Trump's Authoritarian Hold on His White Christian Supporters
Trump's Authoritarian Hold on His White Christian Supporters
And final call on 25% discount offer on an annual paid newsletter subscription--ends 09/30.
Dear #WhiteTooLong readers:
Today, I’m sharing an in-depth interview I did with Chauncey DeVega at Salon about Trump’s authoritarian hold on his white Christian supporters. Scroll down to read highlights from the interview. We cover a lot of ground.
We are only 38 days out from the election, and the fall book and speaking tour is now in full swing. Here are a few highlights:
On Saturday, I joined my colleagues from The Convocation (Diana Butler Bass, Kristin Du Mez, and Jemar Tisby) to record a special in-person episode of our Convocation Unscripted podcast (watch on YouTube and listen on Apple podcasts). If you haven’t tuned in to our biweekly, freewheeling conversation, check out this episode where we’re all in the studio together.
On Tuesday, I was honored to serve as moderator for the release of Hahrie Han’s new book, Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church, at Johns Hopkins University. In addition to remarks by Hahrie Han (who is a great storyteller), the lively conversation included two subjects of the book, Chuck Mingo and Jess Knight, who were leaders of the Undivided program at Crossroads Church.
I spent Wednesday and Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona, where it was a staggering 112 degrees. Despite the heat, we had great turnout for events at the great Changing Hands bookstore and at Arizona State University. I’m grateful for my friend John Carlson, director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at ASU, for the invitation and for putting on a great event.
Next Wednesday (10/2), I’ll be talking about my latest book with Mitch Landrieu, former Mayor of New Orleans who oversaw the city’s removal of Confederate monuments, at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond.
And here’s a preview of the rest of my fall book and speaking tour. If I’m coming to a city near you, I hope you’ll come out to the event and introduce yourself as a WTL reader!
It’s going to be in intense ride over the next 38 days. Stay tuned here for my take on the twists and turns down the home stretch of the election.
Warmly,
Robby
I’m sharing below some excerpts from my in-depth interview with Chauncey DeVega at Salon. Click here to read the full conversation.
The news media is obsessed with novelty and the “new” in the “news.” When you look at Trump and Trumpism in longer, and much more important historical and cultural terms, how are you making sense of this crisis?
As dangerous as Trump is for democracy, he is a symptom, not the disease. While we at PRRI are continually taking the pulse of contemporary public opinion, those results can only be fully understood when placed in historical context. There are clear historical throughlines. For example, the authoritarian tactics currently deployed by Trump have historical precedents both in the US and in early 20th century Europe. PRRI’s most recent study, "One Leader Under God: The Connection Between Authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism in America." tapped the sociological literature that arose to understand the rise of fascism in Europe in the early 20th century.
In "The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future," I also connected the dots between the threat of Christian nationalism we are facing today and 500 years of Christian doctrine going back to the European colonial period. This deeper historical context helps us see that many of the perplexing features of our current conflicts are new occurrences of old unresolved questions. Today, the changing demographics of the country has thrown us back to a fundamental question: Are we a pluralistic democracy, in which everyone stands on equal footing regardless of race or religion, or are we a white Christian nation, a kind of promised land for European Christians?
What do we know about Trump’s messianic martyr appeal for his White Christian right-wing followers?
Trump has long played into the idea that he was specially chosen by God to save the country from evil and destruction. This appeal is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. Even before the two attempts on his life, he was using language that directly compared himself to a messianic figure who was being wounded and persecuted on behalf of his righteous followers. He made this case overtly last spring in a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters, an organization created by leaders of communications outlets that operate specifically in the white evangelical world. His language was not subtle: "I'm a very proud Christian, actually. I’ve been very busy fighting and, you know, taking the the bullets, taking the arrows. I'm taking 'em for you. And I'm so honored to take 'em. You have no idea. I'm being indicted for you….And in the end, they're not after me. They're after you. I just happen to be standing in the way.”
He’s continued to use this language that evokes the theological logic of substitutionary atonement, where he bravely offers himself to be sacrificed on behalf of his followers. But Trump the messiah promises to bring not love or righteousness, but the restoration of power to white Christians in a changing America. In the same speech, Trump made a promise to his white evangelical followers: "I get in there, you're gonna be using that power at a level that you've never used it before. It's gonna bring back the churchgoer…. We're gonna bring it back. And I really believe it's the biggest thing missing from this country. It's the biggest thing missing. We have to bring back our religion. We have to bring back Christianity in this country.” Trump’s white Christian base has largely remained with him not because they necessarily believe he is one of them but because they believe he’ll restore what they see as their rightful place of power in a white Christian America. At root, Trump’s appeal to white Christians is not his values, but his value for achieving their Christian nationalist ends.
Click here to read the rest of the interview.
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Paid subscribers get access to the full newsletter archives and access to live events such as WTL Author Forums, where you get to hear about the story behind the book and ask questions of authors. Past author forums featured, Jim Wallis, Greg Garrett, Sarah McCammon, Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Jennifer Harvey, and Melissa Deckman. We’ll have an exciting lineup of other authors all year, including:
10/30: Brad Onishi, author of Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next
Date TBD: Sam Perry, author of Religion for Realists: Why We All Need the Scientific Study of Religion--Now More than Ever
Date TBD: Amanda Tyler, author of How to End Christian Nationalism
others coming soon!