Something has been bothering me for a long time, and the reaction to Trump TV brought it right back to the surface. Trump TV is a 24-hour stream run by the White House that plays President Trump's speeches, appearances, announcements, and other administration footage. It launched on September 21, and critics quickly began calling it "state-run TV." Yes, it is operated by the government, and that should be stated plainly. But that does not make it equivalent to what most people think of when they hear "state-run media" in countries such as China, North Korea, or Russia, where governments exercise extensive control over major news outlets and independent journalism is heavily restricted. Trump TV is a government communications channel presenting the administration's own material. That is a very different media structure, and collapsing the two into the same phrase skips an important distinction. What interests me even more than Trump TV itself is how quickly political language gets planted in our minds. Someone coins a phrase, thousands of accounts repeat it, headlines reinforce it, social media amplifies it, and before long people are arguing from the phrase instead of looking closely at what is actually happening. That is why I keep coming back to an interview I have shared for years. In 1984, former Soviet KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov sat down with G. Edward Griffin and described what he called "ideological subversion." According to Bezmenov, changing a society is not simply a matter of feeding people individual lies. It is a much longer process of shaping how people perceive information in the first place. He broke that process into four stages, which he called demoralization, destabilization, crisis, and normalization. I am not saying that what we are seeing today is literal mind control, and I am not suggesting that every bot, protester, political argument, or media story is part of some KGB operation. What I am talking about is simpler and very human. It is conditioning. Repetition works. Social pressure works. Algorithms amplify certain messages. Political organizations use messaging, governments use messaging, media outlets frame stories, and politicians frame stories. And all of us naturally gravitate toward information that confirms what we already believe. Where I personally get frustrated is when supporting President Trump gets reduced to a single word. Cult. I voted for the man three times. I support him, and I make no secret about it. But I do not worship Donald Trump, and I do not believe any politician is above criticism. My beliefs existed before Trump entered politics, and they will still be here long after he leaves office. I want a country that is safer and more prosperous. I want secure borders. I want strong families and strong communities. I want people who work hard to have a real shot at success. I want free speech protected. I want fewer wars, not more of them. And above everything else, I want my children and grandchildren to inherit a country, and a world, better than the one we were given. Those are not beliefs somebody downloaded into my head because Donald Trump told me to have them. So when somebody looks at people like me and says, "You're in a cult," I have reached the point where I almost have to laugh. If wanting a better future for my children and grandchildren, believing common sense still has a place in America, loving my country while admitting it isn't perfect, questioning what I read instead of swallowing a headline, and believing that freedom, family, peace, opportunity, and personal responsibility still matter is what they call a cult, then okay. I guess I'm in a cult. Count me in. But there is one thing I refuse to belong to, and that is any political movement, media ecosystem, algorithm, or crowd that requires me to surrender my ability to think for myself. That goes for politicians too, including the ones I vote for. Maybe that is the real lesson in Yuri Bezmenov's warning, forty-two years later. Never hand your mind over to anybody. #MindfixTV: Feed your mind, not the narrative