From the early days of his campaign, Donald Trump began planting and tightly controlling a narrative in people’s minds; a vision and ideals that they could aspire to: a “Great Again” America, in which each person can be infinitely successful, like they believe him to be.

The problem with America, his story said, is not his supporters’ fault. It’s government and “others” (liberals, minorities, and weak people in general) that stand in the way of greatness. The strong should be in charge, and that strength comes from self-determination, will and providence, not handouts and government.

He created a common goal, and defined a common enemy: liberalism, socialism, and those who underminingly imposed it (Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Clintons, other elites kowtowing to the weak) on true Americans.

This was all lies, but they were small lies that many people wanted to believe.

Trump made it simple: you were either for him and the American Promise or you were for weakness, communism and American failure.

Then came the calls to action: Donate. Vote in the primary. Raise your hand and identify yourself as someone who believes what I believe. Our identity is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves.

These were small asks.

Had he instantly asked people to come to Washington, DC, and attack the Capitol Building, perhaps a few at the furthest fringes would have come. But far from the thousands that eventually did. It would not have aligned with their sense of right and wrong… yet.

Beginning with debates and primaries, every win served as proof that he was right. Winning or even just controlling the narrative by diminishing and talking over others, brought him more prominence and inflated his image of success. The more he won, the more he looked like a winner and rallied people to him.

Most people thought he had no chance in the general election. The advanced polls lulled those who would not have voted for him into a false sense of security, keeping them at home while simultaneously energizing the base that wanted to prove the so-called establishment wrong. And prove them wrong they did.

With Trump’s “against all odds” election victory, he defined himself as a hero worthy of legend, building on his forcefully crafted self-made-billionaire persona. He had bullied and steamrolled his way to the top, and proved to others that they can do the same. The cult of personality was substantiated.

He gradually nurtured the seeds of doubt and mistrust that he himself planted or people already harbored: the media is corrupt, science has an agenda, Hollywood is all liberal elites, longtime U.S. allies and the greater establishment are misguided or downright evil.

He no longer needed the mass media because fractured and social media, in all its variations and platforms, is a far more effective method to speak directly to any tribe.

Then, for four years, he did everything he could to fulfill his promise of dismantling government regulation and social good programs by any means necessary. Crossing moral and legal lines was standard operating procedure for him because he had done it his entire life, and was now emboldened by the people who supported him.

He co-opted any group that would support him, regardless of their true nature. All that mattered is that they were with him, not that he emboldened them in the process.

From generals to attorneys and elected leaders, anyone who couldn’t do what was asked for moral or legal reasons was labeled a heretic.

Every success was thanks to him and his supporters, and grew his base. Every failure was the fault of the enemy. Every battle was for the soul of the country.

As the enemy kept growing larger, so did the support base, creating hitherto unimaginable allies of Jews and Neo-Nazis, freedom-lovers and totalitarians, Constitutionalists and anarchists, radical conspiracists and educated professionals.

In the end, it became not just his plight, but the plight of every one of his supporters. The narrative in their minds became their identity and was as strong as any religion. They were fully invested in their common crusade. And so, when he called on them to go to the capitol, they did. And when he asked them to take the government by force, they tried.

Fortunately, they failed.

And when, for some, it turned into more than they could square with their internal ethical barometer, their minds found ways to bridge the gap, blaming it on anything and everything possible. When Trump was subsequently pressured to disavow the terrorists, they felt betrayed and turned on him.