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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2021

Flavio R. Hickel Jr. Open the ORCID record for Flavio R. Hickel Jr. [Opens in a new window]  and
Andrew R. Murphy
Flavio R. Hickel Jr.*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Washington College, Chestertown, MD, USA
Andrew R. Murphy
Affiliation:
Political Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
*
Corresponding author: Flavio R. Hickel Jr., E-mail: FlavioHickelJr@gmail.com
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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.

Type
Article
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 247 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

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