The Phelper cult has nothing to do with politics or religion, except for using them as a vehicle and shield for their outrageous conduct. At the same time, they are not at all an isolated phenomenon, they are merely an extreme and novel manifestation of a tendency that is common throughout society: That of equating abuse, provocation, and general unpleasantness with power and (in many cases) of deriving psycho-sexual gratification from it. These people are everywhere. A distinguished researcher, Robert Sutton, has even written a book about them: The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t
Of course, Sutton wrote this in the context of business but his principles and analysis are widely applicable elsewhere. One crucial insight is that assholes are not more successful or effective than decent people, they merely appear to be in some cases because their habits tend to thwart competition and accountability.

For many years, Southwest Airlines was consistently rated as the best company in America to work for and they are still in the top ten. It also happens that Southwest was an early proponent of the “no asshole rule” though obviously they didn’t put it in those terms.
It was their policy that rude, abusive, nasty, and personally dishonest types just were not hired or retained, regardless of their qualifications and alleged achievements. In particular, applicants were carefully monitored when they arrived for interviews. If they were rude or surly to anyone on the property, security guards, janitors, or the receptionist, they were automatically rejected and told so in plain terms.