## Video Content & Description  ## Transcript ### Intro: Scary things! **0:00** · What you'll learn in this video will shock and disturb you. I'm talking to \ Chase Hughes. You've looked at how a lot of these sci-ops that have been used in the military are actually being used to influence American \ society today. Charlie Kirk was just assassinated. Is that a sci-op? Is Epstein \ a sci-op? I mean Ukraine, China All sci-ops. **0:26** · Everything. And it's it gets deeper. **0:28** · Like there there are step-by-step programs they have for creating a Manchurian candidate. \ The CIA is on record creating Manchurian candidates that can assassinate, quote, \ American officials. Do you think we're in a false reality? I think this is a simulation. You do? Yeah. In the DMT state, you get to close to the wall and you can see code that looks kind of like alien writing. This is reality being replaced layer by layer. There are six layers and you've only seen the first one. **1:05** · There's a reason that you wake up with dread and blame yourself for it. It was \ designed. That is the program running. Fear is the number one easiest way to control human beings. What you'll learn in this video will shock and disturb you. Not because it exposes some secret sinister government program. Not because it reveals some hidden psychological warfare system. But because it shows you something much simpler. It shows how paranoia is manufactured. ### Point of this video: Examining how deceptive gurus create fear to manipulate people **1:44** · It shows how a person can build influence and gain millions of followers by cultivating and spreading fear and paranoia and make a lot of money in the process. The disturbing thing about this is just how simple the equation is. Many of us are anxious for understandable reasons, just as many people have always been anxious. Our fear makes us easy to manipulate. This video is about a man named Chase Hughes. Chase Hughes. Chase Hughes. **2:11** · Chase Hughes. The great Chase Hughes. But it's about something much bigger than one person. It's about how modern cult leaders operate. How narcissistic gurus build power. How they make the world and the people in it seem alien and terrifying. And how they position themselves as the solution. The key to the puzzle. **2:33** · Because once someone convinces you the world is full of hidden manipulation, that dark forces are shaping everything around you, \ and that reality itself is false, you'll probably want to follow the person who claims to see through it all. Who sees through the false and threatening \ system around us. The one who can help guide you through this terrifying maze. \ And that's where the con begins. **2:58** · So let's look at how deceptive gurus try to manipulate you in the modern age. Step one, establish authority. If you want to manipulate people, you first need them to look up to you. You need status. You need authority. ### Step One in the faux-guru process: Establish Authority **3:14** · You need mystique. **3:16** · That is true of cult leaders and it's true of con men. And many of these people share the same basic problem. They desperately want widespread admiration. **3:25** · But they haven't done anything to earn that admiration. So they manufacture it. They lie. They inflate their life stories. They exaggerate their experience. They claim to have amazing knowledge, mysterious powers. In every single conversation you're seeing 10, 15, 20 layers behind what a person is presenting to everyone else in the room. It's like having X-ray vision. And it has given me a superpower. **3:55** · Narcissistic con artists and cult leaders often lie, but they'll more often use ambiguous language to deceive. They'll imply things that are not technically false, but are deeply misleading. For example, Chase Hughes claims his behavior and psychology-related work is, quote, trusted by elite military teams, trusted by CIA operatives. On the surface, that sounds official. **4:21** · But note the ambiguity. There's no evidence his behavior and influence-related ideas have been used in any official capacity \ by military or government organizations. In fact, there's much evidence against that claim. **4:35** · Was there kind of a jump to getting deep into the like the real deep end of professional behavior \ psychology in an applied way? **4:45** · As much I know you can't talk about that much of it, but I don't think for me it was ever in a hugely \ professional way. Maybe a few military people bought his products. Maybe a single CIA employee once attended a seminar. That might be enough for Chase, if he were pressured in a legal setting, to say, "See, my work was used and trusted by such people." **5:10** · Who exactly have you worked with? **5:13** · Lots of government agencies. Uh notably, I've worked with intelligence agencies. I worked with the psychological operations department, US Army, which is the special operations command. I've trained a lot of the US Navy leaders nowadays. Again, the deceptive impression Chase seeks to create is that he did psychology or behavior-related work with those agencies. **5:36** · But Chase was a Navy quartermaster, someone dealing with ship operations and equipment. But if pressed, he might say, "I did sometimes work with intel officers and other such people." Maybe he even trained some group on something related to ship navigation or equipment. Chase's pattern of deception about his life and products goes back years. **5:57** · In 2008, Chase was trying to fool people into thinking his vitamin supplements were technologically advanced and widely used. Red Shift has been featured in publications \ from Navy News to the Houston Chronicle and have gained international recognition to be the world's best. **6:14** · Red Shift has been used by all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Maybe Chase had a few friends in different armed forces branches who took his vitamin supplements, so he could say, "See, I wasn't lying. It is used by all branches of the armed forces." Or maybe it was just a straight-up lie. But in any case, ambiguous language is a con man's best \ friend. And ambiguity is constant in Chase Hughes' storytelling. **6:41** · He refers to military work, psychological operations, intelligence environments, dangerous situations, life-and-death scenarios. But the descriptions are vague, hard to pin down. When you're working intelligence operations, you get to this point where you're like any day might be the last day if we don't do something drastic right in the world again. **7:05** · Today I sit down with an ex-black beret special forces interrogation expert. Is this what ran when your first combat deployment is? Where did is you have a combat deployment before that? **7:18** · Uh I wouldn't call any of my deployments a combat deployment. Okay. One convenient thing about claiming to be involved in intelligence work and espionage and classified operations is that it's all secret by definition. **7:34** · Do you know about the case of Wayne Simmons? Simmons was a guest on Fox News for more than a decade, claiming to be a CIA operative and intel expert. But he was a fraud. Wayne Simmons, \ who was accused of lying about a career with the CIA, has pleaded guilty to major fraud against the United States. Even those who suspected Simmons was a liar may have wondered, "Maybe I can't find details about him working with the CIA because his work was just so secret." **8:02** · Sometimes the claims are so ambiguous that you're left doing the work. You fill in the blanks. You imagine something elite, something impressive. And the more vague I am with some details, \ the more you're going to insert your own details into what I'm describing or what I'm pitching to you. **8:20** · And of course, in many cases, the claims are simply false. And I'm a neuroscientist. I'll say we know jack about the human brain. Everybody in my family knows I'm a neuroscientist. He studied neuro science. Yeah. I I post-grad at Harvard and and \ Duke. This is especially true for Chase's early claims, when his quest for attention and fame was more desperate and less careful. His behavioral analysis of political debates and televised crime testimonies have become the new benchmark for \ over 29 United States media outlets. **8:51** · The behavioral table of elements is being employed by government and corporate agencies nationwide, including the US government and FBI. His published works on cult victim deprogramming and neurology-based hypnosis have changed the way many \ forensic and psychiatric practitioners conduct business. One of the many things he lies about is what's possible with reading behavior and influencing others. **9:15** · He makes grandiose claims that fly in the face of basic facts of psychology and behavior. And once you've seen through behavior with these tools and you profile somebody deeper than their own family, and I guarantee this is possible. You can do this within like 3 minutes. This episode will not be a full cataloging of Chase's many lies and exaggerations. If you're interested in more detail about Chase's deceptions, go to whoischasehughes.com and look at the links there. **9:46** · Do you know who Frank Abagnale is? **9:49** · His memoir was the basis for Steven Spielberg's movie Catch Me If You Can. Many people still believe this story is real. A brilliant con artist, a master manipulator, a good guy who never really hurt anyone. So the legend goes. But those are all lies. Frank Abagnale was not a genius fraudster. He was a small-time criminal whose crimes were not impressive. The truth is that he simply made up large swaths of his life. Bald-faced lies. **10:20** · The truth about Abagnale's life and his lies are detailed in the 2020 book The Greatest Hoax on Earth. Yes, Frank Abagnale was a successful con artist. He conned people into believing he was an amazing con artist. Most people just trust that people are who they say they are. This is how Abagnale succeeded in his con. Deception researcher Tim Levine calls this the truth default theory. By default, we believe unless we have a good reason not to. **10:49** · We're just not used to people who lie so directly to us about so many things. We don't have good defenses for it. And once popularity is established, the con becomes even harder to dislodge. For example, because Steven Spielberg made a movie based on Abagnale's life, many assume the story must be real. Surely someone like Spielberg would have vetted such claims before making a movie, right? But the truth is that many people just don't vet. **11:18** · In the same way, popular podcasts like Joe Rogan and Diary of a CEO have promoted Chase Hughes without seeming to care about his many lies. Also, many people seem more focused on getting clicks and attention with exciting content. The truth seems to take a backseat. Maybe that was a factor in Spielberg's decision, too. I don't know. **11:39** · What this means is that if you can fool a few influential people and get them to promote you, you can borrow credibility at scale. You can start building the snowball of influence and get the ball rolling. And that will convince others who will convince others, \ and so on and so on. Keith Raniere of NXIVM knew all about borrowed authority. **12:03** · The Guinness Book of World \ Records said that he was one of the top scorers on an IQ test ever \ given, one of the top three problem solvers in the world. He learned \ French, German, and English before he learned to read. He went to college at RPI, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, when \ he was 16. Also, they told me he had triple majors in mathematics, biology, and computer science. **12:27** · Keith is Among many other things, he's a third-degree black belt in judo. He was a concert-level \ pianist. Most of his claims of impressive accomplishments were complete fiction. Raniere tried very hard to arrange an audience with the Dalai Lama. He knew that proximity to respected figures helps establish credibility. It didn't matter what the Dalai Lama actually thought about Keith. The association would be worth its weight in gold. **12:58** · L. Ron Hubbard did the same thing. He exaggerated his military story. He painted himself as a heroic, accomplished war hero. But that was completely false. After Pearl Harbor, Hubbard took command of a subchaser. But he was still a man prone to invention. He would write that he sunk two Japanese subs. **13:19** · But in fact, just off the coast of Oregon, he opened fire on what turned out to be a log and dropped most of his depth charges on underwater magnetic rocks. When he accidentally shelled a Mexican island, he was relieved of his command. Then he wrapped Scientology in military and naval imagery, icons and symbols associated with seriousness and respect, because appearance matters, image matters. And for many people, the image is enough. **13:50** · As Frank Abagnale shows us, once an impressive story spreads, it sticks. Even when the con artist's many lies are exposed, the myth, the legend, can be firmly planted and hard to dislodge. And the con artist keeps running, trying to stay one step ahead of the truth. Step two, seem deep and wise. If you want to be perceived as an all-knowing guru, you must appear to possess hidden knowledge. ### Step Two: Seem Deep and Wise **14:19** · But first, you just need to know some things. You don't really need to know much, just enough to sound competent. And the truth is, that's a very low bar. Any self-respecting con \ artist can read a few Wikipedia pages, pick up a few terms, a few basic facts, and suddenly, to someone who doesn't know that domain, they can sound like an expert. And here's the uncomfortable truth. It's just very easy to impress people. **14:46** · It's easy to say things that sound impressive. It's even easy to do things that make people \ think you are impressive. This is especially the case for wide-open areas like psychology, where sometimes someone just talking to someone else about their problems can lead to improvements, or at least seem in the short term to lead to improvements. **15:07** · This is Chase's legacy, right? This is his top-tier work. And then over time, he agreed to teach a small group of us. And I can say that it has the energy and it has the methodology to be the most profound transformational process on the planet. This is also the case for philosophy and spirituality, where there are just so many ideas and concepts and observations one can talk about. **15:33** · So many things one can say that can sound wise, or at least wise enough. The placebo effect plays a big role here, too. If we believe that someone is powerful and wise, we will sometimes fool ourselves into believing that they have helped us in major ways. I never hurt anyone. You saved my life. Speak so much truth. **15:56** · I feel like she's Jesus. And once you see this basic fact, that it's just easy to impress people, so many cons and frauds start to make a lot more sense. Seeming smart and wise is the easy part. The more difficult parts of becoming a faux guru come next. If your ideas could be explained simply, if they could be contained in a short pamphlet, nobody would need you. So you make the ideas seem complex. **16:24** · You stretch them out. You layer in terminology, your own philosophy, your own frameworks, your own acronyms. And this is called the FATE model. FATE stands for focus, authority, tribe, and emotion. And we move to the six-axis model. The six-axis model is what controls the very specific human brain. **16:43** · So what we're doing here is called the PRISM model, p r i s m. And this is called the SORUM tool. First is the S in SORUM. Phase three has two sections, and this is NARCS and then PPI, the SIOPs probability index. The simple five-step process you can use tonight. All first-time sexual experiences will revolve around the same basic steps. Remember FAIRS, f a i r s. Focus, attract, \ interact, resist, seduce. **17:14** · The 526 model of seduction. The bottom of the model represents the 526 acronym and the 10 steps of the attraction and mating process. Those last two quotes come from Chase's 2007 pickup artist book titled \ The Passport. All these intricate-sounding concepts can easily sound advanced and sophisticated to people. **17:37** · But if you slow down and think about what's actually being said, you'll notice that many of the ideas are extremely simple. But the simple ideas are wrapped in deep-sounding language. So there may be benefit to spending time with nature, but I think there's \ a deep and pathological flaw in that way of thinking. We are viewing ourselves as separate from nature to begin with. **18:01** · Sometimes wise-sounding words, when examined closely, contain little to no meaning at all. Gordon Pennycook and his colleagues studied what they called pseudo-profound \[ \_\_  They showed people sentences that sounded deep, but were actually meaningless. Things like Wholeness quiets infinite phenomena. Just impressive-sounding words arranged into a sentence. In those studies, many people rated those statements as profound. Attention and intention are the mechanics of manifestation. That last one was a social media post by spiritual guru Deepak Chopra. **18:39** · There are many other angles to this. Did you know that research found that merely including a image of a brain scan can make people think that something is smarter and more credible. We can be easily tricked into perceiving something as smart and wise, no matter how mundane or confusing or \ pseudo-deep it really is. **18:58** · In the mind, we suffer the elements of hidden psychopathy. Our bodies \ go through the same decay into a similar state of disease. And I call this \ biopathy. Biopathy just reflects \ any species that's adrift from their origin. It forfeits the innate wisdom of biology. It's a term that just the word itself just kind of captures the profound loss \ of unspoken language. It's the maybe the primal dialogue between DNA and the earth. **19:32** · Wow, that's really deep, Jamie. If you want to seem deep and wise, it helps \ to talk a lot. Hours of lectures, endless explanations. When someone talks confidently for long enough, they can start to feel like an authority. **19:46** · \ The truth is that if someone just acts confidently and talks a lot, many of us will see them as legitimate and competent. \ In today's digital age, a spiritual leader's sermons mainly happen online. YouTube videos, podcasts, live streams for the leader's inner circle. An aspiring cult leader aims to constantly release material over and over. **20:10** · What I'm really thinking of if I'm a cult leader is how can I direct and issue dopamine as if it were a a ticket that I'm handing out on a regular basis. And now there are new tools to help one seem deep. AI can generate long, deep-sounding scripts in seconds. The tools available to con artists \ and aspiring gurus have never been more powerful. **20:35** · Since I was like 10, I've been obsessed with ancient texts and I do mean obsessed. I read them and still read them like \ people read data reports. I compare all the versions and the translations, line-by-line comparisons. These are texts written thousands of miles apart, thousands of years apart with no way to influence each other and yet somewhere between the lines, they're all whispering the exact same message. Step three, cultivate fear. ### Step Three: Cultivate Fear and Paranoia **21:09** · Now here's the important part. If you watch a few Chase Hughes videos, a pattern quickly emerges. **21:15** · \ The world is filled with hidden manipulation. Everything is psychological warfare. So-called psyops surround us. Many newsworthy events, maybe even most, are secretly engineered. Was Epstein a psyop? I mean, Ukraine, China, All psyop. Everything. It's It's so bad now I don't even know if I believe my own eyes. Yeah. And that's good. Well, let's bring up the alien UFO UAP. **21:46** · Is that a psyop? I'm the guy that trains psyops. I'm the person that teaches this kind of stuff to companies and stuff. **21:55** · Are we in the middle of a psychological operation right now? **22:01** · And I just did a very confidential talk to my inner circle last night, but I think that you need to see this. The sudden rise in reports of drones all over the place, these weird sightings and emergency declarations that are going on, I think in New Jersey right now. It feels like we're being prepped for something. The technologies exist to make all of it plausible. Plausible. **22:24** · So, holograms, drones, AI, deep fakes are advanced enough to fool uh large populations. On top of that, the nefarious people secretly in control are using mind control tactics. **22:39** · They're brainwashing people. **22:41** · And it's It gets deeper. Like there there are step-by-step programs they have for creating a Manchurian candidate and it's not that hard to do. You don't need a bunch of advanced training to to get that done. **22:53** · The CIA is on record creating Manchurian candidates that can assassinate, quote, American officials. With the proliferation of assassination attempts in the past several years, are you at all concerned about the possibility \ of Manchurian candidate type scenarios? **23:11** · I I think the Manchurian candidate stuff has been going on for a while. No. It looks like Sirhan Sirhan to me. I'm uh 100% convinced that he was programmed to to do that. It doesn't really matter that there's no evidence for such assertions. What matters is that it sounds scary and credible. **23:33** · And if someone claims a background in military intelligence and psyops, such stories can seem even more credible. And I'm I mean, I may be the number one guy in the country on the mind control stuff. I think I probably am. There's no evidence programs like MKUltra did anything impressive. Those operations were often immoral and creepy, yes, but as far as we know, they were ineffective in their attempts at gaining control of the human mind. **23:59** · MKUltra produced, I guess, one big conclusion, which was Gottlieb's conclusion that there's no such thing as mind control. A lot of things have been overlaid onto MKUltra because it fits so perfectly into the conspiratorial mindset that seems best to describe the era in which we're living. You might be thinking, we don't know, maybe such things are possible. Maybe someone somewhere did amazing mind control things and we haven't learned about it officially yet. **24:26** · That may be true. All sorts of things might be possible. But possibility is not evidence and it's not a reason to believe specific claims, especially from someone with a history of deception. And here's an important part of this. Once you start to believe that these wild stories of mind control and psyops and Manchurian candidates are true, it becomes easier to believe that Chase Hughes can do such things. **24:52** · The crazier his claims about \ the world are, the more credible his grandiose claims about his mysterious abilities become. **25:00** · If you had the ability to see the hidden layer, you know your life would change instantly. All the psyop and brainwashing stuff is scary enough, but it gets even scarier. The guru informs us that we're living in a simulation. I'm about to unpack something that is horrifying. What people call reality, it's all fake. This is reality being replaced layer by layer. There's so many symbols and signs that human beings are experiencing a simulation of reality. **25:32** · And this is not a metaphor. This is not a metaphor. So many things around us, even things that would seem to most people quite banal and ordinary, are evidence of us living in a terrifying false world. How is Walmart a simulation? It's this giant sprawling space. It offers everything that you want, medicine, hairspray, clothing, groceries, whatever it is. It's not just a supermarket, it's what this book refers to as a hypermarket. Everything becomes a sign. **26:02** · Everything's a representation of something else. The produce is \ clean, it's uniform, it almost appears artificial. You go to a farmer's market, vegetables don't look like that. **26:13** · \ Disney World serves to camouflage that the rest of the world is \ also a stage. It's also artificial. If you ask a random person to draw a picture of a princess, what will they draw? **26:29** · \ That's our definition of real. That's in your head. You define what a princess is based on a simulation. **26:39** · Ooh, I'm shaking. **26:41** · And it gets deeper. Even reality itself is false. The guru confidently proclaims that he has seen beyond the matrix that we reside in. Do you think we're in a false reality? I think this is a simulation. You do? Yeah. I saw this guy, his name is Danny Goler. He's one of my good friends if you want to have him on. Uh we wind up flying to a place where DMT's not illegal. **27:06** · So, if you bought like a a DeWalt laser level at Home Depot and it paints that line across the wall. While you are in the DMT state, you get to close to the wall and you can see code that looks kind of like alien writing like you'd see and then some that look like kanji Japanese characters. If you move your head, the code stays in the same place. **27:32** · And if you move the laser on the wall, like you take the laser level and scoot it up, different code reveals itself as the laser is moving. **27:43** · But the the the big thing is why are we seeing code? **27:47** · One interesting theory that I've heard from many different neuroscientists is that if we look at as above, so below, like a universe spins like a DNA double helix, you can zoom in on a human eyeball and it looks the same as a nebula. **28:02** · What if dreams are this level, level one, and this is like level two of that? **28:08** · Feel like I just did had some DMT. Cuz you said, you know, level one is dreams, level two is maybe this reality. **28:14** · So, the question in my mind was what's level three? **28:18** · Yeah, and that would maybe be what you see on DMT. It's one thing to believe that we might be in a simulation. Obviously, that's an idea, it's a possibility. But it's another thing to claim to know this and to claim that you yourself have definitely seen beyond it. But such claims align with other grandiose and scary views that Chase traffics in, whether we're talking psyops, brainwashing, the news media, Walmart, Disney World, pretty much everything. **28:50** · The entire world is a false front, an illusion, where we are being controlled and manipulated by mysterious entities. The boundary between real and something that's unreal has been permanently blurred as in we \ cannot go back. We cannot return to the original. Psychedelics can really just rewire somebody's brain so so fast. Step four, become the savior. As they seek to manufacture authority and nurture paranoia and fear, the aspiring guru positions themselves as the solution. ### Step Four: Become the Savior **29:30** · They are the spiritual guide, the modern-day shaman, the only person who truly understands the confusing, often terrifying reality around us. Because of this mental pandemic, for many people 2026 is going to feel like being in a washing machine on spin cycle and in the dark. Mental epidemics are epidemics of unconsciousness. **29:51** · People are going to feel like they are in the dark, but all that is really happening is that they're waking up to unconsciousness. When you wake up to unconsciousness, you open your eyes to the dark. In Chase Hughes' content, that message appears repeatedly. He has rare, amazing insight into psychology and influence. He can decode and predict human behavior in a nearly god-like way. He is unrivaled in his understanding of all psychological ideas. **30:18** · He sees beyond the false reality around us. He can help people navigate the confusion and become more happy and real versions of themselves. He can help people escape the evil matrix. You were never fully erased, only hidden. And here's the part that they hope you never figure out. If they can fracture your memory, they can fracture your identity. And if they fracture your identity, they don't need to control you anymore. **30:47** · You're going to do it for them. If something inside you shook a little while watching this, if your \ gut tightened up, if your eyes maybe burned a little, if you felt like someone just turned a light on in a room that you forgot existed, that wasn't me waking you \ up. That was you. I'm just pointing toward the exit. He also knows how to heal major diseases. **31:13** · He claims to have made unique breakthroughs using his own regimen of various drugs and compounds, which include melatonin suppositories, methylene blue, and psilocybin, which is the active compound found in hallucinogenic mushrooms. He encourages his inner circle to take psychedelics and also serves as a guide for them as they take their psychedelic journey. He is truly all-knowing, a master of all realms. Once people come to see him as a true spiritual guru, a new dynamic emerges. **31:48** · Trust, love, eventually \ dependence. The people feel an overwhelming urge to seek out the guru's wisdom, to be close to him. This pull is strongest for the most vulnerable among us. Those who have suffered the most. **32:04** · By a raise of hands, and I need you to be honest, okay? **32:09** · How many of you feel like you're not doing okay at all? **32:17** · As those in pain and those seeking secret knowledge strive to get close to the guru, the transformation is complete. A false prophet \ is born. Step five, love bomb. Another classic cult tactic, love bombing. This is when leaders flood their followers with warmth, praise, and reassurance. They tell people they are special, that they are good, that they are noticing deep things, that they are close to the truth, that they are loved as they are. ### Step Five: Love Bomb **33:02** · All this creates a bond. In traditional cults, this would happen in person. Online, it happens through language. You can see versions of this in Chase Hughes' content. You were never missing something. You were taught to forget. You were always complete. Behind that fog, you are still in there. Your real life is still here. It's quiet. It's patient. **33:28** · And it's waiting for you under the noise. You are the divine. He seeks to communicate the world out there and the people in it are scary and corrupt, seeking to control you. But unlike them, I care about you. I see you as real and complete, \ as good. **33:45** · With me, you are safe. I am on your side. I care about you. I love you. Love is the only thing that's real. Every ancient text, \ it doesn't matter the culture, it doesn't matter what language, repeats the same \ idea so many times, it's almost suspicious. Love is the truth. Love you. Take care. **34:05** · Love you. **34:06** · Take care. **34:07** · One love. **34:11** · Love you. **34:12** · Take care. **34:13** · You complete me. ### Step Six: Always. Be. Closing **34:21** · Step six, always be closing. The deceptive guru will almost always be trying to get you into the funnel and sell you something. Courses, workshops, training programs, exclusive communities, retreats. \ And these offerings are often expensive, sometimes thousands of dollars, sometimes tens of thousands. The money is nice, but it's not the real goal. The real goal is to be adored, to be seen as exceptional. Because there's an emptiness inside. **34:55** · Living in the real world for some people can feel claustrophobic and terrifying. Being their actual ordinary self is too depressing, too stagnant. It feels like death. So, they search for validation in dream worlds, worlds in which they're an amazing genius, worshipped by all. They seek what has been called narcissistic supply. They desperately need people who embrace and reflect back to them their grandiose delusions. **35:24** · And actually, the money isn't just a nice perk, it's a powerful part of the strategy. Because once people pay, they tend to commit. Once people invest, they're more likely to believe. The more is invested, whether that's an investment of money or just substantial \ time and attention, the harder it is to step back. The harder it is to admit, "I was wrong." Invested customers lean in and rationalize and defend, even as the red flags grow. **35:55** · That's how people get stuck in such strange and dangerous funnels, traps that seem so obvious from the outside. The deeper in they go, the harder it can be to tell what's real. There is a deep irony in all of this. Fear of manipulation can make you easier to manipulate. Fear of control can make you easier to control. ### The irony: How fear of manipulation can make people easier to manipulate **36:18** · If you start to believe that dark, all-powerful systems are controlling reality, you may become desperate for someone who claims to understand the system. You may run straight toward the person creating the fear in the first place. That is the trap. And this basic idea is used by many gurus and leaders in what is called the conspiruality category. People who mix superficially positive-seeming spiritual ideas with conspiracy-minded, paranoid thinking. **36:50** · These people are plentiful. Again, it's easy to see why. The world is especially stressful these days. We have a hard time understanding the people and events around us. So many things seem alien and threatening. In our modern, highly mediated environment, we have an understandable craving for authenticity and realness. This is fertile ground for both spiritual and paranoid content. But the truth of the world is far less dramatic and scary. **37:17** · Nobody is in charge. The world is not run by a small group of people enacting flawless psychological plans. The world is messy, fragmented, chaotic, often incompetent. Governments and institutions and the people in them are clumsy. **37:35** · People disagree constantly. **37:37** · People who do shady things \ struggle to keep them secret. Even small conspiracies fall apart. Leaks, mistakes, disagreements. In the modern world, recording and monitoring of all sorts are ubiquitous, making it even harder than in the past to get away with things. It's hard enough \ to coordinate even a small plot. Now, imagine trying to coordinate something massive, involving many people. It's far harder than people think. **38:06** · Sure, \ some plots happen. There are always people plotting, but nothing close to the scale and success rate as people like Chase would have you believe. But the paranoid view feels good. It's emotionally satisfying. It turns chaos into a dramatic story. It turns complexity into good versus \ evil. It makes you feel like you see the truth, like you're one of the few who really understands what's going on. **38:32** · And it's easy to look around and think, "Everyone else are being sheep. They're so easily \ fooled." But sometimes, when you think everyone else are being the sheep, you're the one who's being the sheep. You're the one embracing a story \ that's widely embraced by many people, one that feels satisfying, \ but that is false, simplistic, and naive. The truth is much simpler and more banal. **38:56** · The world is \ just a bunch of people doing people things. The real psychological operation. The real psyop isn't some huge, malicious system. It's not some shadowy mastermind group creating a false reality around you. It's much closer than that. The call is coming from inside the house. It's the false expert content, the paranoid content, the guru content. The formula is simple. Claim special knowledge, amplify fear, present yourself as the solution. ### Wrapping up: The real psychological operation **39:34** · It's not a secret intelligence program, it's a sales funnel. And for those unfortunate enough to be pulled in closer and closer to the guru's orbit. His inner circle is a funnel of manipulation, a funnel of control, a funnel of chaos and disorder. Many people have reached out to me with stories about their negative dealings with Chase Hughes. I'll include a few relevant quotes here. ### A few quotes about Chase Hughes **40:05** · These people all wanted to remain anonymous, mainly because they were afraid of Chase or his acolytes taking vindictive actions against them. The following quote comes from a former member of Chase's inner circle. Chase profits from blatantly toying with very vulnerable people. His manipulations have psychologically and financially hurt people and that deserves to be answered for in court. It's a full-fledged cult. Ironically, he is the dark and warped manipulator that he warns against. **40:35** · This next quote is also from a former inner circle member. Chase aims to get vulnerable people to purchase overpriced courses. Some people have paid $20,000 and more to become so-called masters of tradecraft. It's appalling. **40:49** · \ He and certain members of his team are emotional vampires that not only suck the soul out of people in need, but suck the money out of their pockets, too. The following quote comes from someone who purchased an expensive course from Chase. I fell for one of Chase Hughes' fraudulent schemes, the Avery program, where unlicensed coaches pose as clinicians, complete with white coats and medical intake forms. My assigned coach even suggested I take ketamine. **41:18** · Vulnerable people \ are being coerced into believing that rebranded, decades-old NLP and TRE techniques are some sort of cure for complex psychiatric problems. When I complained about the $50,000 program being essentially worthless, a bait and switch, I was targeted with bullying and they tried to use the service agreement I'd signed to silence me. I fought back and got my money back. If you've been financially wronged by Chase Hughes, don't be intimidated. **41:48** · Demand your money back and if it makes sense, report it to your bank as fraudulent inducement. File a formal complaint with the Virginia Office of the Attorney General. If necessary, speak to a Virginia consumer law firm. Remember that non-disclosure agreements don't protect wrongdoing and illegal activity. He's afraid of legal scrutiny. I don't often use the word evil, but what happened here borders on it. If you've seen the documentary Bad Vegan, you know of Sarma Melngailis. **42:17** · Sarma ran into major life problems when she fell under the sway of a manipulative abuser. I interviewed Sarma for this podcast. She wrote the following. For a documentary project, I was looking for an expert on the subject of manipulation and abuse at the hands of narcissists or psychopaths. At first, Chase seemed perfect. After a little research, I realized he wasn't who he said he was and seemed to perhaps be manipulating and exploiting people himself. **42:44** · As someone who usually trusts what people say, this was scary and another reminder to be careful what we take at face value. I'll add that I myself have gotten dozens of emails from people trying to reach Chase Hughes. This is because I set up a site whoischasehughes.com and some people mistakenly think that that site is owned by Chase. **43:05** · Many of the messages I've gotten are from people in emotional distress, people who are seeking out Chase in desperation because they don't know where else to turn. I'll continue to add people's quotes to the whoischasehughes.com \ site. If you want to leave your own public thoughts about Chase, there's an active Reddit thread that I recommend for that and that's linked from whoischasehughes.com. **43:28** · \ Hi, my name's Zack Elwood. A few notes about this video. ### Some notes about the making of this video **43:36** · I put more effort into the production of this video than I usually do. I tried to imitate the flashy style that Chase Hughes uses. Now, it wasn't as good as Chase's, of course. I don't have the large budget or the team of acolytes that he does, but I did try to make it a bit more in that style. And this is another point about this. High production values can create an aura of truth. **43:59** · They can make ideas feel stronger. Many people will see sleek production values and think, maybe even just unconsciously, this guy has resources for a fancy production. He must be legitimate. Again, it's all about establishing authority and credibility, as Chase will tell you. Unlike Chase Hughes, I don't have much to sell. I do have books on political polarization that I think relate to this topic. You can learn about them at american-anger.com. **44:30** · With my work on toxic political polarization, I try to show that the toxic political conflict and extreme thinking around us does not come from evil masterminds secretly trying to divide us, but that it's a result of ordinary and easy-to-understand aspects of human psychology, where group dynamics lead to more and more team-based thinking and distorted, overly pessimistic views of each other and so on and so on. **44:58** · When you start seeing things this way, you'll also see that paranoid views of the world, like those that Chase Hughes and others promote, can seem superficially depolorizing, but in reality, ironically, they're actually conflict-amplifying and making people more pessimistic and more paranoid. All that pessimism and paranoia end up getting channeled in the usual politically polarized ways. Anger and fear and us-versus-them mindsets end up getting amplified, not reduced. **45:29** · The psychology-focused view of the world and our divides that I share in my books is admittedly not as exciting as the paranoid views promoted by Chase and others, but it has the benefit of being true. And seeing the world in that way also happens to be much better for your mental health. **45:47** · So, if you want a less paranoid and more true and human view of the world around us, check out the work I've done about us-versus-them thinking at american-anger.com. I'd love to hear what you thought of this video. Would you like to see more videos like this from me? If so, maybe you have some ideas for topics to cover. Okay, stay skeptical out there and watch out for Evergreen Girls. **46:14** · Intel about Project Evergreen from Chase Hughes' website in 2018. Women trained to become psychological weapons. Every year, we take one beautiful young woman and teach her the most dangerous, covert, and powerful psychological warfare methods on planet Earth. The results are always astonishing and fun. **46:33** · Our goal was originally to teach the most dangerous techniques to the nicest young ladies we could find. These girls learn covert hypnosis, interrogation, psychological thought control methods, behavior profiling, lie detection, and a whole lot more. As the Charlie's Angels jokes started coming in, the program simply became an annual thing. The program continues to this day and each of the graduates have become actual psychological weapons. \ They have the ability to heal, defend, protect, and repair people. **47:03** · However, they also have the ability \ to control, manipulate, and engineer behavior. This research project continues with new students and we continuously monitor \ the progress of the young femme fatales as they grow up. All of the Evergreen Girls have been thoroughly screened and have proven to be extremely \ conscientious, caring, and invested in the betterment of humanity. A summary and transcript are linked below. In the modern digital age, cult-like manipulation doesn’t happen in remote compounds—it mainly starts online, through podcasts, YouTube videos, and online communities that slowly reshape how you see the world. In this video, we examine Chase Hughes as a case study in how narcissistic "gurus" manufacture authority, spread paranoia, and build influence at scale. You’ll hear claims about psy-ops, mind control, MK Ultra brainwashing, and hidden forces manipulating and shaping reality—and see how these ideas can induce broad fear and paranoia... which in turn can create a desire for an all-knowing guide. This episode breaks down the psychology of manipulation in modern guru culture, how deep-sounding ideas can mask simple and empty concepts, and how, ironically, fear of being controlled can make people more vulnerable to control. See other episodes in the Chase Hughes podcast series: https://behavior-podcast.com/the-chase-hughes-podcast-series Timestamps: 0:00 Intro: Scary things! 1:25 Point of this video: Examining how deceptive gurus create fear to manipulate people 3:04 Step One in the faux-guru process: Establish Authority 14:09 Step Two: Seem Deep and Wise 21:05 Step Three: Cultivate Fear and Paranoia 29:17 Step Four: Become the Savior 32:41 Step Five: Love Bomb 34:21 Step Six: Always. Be. Closing 36:08 The irony: How fear of manipulation can make people easier to manipulate 39:04 Wrapping up: The real psychological operation 39:58 A few quotes about Chase Hughes 43:31 Some notes about the making of this video A summary and transcript of this episode is here: https://aemula.com/platform/article/bafkreif2ujmy6eskvufnfiz6qugbyiboaepl74h33ngwfdabtrjgrsisnq (I recommend signing up for Aemula: it's a free, paradigm-shifting approach to journalism; learn more about it here: https://behavior-podcast.com/a-news-site-using-social-network-analysis-to-disincentivize-polarized-content).