How did we get here, to the point where a full quarter of the American electorate is clinically delusional? In the months ahead, I'll make the case (as I have in the past) that American culture predisposes its citizenry to bouts of clinical insanity. In the next few columns, I'll reference others' columns rather than my own predictable blather as a way to frame some of the issues.
I spent many of the previous hundred columns describing how Trumpism and Trump support is primarily a religion. I was initially hesitant to define Trumpism as such, mainly because labeling it as religious is such an easy, blase, and cliched thing to do. Sometimes, though, the easy observation is also the correct or most useful observation. I think that's the case with Trump's infamous base. Trumpism checks all the religious boxes, and Trump's base supporters certainly qualify as zealots.
I've argued these points for more than a year. Today I'd like to present another voice, the author of a brief CNN opinion piece. Peniel E. Joseph's "What the Church of Trump is costing America" was published October 7, 2020. Joseph is the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. I'm going to quote the opening two paragraphs for their timeliness in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot. I recommend reading the piece in its entirety. Bear in mind that this was published in October.
"How did the President of the United States become one of the nation's largest threats to public health and safety? When one man became head of "church" and state: the Church of Trump, that is.
For many of his most ardent supporters, Donald Trump has indeed become a church -- defined as a gathering place or grouping point for like-minded individuals to learn, express and amplify a set of beliefs that they collectively define and refine over time. While unable to articulate any meaningful religious experience, biblical knowledge or deep belief system, the President has become, for many, the embodiment of a peculiar definition of American exceptionalism."
As I've said many, many times, it didn't take Mensa-level reasoning to anticipate where 2020 Trumpism would lead. And here we are.
Bob Dietz
January 15, 2021
