Why MAGA buys Trump's perfect health lie:

For a long time, the GOP has been a cult just waiting for its leader. Conservatism often carries an authoritarian bent...

The right is regressive both politically and, crucially, psychologically, longing to have a deified leader they can blindly follow. It’s a childish impulse, a desire to have a Daddy-like figure who is all-knowing and all-powerful, and whom they hope will protect them from threats both real and imagined, while also relieving them of the responsibility to think for themselves.

Trump’s political success is due almost entirely to his understanding of this, along with a willingness to lean more fully into the role of cult leader beyond what even Reagan or Bush were capable of. Although those men had huge egos, it is hard to compete with Trump’s levels of narcissism, or his ignorance of history, which allows him to half-convince himself that he’s a great man. This is certainly why he picked the GOP over the Democratic Party when he decided to run for office. A lifelong con artist, Trump saw that the Republican Party was a sea of marks who would offer themselves up for exploitation forever, as long as he was willing to pretend to be the almighty prophet-leader they craved.