Erik Erikson’s classic religious study, Young Man Luther, argues that a new religious leader can arise by working out an identity crisis in the culture. Of course, Trump is no Luther, and he is certainly not working through any religious crisis of his own. But his cult ends the embarrassment of following Jesus, of taking as a model someone whose mission ended in failure, and whom Trump would call a loser. Instead of following Jesus the loser, Trump’s followers seek someone who can win “bigly,” and claim to have won even when he’s lost. It’s in Trump’s interest that his supporters leave the churches. Doing so strips them of even the small social capital that comes from attending church. He wants them isolated, with no connection to each other, and with no trust in anyone but him.
“Leviathan,” Thomas Geoghegan, Commonweal, April, 2024, p.17
Donald Trump’s relationship with his base is similar to the relationship of a domestic abuser to their victim who they attempt to control to do their will by isolating them and cutting them off from any outside sources of support. Trump has isolated Christians from their churches where they no longer turn to for support.
At the same time, Bellah and his colleagues argued that Americans were becoming more isolated from each other, especially as they left their churches. In the decades since the publication of Habits of the Heart, that isolation, especially in Trump country, has gone much further. This isn’t just because people are losing trust in our institutions, but because, even in Trump country, people have lost their trust in each other. The House GOP majority is a case in point: it does not trust itself. Members of the House Freedom Caucus don’t even trust each other. Like Trump himself, they all see political treason everywhere.
When people no longer value the common good beyond their own individual self interest, the society becomes unglued. Not being able to join with others in solidarity, they look for outside forces to protect them. This is a regression to mythical and superstitious thinking of a 3 -10 year old who believes in “Power rangers” and mythical avatars to protect them from whatever they fear.
If we Americans became so isolated from each other that we were incapable of running free institutions, we might easily turn to a dictator.
The authoritarian dictator, the all powerful one, is believed to be necessary to protect and save them. They have lost faith in their own capabilities and those of their neighbors to work together to provide security.
How ironic that a republic conceived in a distrust of concentrated power by Federalist and anti-Federalist alike would now have so many hoping for a strongman to protect them from their neighbors. If there is hysteria over migrants, who seem so far off, it is because they are stand-ins for people living next door, or down the street, or in those blue states far away. Unable to act, the MAGA base has decided there is no alternative but to vest absolute power in Trump. And if people are really incapable of operating free institutions, what’s the point of keeping them?
The mindset that leads to the support of a character like Trump is one that is based on fear of the other, and fear of the institutions that can be built together. This mindset is based on a belief in individualism taken too far, way too far, resulting in vulnerable isolation needing the protection of an outside arbiter who will take their side to protect them from the other since the other is not to be trusted. This is the pinnacle of a zero sum game where there will be no winner, because even in winning, the winner loses.
Tocqueville wrote, “It must never be forgotten that religion gave birth to Anglo American society. In the United States religion is therefore commingled with all the habits of the nation and all the feelings of patriotism; whence it derives a peculiar force.” Well, we have forgotten. The Left has forgotten; the Right has, too. Now that Trump himself has become a kind of religious leader, he is liquidating the authority of Evangelical ministers. There is no longer any need for them, as they merely offer more secular political ideology, and as Trumpism itself has become more like a real religion. The secular Left may take satisfaction in Trump wiping out the churches, but they shouldn’t: Trump grows stronger by atomizing everything around him and leaving his supporters with no alternative to him. This makes him a bigger threat.
Without realizing it, religion has been a glue which has bound Americans together. Religion, while itself an institution, has given birth to many other institutions like healthcare, education, social welfare, recreation, and entertainment. As secularization has arisen and participation in religious organizations decreased, the bonds that religion has provided for American institutions have weakened and people are left isolated, unsupported, lonely, and feeling more vulnerable. As a result, people feeling vulnerable have turned to the religion of Trumpism not having many other options for protection in their isolated state of vulnerability. (Interestingly this same kind of attachment to reference groups such as sports teams and celebrities manifests the same fervor and security provided by the identification. Do more people attend and watch NFL football games on Sunday than go to church?)
“...whether it was the United States in the New Deal or totalitarian regimes abroad—was trying not just to govern but to change the moral character of its citizens.”
What we have seen currently with the polarization of America is not simply a political phenomenon but a moral one. The strain between individualism and the common good has been stretched tautly where the right trusts no one and sees anyone not aligned with their values as enemies to the left where inclusivity at all extremes is seen as the panacea for human happiness. What is the proper moral position is what is being worked out now as these two social values: individualism vs. common good struggle.
What moral position will the American people vote for when they elect their policy making representatives in our republic? The two positions for individualism and the common good must be reconciled if homo sapiens is to survive in its evolutionary journey.
There is tremendous power in recognizing, acknowledging, and acting on, not only respect for, but a love for the interdependent web of all existence of which we all are a part. It is in expanding our thought system to the ecological awareness of life that we come to understand that the viable moral stance is one for all and all for one.
There have. been many reasons for favoring Trump. One is the desire for protection like against the immigrants coming from all over but from the south especially. Another is for freedom from regulations - in that case the US agencies ("deep state") are too powerful and the powers-that-be can't seem to deregulate - but Trump has done quite a lot toward that. (And besides, those people are brown (!) and they don't usually speak English (!) and their music, food, clothes and culture will take over! They'll bring in drugs and so on.
Sorry folks - bigger businesses are fine with undocumented aliens. They do everything from housework, lawn care, and child care to pig slaughter and construction - it's not just fruit picking anymore.
But what you say about not working with each others' interests in mind aggravates me also. In WWs 1 and 2 young American men jumped into action and the young women appreciated that and went to work at the machine shop (if necessary).
JFK said "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
Trump says, "What's in it for me?" - Vets are suckers and a LOT more about ever helping anyone without getting a good scratch in return.