Table Of ContentPALGRAVE STUDIES IN RELIGION,
POLITICS, AND POLICY
Religious Rhetoric in
US Right-Wing Politics
Donald Trump, Intergroup Threat,
and Nationalism
Chiara M. Migliori
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Chiara M. Migliori
Religious Rhetoric
in US Right-Wing
Politics
Donald Trump, Intergroup Threat,
and Nationalism
Chiara M. Migliori
John F. Kennedy Institute
Freie Universität Berlin
Berlin, Germany
ISSN 2731-6769 ISSN 2731-6777 (electronic)
Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy
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For my grandfather
who would have hated the things I say
but would have loved a book written by me
Preface
When I started my Ph.D. in October 2016, Donald Trump was still
the Republican candidate who had been polarizing the United States,
and most of the world’s public opinion, since summer 2015. In little
more than a month, under the bewildered look of half of the nation’s
population, he had become the president-elect of the United States.
I have always been fascinated by how Christian faith and conservative
politics intersect in the social panorama of the United States, and I had
set out to pursue my research in a structured, in-depth way thanks to the
opportunity offered by the doctoral position. What I had not foreseen,
when I first set foot in the Graduate School of North American Studies
of the Freie Universität of Berlin, was that I was in for a ride that would
have challenged many of the preconceived notions I had on that subject.
At first, I had thought of limiting my research to the discourse
of Donald Trump, investigated through an attentive listening of his
speeches, and that of preeminent pro-life and pro-traditional family
interest groups, if I had been brave enough to meet some of the people
working for them. Then my colleagues suggested that I interviewed
the people whose opinions mattered the most: ordinary voters who
supported the former president and did so without being conditioned by
thedecades-longrelationshiptyingtheReligiousRighttotheRepublican
Party.
During the years, I managed to meet with people who allowed me
to ask them the questions that then formed the structure of this book.
vii
viii PREFACE
We talked about politics and religion, they granted me access into their
thinkingandtheirbeliefs,andeventhoughsomeofthemaretheopposite
of mines, I was grateful for their willingness to sit down with a complete
stranger to discuss the whys and hows of their worldview.
I organized this specific type of interviews because conversations
happening in small groups can give as a result a wider variety of input
related to the topics discussed. Peer groups differ from focus groups in
their being composed by a smaller number of participants, who usually
know each other. The familiarity of the setting allows to reduce the role
of the facilitator and the conversation to flow in a more natural way.
A commonly mentioned limitation attributed to focus or peer groups
concerns the lack of representativeness of the participants’ opinions.
Furthercomplicatingissuescharacterizingthistypeofinterviewmightbe
the interruption of the answer of another participant, the mutual galva-
nizationoncertaintopics,originatingfromsharedopinionsorgrievances
surroundingthem,andtheoutspokennessofsomeoftheparticipantsthat
inevitably leads to the silence of other, less vocal ones.
A very low percentage of the pastors I had contacted answered my
request, either positively or negatively. At such low response rate, self-
selection clearly played an important role in the formation of the groups,
thus preventing me to obtain a probability sample. The rather low level
of representativeness obtained through this type of qualitative research,
however, does not constitute a hindrance for the present work, whose
main aim remains a discursive analysis directed at highlighting the role of
religious identity in informing political behavior in the 2016 presidential
election.
Some peer groups’ discussions proceeded smoothly, with participants
respecting the rules of taking turns, but sometimes avoiding expressing
strong feelings on any of the topics discussed. In other groups, instead,
it is possible to retrace deeply felt emotions and ill-concealed anger and
frustration. Notwithstanding the value of individual, in-depth interviews
to gain a deeper perspective in the object of investigation, the social
imaginary of white conservative Christian voters, a pluralistic discus-
sion represents the form best suited to uncover the multiple layers of
significance that some issues might assume in the imaginary of the
interviewees.
In order for the conversation to proceed, people usually tend to look
for common ways of framing the issue being discussed. Posited that
every singular way of framing corresponds to a different worldview over
PREFACE ix
aspecifictopic,peergroups’resultsprovidewithadetaileddescriptionof
theprocessofmeaningformationandreproductionthatiscrucialtogain
a thorough understanding of the topic at hand.
Five years after the beginning of this research, Donald Trump is no
longerpresident;hewassucceededbyafigurethatrepresentstheideolog-
icaloppositeofeverythinghesymbolized,andhismostardentsupporters
standfor.Theamountofresearchandliteraturethathismandatespurred
to create is impressive, to say the least, and readers might ask themselves
why they should engage with yet another book on the subject.
Inthefollowingpages,youwillbetakenthroughthecreationofwhat
I defined the tale of the mythological figure of Trump as the savior of
Christianity. Answers will be provided as to how a figure such as Trump
could obtain the success he had, and the historical events that saw the
development of the official relation between religion and politics won’t
of course be left out.
The most important thing readers will encounter, however, are the
voices telling this tale. These, belonging to his faithful followers, tell a
story of resentment and relief, of threat, fear, and revenge. As unfath-
omable as these words might be for many people, and as enraging some
oftheirideas,Trumphappened,andhe,likemanysimilarpersonalitiesin
western democracies, can’t simply be discarded as a mistake of the past.
Berlin, Germany Chiara M. Migliori
Acknowledgments
I was lucky enough to be part of a program that allowed me to pursue
my research in an ideologically unconstrained manner. I was surrounded
by colleagues who showed me their support through stimulating conver-
sations, challenging discussions, and honest and friendly advice. My
supervisors encouraged me throughout and pushed me to face what I
thought were unsurmountable limitations.
As someone recently told me, “It’s clear that you have extremely
supportive friends and a family you can always rely on.” And I don’t
take this for granted. The work that made this book possible wouldn’t
have stood a chance, hadn’t it been for the help and love of the people
surrounding me. Thank you.
xi
