cult of personality

noun

1. a cult promoting adulation of a living national leader or public figure, as one encouraged by Stalin to extend his power.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cult of personality¹

Probably earlier than 1965–70; translation of Russian kulʾt líchnosti

Example Sentences

Unfortunately for Trump’s conservative critics, the movement they built has become a cult of personality willing to embrace anything, up to and including treason, so long as it means pain is inflicted on everyone else.

From Salon

Moreover, the nature of Trump’s cult of personality could help the party move past Trumpism.

From Los Angeles Times

They believed that unalloyed Trumpism, as they defined it, is popular outside the bubble of Trump’s cult of personality.

From Los Angeles Times

My colleague Amanda Marcotte observed this week that the conventional wisdom describing the new GOP as a cult of personality slightly misses the point.

From Salon

Most fundamentally, the opposition, newly coalesced for what it called a do-or-die moment as Mr. Modi increasingly tilted the playing field, found a way to use the cult of personality around him to its advantage.

From New York Times