Making America Exceptional Again: Donald Trump's Traditionalist Jeremiad, Civil Religion, and the Politics of Resentment

Abstract

Donald Trump's campaign slogan to “Make America Great Again” captivated the imagination of millions of Americans by contextualizing disparate sources of social resentment as emblematic of a broader story of American decline. Employing a “traditionalist civil religious jeremiad,” Trump called for a reassertion of American exceptionalism, and extolled a romanticized golden age predating transformative social changes (e.g., sexuality, gender roles, racial equality). As such, his rhetoric legitimized the defense of white male privilege as a vital component of this restoration. While this use of civil religious themes emboldened those who harbor prejudicial views, it alienated others who interpret such rhetoric as an assault on the soul of the nation. Relying on a unique module within the 2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we demonstrate that adherence to the tenets of American civil religion significantly exacerbated the effects of symbolic racism and modern sexism on support for Trump.

Which civil religion? Partisanship, Christian nationalism, and the dimensions of civil religion in the United States

“…While civil religion has broader appeal than Christian nationalism, it remains prone to partisan divisions. Along with a recent study which finds civil religious Americans are more divided than non-civil religious Americans on their opinions of Donald Trump (Hickel and Murphy, 2022), our findings suggest that hope for a unifying civil religion is grounded in a politics that no longer exists and may have never existed. While Bellah (1967) described a civil religion that was “in need-as any living faith-of continual reformation” but was not “incapable of growth and new insight,” our current political divisions are exacerbated rather than alleviated by civil religious appeals.…”

“…These studies largely pre-date the era of polarization, especially in the mass public. Under these conditions, marshaling a unifying civil religion seems less likely, as evidenced by findings that objections to Obama could be explained by racialized expressions of civil religion (Williams, 2013) and that appeals to civil religion by Donald Trump “emboldened” division over race, sexuality, and gender roles (Hickel and Murphy, 2022). Still, the connection of civil religion to mass polarization in the contemporary era has been under-analyzed.…”

“…If politics structures religious identity and perceptions that may enhance polarization (Ahler and Sood, 2018; Margolis, 2018; Claassen et al , 2021), and partisanship and polarization are connected to social identities (Iyengar et al , 2012; Mason, 2015, 2018), it is likely that these effects are similar for civil religion. As an example, a recent study found that support for (priestly) civil religion “exacerbated the effects of symbolic racism and sexism on support for Trump” (Hickel and Murphy, 2022, 247). In this project we examine the efficacy of civil religion in a time of increased polarization.…”