Hey, remember the weird fat-shaming cult Clarence Thomas’ MAGA-obsessed wife Ginni belonged to in the ’80s that we told you about back in January? Well, a newly unearthed video of her talking about it has surfaced and it’s deeply unsettling.
Cult expert and author Steven Hassan shared the clip on Twitter yesterday, where it quickly racked up over 1.3 million views in less than 24 hours.
“I knew Ginni Thomas. Ginni Thomas was in a cult (the large group awareness training cult, Lifespring). Here she is in 1989 speaking at an event I hosted for former members. Until today, almost NO one has seen this video,” he tweeted.
I knew Ginni Thomas. Ginni Thomas was in a cult (the large group awareness training cult, Lifespring). Here she is in 1989 speaking at an event I hosted for former members. Until today, almost NO one has seen this video. pic.twitter.com/qMX4fKboxg
— Steven Hassan, PhD (@CultExpert) March 31, 2022
Lifespring was founded in 1974 and billed itself as a “self-awareness program” that taught members how to be more accountable in their personal and professional lives. In reality, organizers took people’s money, forced them to participate in weird “training sessions”, and then wouldn’t let them leave when they wanted to.
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Thomas, who hates LGBTQ people and believes “transsexual fascists” are ruining America, had recently flunked the bar exam and was working as congressional aide when she connected with the group in the early 1980s. She was a member for several years before realizing something was amiss.
Related: Ginni Thomas’ week is off to a terrible start and it’s only Monday
In 1987, she told The Washington Post that the training sessions left her feeling “confused and troubled”, particularly when she and the other trainees were instructed to get completely naked, form a U-shape, and “[make] fun of fat people’s bodies and [ridicule] one another with sexual questions”.
Nevertheless, she stuck around. It wasn’t until she realized Lifespring was separating her from her friends and family that she got really suspicious.
In 1991, she told the Washington Post, “I had intellectually and emotionally gotten myself so wrapped up with this group that I was moving away from my family and friends and the people I work with. My best friend came to visit me and I was preaching at her using that rough attitude they teach you.”
Related: Josh Hawley says Clarence Thomas is a victim of misogyny and we’re all a little dumber now
Thomas has been under intense scrutiny for the last week, after text messages obtained by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward and CBS News correspondent Robert Costa showed she repeatedly pestered ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about overturning Biden’s victory in the weeks following the 2020 presidential election. Now, there is talk the January 6 committee is seriously considering calling on her to give testimony.
On top of that, a report from the Daily Beast published today details how Thomas leveraged her position as the wife of a Supreme Court justice to get Donald Trump‘s attention, flatter him, and pitch potential hires for the White House, including “infamous bigots and conspiracy theorists, woefully under-qualified names, and obvious close friends of Thomas.”
Check out what people are saying about the video Hassan shared…
I don’t mean to be impolite, but I didn’t hear a concrete thought out of her in that recording.
— Just a girl 🇺🇦 (@Beowulfling22) March 31, 2022
Deprograming was not so successful!
— Just a Gal Vet( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (@LisaMacVeteran) April 1, 2022
When I was 19, a friend brought me to a huge Lifespring event. The speaker urged people to join them in realizing their full potential and various other self-indulgent pursuits. I couldn’t believe what a crock it was and that people much older than I fell for it. I walked out.
— Maryellen Waters (@melaguas) March 31, 2022
Thanks for this and your books. The psychology of cult joiners is fascinating, I’ve seen this same lost desperation (often leading to rage as it’s unfulfilled) in many Q Trump supporters around me.
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) March 31, 2022
— Mark James (@MarkJam92731126) April 1, 2022
I went to high school with her in Omaha graduated the same year. She was smart and creepy, even then you knew to stay away from her
— Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Mom (@nanci_hemingway) March 31, 2022
OMG. I never would have believed that. I mean, I knew she had been in a cult. But – she was – kind of cute.
— Jeff martini (@martiniys) April 1, 2022
Now we find out that before she married #ClarenceThomas, #GinniThomas was in a CULT whose members engaged in among other things, STRIPPING NAKED and making fun of each other’s bodies
Good Lord Have Mercy!!
— Emoluments Clause (@Emolclause) March 31, 2022
Oh My God Steve. Ginni Thomas has had a significant relapse since this video clip. It’s hard to do worse than the EST/ Forum/ Lifespring garbage, but she found it with Q & Maga.
— Tom Joseph (@TomJChicago) March 31, 2022
People with identity crises & personality disorders are drawn to cults. Many of those who leave one, I believe, just find a new one.
— Ms (@nofreealliances) March 31, 2022
white-queer-african
LOCK HER UP.
IMPEACH THE HUSBAND.
So we shall wait for the GOP PRAISE SINGERS to spew their drivel!
white-queer-african
Drivel should have read HATRED!
Kangol2
She has “cultist” written all over her face. It’s no surprise she went from Lifespring to GQP fanatic to Don the Con worshiper!
GayEGO
I remember Lifespring which my boss told me to attend. I danced as a gay man and spoke about being part of civilization. I left shortly after as I realized there was something evil about it. My lifetime partner of 57 years told me to leave it and I did.
Jami Stardust
Cults never had any affect on me. If there is something that I need to learn, then “I” learn it. I believe we teach ourselves and “teachers” are only guides who supply short cuts. So many times in my early life I was outside looking in. When ever a teacher would ask a “trick” question I would be the only one to get it right. Being on the outside was how I grew up, so I learned how to stand alone and separate from others following my own instincts and intuitions. Too many people let others tell them how, what,
and why to think about their lives and their connection to what is eternal. I don’t trust others enough to do that.
IanHunter
I recommend that she returns to the deprogramming camp. This is more proof that she is a flake. Plus she has packed on the pounds since then so no dessert for her.
CNY1983
ive always suspected her of planting those “pubic hairs on the coke can” and framing anita hill. now ive been vindicated as she obviously had an abundant supply from sittin around naked with freaks just like her.
storm45701
Judging from the way she looks today, the fat-shaming had no effect whatsoever.
Dick Mayhem
My best friend did Lifespring. He really got off on the “be your greatest” garbage. But his descriptions of the sessions sounded very messed up – a shameless rip-off of EST, which I also managed to avoid.
Brian
This country has far too many insane people. We need more hospitals, and we need more people to be heavily medicated.