The Unraveling of Brent Regan's Tiny Kingdom
Brent Regan may be more like Jim Jones than he lets on, just not the one he's ranting about.
“Nobody joins a cult. Nobody joins something they think’s going to hurt them. You join a religious organization, you join a political movement, and you join with people that you really like.”
— Deborah Layton, survivor of Jonestown
Nobody joins a cult on purpose. That’s the first thing survivors always say in the documentaries. You don’t sign up for brainwashing or traumatic ruin. You don’t volunteer to be lied to. You start with something that feels meaningful. Maybe it's spiritual. Maybe it's political. Perhaps it's freedom, liberty, God, country. You believe you're fighting for something good — something bigger than yourself. And then, one day, you wake up and realize you've been used.
Lately, KCRCC and IFF chairman Brent Regan has been sounding more like a cult leader watching this little empire fall apart.
His latest public rant — a spittle-flecked tirade accusing me and others of being “delusional liars” — reads less like a reasoned defense of conservative values and more like a paranoid screed pulled from a Communist Manifesto-style fever dream. The irony is thick—here’s a man who rails against Marxism while parroting the same black-and-white, revolutionary rhetoric—complete with enemies lists, ideological purity tests, and warnings of internal traitors. He tosses around terms like “Designated Liars,” claims that anyone who questions his authority is secretly a Democrat operative, and tries to gaslight an entire state into believing that the real villains are the ones bringing the receipts. Like any well-trained Marxist, he accuses others of the very things he does so often.
But underneath all that righteous fury is panic. His grip is slipping. And everyone can see it.
For years, Regan and his allies — Bryan Smith and Doyle Beck — ran the show. They positioned themselves as the gatekeepers of conservatism in Idaho. Fall in line or face the wrath: public shaming, coordinated smear campaigns, fake media attacks, and SLAPP lawsuits.
It worked. But it’s not working like it used to.
Something has shifted. And he knows it. People are not as afraid of them anymore.
The cracks are everywhere. North Idaho Republicans clawed back 30 precinct committee seats from Regan’s KCRCC machine. Bonneville County Republicans kicked out the Beck-Smith loyalists and restored normalcy and principled leadership. The Idaho Majority Club is out-fundraising the Ada County GOP, and even the Idaho Freedom Caucus (IFC)— once a weapon against incumbent Republicans — has been snatched away from Maria Nate and is now run by Scott Herndon and Heather Scott, who seem more interested in mocking IFF operatives than following them. They now work with Speaker Moyle AGAINST Ron and Maria Nate’s Gang of Eight.
IFF’s attempt to resurrect the grocery tax repeal? Dead before it hit the floor. Even members of the Idaho Freedom Caucus — once loyal foot soldiers — openly mocked the fake emails and the dishonest Facebook ads calling conservatives “TRAITORS!”. The old playbook isn’t just tired; it’s embarrassing and predictable. People are waking up to manipulation and are no longer playing along. You can see it in the public pushback, fractured alliances, and the flood of Idahoans seeking accurate information. The appetite for truth is growing—and the numbers prove it.
Political Potatoes is now pulling well over 600,000 monthly views. And it’s not just clicks. It’s people reading. Sharing. Clicking the source links. Digging into the receipts. The tide is turning. And when a far-right propaganda machine built on cult-like control starts to lose influence, its leaders get desperate.
That's when things get dangerous.
None of this behavior is surprising if you’ve studied how cults work. There’s always a charismatic leader who becomes untouchable. They isolate followers from outside information. They create a rigid “us versus them” narrative. Dissenters are punished, smeared, erased. They deploy a new language—simple slogans designed to override nuanced realities: “RINO.” “Fake Republican.” “Deep State.” “Freedom score.” They weaponize the “othering” of their targets and use manufactured contention to screen for those most likely to be susceptive to their programming. Their language of elimination is effective.
It’s all textbook. And not metaphorically.
Just look at Regan’s circle and compare it to the behavior of real-world cults like NXIVM or the Rajneeshees from Wild Wild Country. In NXIVM, members were told they were part of an elite movement—enlightened and moral. In reality, they were being used, controlled, and often financially and personally destroyed if they left.
In Oregon, the Rajneeshees were so desperate to maintain control that they poisoned salad bars with salmonella to suppress the local vote. When you're losing, the goal stops being to build the tent. It becomes sabotage and supression.
And here in Idaho, Regan and his cult-like orbit are lashing out in eerily similar ways.
They’re targeting respected Republicans like Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, launching coordinated libelous attacks through fake news sites like the Gem State Chronicle, Kootenai Journal, and Idaho Dispatch. They’re trying to gaslight people into believing Dorothy Moon’s wild spending of GOP donor funds is actually a masterclass in fiscal conservatism, even as Party Watch drops literal financial receipts showing overspending, reckless waste, and disregard for donor trust. They want you to believe that Smith should get $82,000 for work the Idaho GOP leadership said he’d never bill them for.
And just like cult leaders in collapse, they’re getting sloppy.
Dave Reilly, the white nationalist who’s become a recurring character in North Idaho’s woke-right movement, was quietly hired by IFF, then quietly removed when journalists exposed the connection. Instead of condemning him, Regan and his followers doubled down and praised his Hitler-loving media operation.
A leaked recording of Maria Nate showed her berating Heather Scott — not for voting the wrong way, but for failing to obey. The audio leak pulled the curtain back on the inner workings of a machine that values loyalty above all else. Obey or be destroyed.
Then there’s the viral video. Regan’s unmarked security goons dragged a woman they targeted as opposition out of a public town hall while he stood in the back of the room soaking in the chaos he helped create. He now claims they were “clearly identified” and “professional.” Watch the footage. See for yourself. The only clear thing is how far he will go to maintain power. And now, armed with a massive legal war chest, serious consequences are looming over Regan and his enforcers.
These aren’t the actions of confident leaders. These are the flailing, frantic moves of people watching the walls close in.
And for those who follow the leaders of this “liberty” movement, you need to hear this: You are not the villain. But you are being used. Just like the followers of NXIVM, in Waco, or Jonestown, you believed in something that was sold to you as pure, righteous, and urgent. They told you you were the true conservatives. The moral right. The defenders of freedom. And they told you that anyone who dared to question them must be a leftist, a communist, or the dirtiest word in their vocabulary—a RINO.
But here’s the truth: the leaders at the top are not who they claim to be. They don’t just gaslight you—they condition you to gaslight yourself, to believe they are exactly what they insist they are. They’ve warped conservatism into a loyalty cult, where the measure of your worth isn’t your principles—it’s your obedience.
Brent Regan’s recent rant mirrors the rhetoric of cult leader Jim Jones in striking ways—using fear, loyalty tests, and black-and-white thinking to maintain control. Like Jones, Regan isolates his followers by demonizing critics, invents labels to discredit dissent, and creates a paranoid “us vs. them” narrative that frames any opposition as a betrayal. Both rely on emotional manipulation over truth, demanding obedience over principle. The language may be political, but the methods are unmistakably cult-like. Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus (false in one thing, false in everything) indeed.
In Regan’s little kingdom, disagreement isn’t debate; it’s betrayal. Anyone who questions the leadership is dragged into a trauma-bonding cycle—publicly punished, shunned, and humiliated until they crawl back, grateful just to be allowed inside again. In this cult-like structure, your independence, voice, and identity are traded for a committee seat or vague promises of future campaign support.
And the longer you stay, the deeper the risk. Financially. Legally. Reputationally. Even morally. In a system where empathy is treated like weakness and dissent is treated like sin, your well-being isn’t just ignored—it’s expendable. Brent Regan doesn’t care what happens to you. He cares that you stay useful. Nothing more.
Because when the collapse comes—and it is inevitable—it won’t be Brent Regan, Bryan Smith, or Doyle Beck who take the fall—they can afford the legal help. It won’t be the leaders who take the fall. It’ll be the volunteers. The small donors. The precinct officers. The everyday Idahoans who trusted them—who carried out their schemes, were conditioned to believe they were fighting the good fight.
You don’t have to go down with this ship. The real Republican party is a big tent that will welcome you with open arms and never ask you to attack other Republicans. Politics in Idaho used to be something to be proud of, and it can be again.
It’s not too late to step away. To think for yourself again. To reconnect with the values that got you into politics in the first place—faith, family, community, freedom. Not blind loyalty. Not fear. Not authoritarian purity tests.
You don’t have to surrender your liberty to those who demand blind loyalty in return. The red flags are everywhere—and Brent Regan’s latest Jim Jones-style rant proves he’s losing it.
The emergency exit is lit. The door is open.
No one can walk through it but you.
About the Author
Gregory Graf is the creator of Political Potatoes and a lifelong conservative Republican. His articles often criticize the hypocrisy committed by far-right grifters who’ve taken control of the GOP. Graf is the CEO of Snake River Strategies, a strategic communications and political consulting firm based in Eagle, Idaho. You can follow Graf’s work on X, Threads, or Facebook.
Disclaimer
The following is intended to convey an opinion on newsworthy events of public concern regarding public figures and/or public officials in exercising their official duties. No implications or inferences—beyond those explicitly stated in the preceding— are intended to be conveyed or endorsed by the Author. Wherever available, hyperlinks have been provided to allow readers to directly access any underlying assertions of fact upon which this opinion is based.
I do not believe Regan intends for anyone to drink cyanide-laced kool-aid. But who knows how far he’ll go to protect his fragile ego.
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“The everyday Idahoans who trusted them - who carried out their schemes, were conditioned to believe they were fighting the good fight”. They sure did.
And every time an extremist gets re-elected, you see just how strong their hold is over these gullible voters, and how little consideration the loyalists get in return.
This legislative session was no exception. Thanks to the extremists, middle to lower class Idahoans will face: a pittance of an income tax rebate, while the wealthy get over $5,000.00 back; school vouchers that will destroy the public schools their children attend, while rich Idahoans will get $5,000.00 per child to go to private, religious schools on our dime; and expulsion of 19,000 needy Idahoans from Medicaid expansion.
But hey, they also passed a “man-boob”, truck-nut ban.
Aren’t we fortunate.
This sounds so much like Trump, there is a great book call the Cult of Trump and it is exactly what this article describes.