As Donald Trump dominates the GOP nomination race and some of his inflammatory comments find favor with the party faithful, CBS News measured how the public feels about his “poisoning the blood” language. A striking number of voters agree with this description of immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally, and among Republicans, associating the remarks with Trump himself makes them even likelier to agree.
I don’t think anyone saying it’s a cult is implying it’s a small group. I’m not sure that’s a fundamental feature of a cult to begin with.
Oxford Dictionary lists the definition of “Cult” as
And that’s what I was taught it meant as well.
Really? This is the first result from the Oxford Dictionary:
https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=cult
Dictionaries differ.
I think that’s the most simple version of cult.
Anyone that worshops anything can be called a cult of that thing.
In common usage especially in American English I think the word connotes an unorthodox form of worshipping, and so by that definition it’s a small group, otherwise it would just be the orthodoxy.