TY - JOUR
T1 - Making America Exceptional Again
T2 - Donald Trump's Traditionalist Jeremiad, Civil Religion, and the Politics of Resentment
AU - Hickel, Flavio R.
AU - Murphy, Andrew R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.
PY - 2022/6/1
Y1 - 2022/6/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1017/S1755048321000249
DO - 10.1017/S1755048321000249
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85117444501
SN - 1755-0483
VL - 15
SP - 247
EP - 269
JO - Politics and Religion
JF - Politics and Religion
IS - 2
ER -