yeah, he's just this fucking lonely, bitter... Yeah, Scrooge is played by Michael Caine. Striving motherfucker. Yes, yikes.

You know, he needed one of those really, really intensive like parent child therapy sessions where, you know, a teenage boy is like forced to sit on his mom's lap and make eye contact with her for like two hours.

No, no, no, no. He needs he he he should have fast forward to the ketamine ketamine time.

Oh, yeah. Wait. Whoa. Oh, do you think do you think that Alfie was on Coke?

So maybe that is a parallel again between him and Elon. They could be both medicated wrong.

It's the NXIVM sash.

Of Germany at this time.

That sounds dumb.

How is this like manufactured escalation legal?

It's so fucked up.

Did you just imply that because Alfie like had no friends and no loved ones and no family members and thus no one to lose in a war, he's just like, yeah, fucking go off.

So nothing to lose.

And it sounds like the right he is. Yeah. Ultimately, he's doing life wrong, but he's doing life very wrong.

Wow. OK, so when you said that he wasn't good at propaganda yet.

SponCon. That doesn't look like SponCon.

I feel amazing.

Well, I'm just... America's sweetheart. Yeah, exactly. Well, kind of, because I feel whenever I hear stories like this, I feel like, oh, wow, I'm not the worst person in history.

Yeah, yeah. Ooh, that's a fun game.

There's better.

I would love to talk to a historian who's like open to discussing a working theory that Russell Brand had something to do with any of a photo of him in the background in Sarajevo as the Archduke drives past.

Yeah, Russell Brand, he does have sort of a time traveler's styling to him.

He looks like he could have been from any era at all.

Yeah, that's so true.

Oh my God, that's so funny.

For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he belongs there as much as anywhere, which might be nowhere. But do you ever see people... IRL in in 2025 you're like whoa you do you have a face that looks like an old sepia toned like faded print from the late 19th century because I do sometimes yeah no I get that a lot actually you get it yourself you're like every time I look in the mirror yeah

Yes. If people like hearing about cults in a cheeky tone or really just cult-like organizations from the modern day zeitgeist and want to participate in determining whether or not they are real cults. They can listen to my podcast, Sounds Like a Cult, about the modern day cults we all follow from Disney adults to Elon Musk. So, yeah.

And we have an episode coming out with you about Mark Zuckerberg. So that's going to be exciting. Yeah. And then Cultish, my book Cultish is coming out in paperback in June.

Prussia, yeah. I was going to say Prussia, and I was like, if that's wrong, I'm going to sound so dumb, but it's all giving Prussian era.

Here's a cult parallel. A cult leader is often someone with a little chip on their shoulder. He's like, hey, hey now.

And the idea that- Not everybody, so not everybody's down to be pan, right?

Hey, it's a joy and a pleasure. And you know, so many of my Sounds Like a Cult listeners are obsessed with your show. That's how I learned about it from them. So I'm stoked.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's definitely giving like George W. Bush's painting endeavor. It's like, I don't know. Although the order of operations was flipped. W. entered painting after his political tenure. Maybe Hitler should have done that. I don't know.

Oh, okay. That's something.

No, they were like really mid landscapes. A hundred percent. He had no point of view.

Okay, okay, okay, sorry.

Are you obsessed with cults? Then, oh goody, do I have a podcast recommendation for you. It's called Sounds Like a Cult, and it's a show about the modern-day cults we all follow. Think Les Jonestown and the Mansons, and more Disney adults, church camp, momfluencers, or people who are just obsessed with their Stanley Cup?

I'm Amanda Montell, sounds like a cult's host, and every week I choose a different fanatical fringe group from the cultural zeitgeist and analyze it with the help of expert guests, listener call-ins, and fascinating stories to figure out if the group of the week is a live your life, a watch your back, or a get the fuck out level cult.

If you're new to the show, I recommend starting out with one of my favorite episodes, like the one on the Cult of Purity Rings featuring Kelsey from Normal Gossip. We also just did an episode on the Cult of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Discussions get very juicy on Sounds Like a Cult. The show is available on all major podcast platforms and new episodes come out every Tuesday.

For more, find the show on Instagram at soundslikeacultpod.

Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes them a minute.

Are you obsessed with cults? Then, oh goody, do I have a podcast recommendation for you. It's called Sounds Like a Cult, and it's a show about the modern-day cults we all follow. Think Les Jonestown and the Mansons, and more Disney adults, church camp, momfluencers, or people who are just obsessed with their Stanley Cup?

I'm Amanda Montell, sounds like a cult's host, and every week I choose a different fanatical fringe group from the cultural zeitgeist and analyze it with the help of expert guests, listener call-ins, and fascinating stories to figure out if the group of the week is a live your life, a watch your back, or a get the fuck out level cult.

If you're new to the show, I recommend starting out with one of my favorite episodes, like the one on the Cult of Purity Rings featuring Kelsey from Normal Gossip. We also just did an episode on the Cult of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Discussions get very juicy on Sounds Like a Cult. The show is available on all major podcast platforms and new episodes come out every Tuesday.

For more, find the show on Instagram at soundslikeacultpod.

Are you obsessed with cults? Then, oh goody, do I have a podcast recommendation for you. It's called Sounds Like a Cult, and it's a show about the modern day cults we all follow. Think Les Jonestown and the Mansons, and more Disney adults, church camp, momfluencers, or people who are just obsessed with their Stanley Cup?

I'm Amanda Montell, Sounds Like a Cult's host, and every week I choose a different fanatical fringe group from the cultural zeitgeist and analyze it with the help of expert guests, listener call-ins, and fascinating stories to figure out if the group of the week is a live your life, a watch your back, or a get the fuck out level cult.

If you're new to the show, I recommend starting out with one of my favorite episodes, like the one on the Cult of Purity Rings featuring Kelsey from Normal Gossip. We also just did an episode on the Cult of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Discussions get very juicy on Sounds Like a Cult. The show is available on all major podcast platforms and new episodes come out every Tuesday.

For more, find the show on Instagram at soundslikeacultpod.

Are you obsessed with cults? Then, oh goody, do I have a podcast recommendation for you. It's called Sounds Like a Cult, and it's a show about the modern day cults we all follow. Think Les Jonestown and the Mansons, and more Disney adults, church camp, momfluencers, or people who are just obsessed with their Stanley Cup?

I'm Amanda Montell, sounds like a cult's host, and every week I choose a different fanatical fringe group from the cultural zeitgeist and analyze it with the help of expert guests, listener call-ins, and fascinating stories to figure out if the group of the week is a live your life, a watch your back, or a get the fuck out level cult.

If you're new to the show, I recommend starting out with one of my favorite episodes, like the one on the Cult of Purity Rings featuring Kelsey from Normal Gossip. We also just did an episode on the Cult of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Discussions get very juicy on Sounds Like a Cult. The show is available on all major podcast platforms and new episodes come out every Tuesday.

For more, find the show on Instagram at soundslikeacultpod.

Are you obsessed with cults? Then, oh goody, do I have a podcast recommendation for you. It's called Sounds Like a Cult, and it's a show about the modern-day cults we all follow. Think Les Jonestown and the Mansons, and more Disney adults, church camp, momfluencers, or people who are just obsessed with their Stanley Cup?

I'm Amanda Montell, sounds like a cult's host, and every week I choose a different fanatical fringe group from the cultural zeitgeist and analyze it with the help of expert guests, listener call-ins, and fascinating stories to figure out if the group of the week is a live your life, a watch your back, or a get the fuck out level cult.

If you're new to the show, I recommend starting out with one of my favorite episodes, like the one on the Cult of Purity Rings featuring Kelsey from Normal Gossip. We also just did an episode on the Cult of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Discussions get very juicy on Sounds Like a Cult. The show is available on all major podcast platforms and new episodes come out every Tuesday.

For more, find the show on Instagram at soundslikeacultpod.

Are you obsessed with cults? Then, oh goody, do I have a podcast recommendation for you. It's called Sounds Like a Cult, and it's a show about the modern-day cults we all follow. Think Les Jonestown and the Mansons and more Disney adults, church camp. mom fluencers, or people who are just obsessed with their Stanley Cup?

I'm Amanda Montell, Sounds Like a Cult's host, and every week I choose a different fanatical fringe group from the cultural zeitgeist and analyze it with the help of expert guests, listener call-ins, and fascinating stories to figure out if the group of the week is a live your life, a watch your back, or a get the fuck out level cult.

If you're new to the show, I recommend starting out with one of my favorite episodes, like the one on the Cult of Purity Rings featuring Kelsey from Normal Gossip. We also just did an episode on the Cult of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Discussions get very juicy on Sounds Like a Cult. The show is available on all major podcast platforms and new episodes come out every Tuesday.

For more, find the show on Instagram at soundslikeacultpod.

to sign up for a 14-day free trial and start protecting you and your loved ones that's a u r a dot com slash defense certain terms apply so be sure to check the site for details are you obsessed with cults then oh goody do i have a podcast recommendation for you it's called sounds like a cult and it's a show about the modern day cults we all follow think less jonestown and the mansons and more disney adults church camp

mom fluencers, or people who are just obsessed with their Stanley Cup?

I'm Amanda Montell, Sounds Like a Cult's host, and every week I choose a different fanatical fringe group from the cultural zeitgeist and analyze it with the help of expert guests, listener call-ins, and fascinating stories to figure out if the group of the week is a live your life, a watch your back, or a get the fuck out level cult.

If you're new to the show, I recommend starting out with one of my favorite episodes, like the one on the Cult of Purity Rings featuring Kelsey from Normal Gossip. We also just did an episode on the Cult of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Discussions get very juicy on Sounds Like a Cult. The show is available on all major podcast platforms and new episodes come out every Tuesday.

For more, find the show on Instagram at soundslikeacultpod.