White Christians Share Something With Donald Trump

the "n" word - narcissism

One of the counterintuitive mysteries of Donald Trump’s political success is how evangelicals and, more baffling, Christians in general, could come to support him so unfailingly. Wasn’t this the “family values” slice of the Republican Party? Weren’t these the “character counts” trumpeters (no pun intended)? I’ve been reading various authors tracking the rise of White Christian Nationalism (remember the “moral majority”), and the one thing that’s perfectly clear is they have long-term strategy to essentially control the country by imposing what they consider “Christian values”, and others might call an authoritarian theocracy. It’s relatively easy to see the attraction to Trump for this group since he literally tried to overturn our democratic republic for them. But in the 2020 Presidential election — AFTER four years of Donald Trump’s special brand of hate lying, misogyny, divisiveness — 71% of white voters who “attend religious services monthly or more often” logged a vote for the Orange King-want-to-be. This is not just an evangelical thing, and it would be an incredible stretch to make the case that it’s a spiritual thing. So, what’s the attraction?

Many of my readings would suggest the historical shadow of racism is one key connection. The fact that black churchgoers voted +90% for President Biden, rejecting Donald Trump soundly, certainly draws a sharp contrast between black and white Christians. Another thought is that the media to which Republican Christians commonly expose themselves, like Fox News, has literally convinced the religious right that with respect to differing opinions about anything cultural the opinions conflicting with their ideas are by default genuinely evil, like in a biblical sense. And there are arguments, rumors, that “normal” Christians are horrified by the rhetoric of militant Christian Nationalists, who recently gave a hearty round of applause to Trump’s newest policy position to shoot shoplifters dead on sight. These all may be true. But there’s something else that keeps “normal” Christians faithful to Trump, dead shoplifters and all — call it “birds of a feather stick together” or “two peas in a pod” or “cut from the same cloth” or whichever idiom you prefer to illustrate a key similarity between two separate entities. That key similarity, in my thinking, is narcissism.

Now, there can be no doubt that Donald Trump is, and always has been, a “malignant narcissist.” But White Christianity? Can something other than an individual, like a system of belief or group-thinking, even qualify for a psychological label? Well, I’m not sure it’s a legitimate category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), but I’m finding articles by mental health professionals suggesting the term is appropriate — collective narcissism is a “thing” and the shoe fits.

Take this narcissistic trait — a pervasive sense of group superiority. Christianity has this in spades, both between it and other religious faiths and even between different varieties, or denominations, of their own faith system. The Methodist church just split over differences in LGBTQ issues as a recent example. Proselytizing is, in fact, a universal trait of Christianity, and a Catholic source on how Catholicism should relate to other faiths says — Church teaching instructs believers that it is their absolute duty to love all people and that they must recognize always the inherent dignity of each and every person. That instruction does not mean, however, that others’ religious beliefs must be accepted as equal to those held by trinitarian Christians. That’s “a pervasive sense of superiority” in a nutshell, but it is a step up from the Vatican’s role in the Shoah (Holocaust). It is also common these days to hear that the United States was “founded as a Christian nation.” This is literally the opposite of true — our country was founded to guarantee religious freedom. In God We Trust, for instance, didn’t become our national motto until Christians pushed it through in 1956. Christians have a tough time accepting religious freedom — it conflicts with their sense of superiority.

Here’s another key trait of collective narcissism — threat sensitivity. How often do we hear Christianity is “under attack,” or hear Fox News yammering on about the “Happy Holidays” greeting? The U.S. has the largest Christian and Protestant populations in the world. Protestant, Catholic or “just Christian” comprise, in some surveys, 67% of the population followed by Judaism and Buddhism each racking up a whopping 2%. The only competition is from the outright non-believers, the doubters and the “nones,” groups growing by the day. Christian claims of being “under attack” can be translated as “others are resistant to happily allowing us to force our unique beliefs onto everyone else.” And yet they have managed to force those beliefs onto everyone in so many ways (see the response of state legislatures to the “Dobbs” Supreme Court” decision) — it’s just not enough, therefore “under attack.”

Each of these examples would also illustrate the collective narcissistic traits of entitlement and exploitation and dominance and arrogance as well. And how about the narcissistic trait an inability to resolve cognitive dissonance — information which conflicts with the narcissist’s views — by simply accepting evidence and changing his/her/their view. This could explain how 40% of Americans reject the overwhelming evidence of human evolution, believing instead in the creation story told in the ancient Hebrew torah. Rejection of science killed maybe 250,000 vaccine skeptics during COVID19, and places transsexual children and their caregivers in danger every day. And yet science denial in the 21st century gets objectively and progressively worse in our current social media environment.

I grew up in the Methodist church, so I know a thing or two about Jesus. There is literally nothing about the bitterness and violence and hatred Trump and Christian Nationalism profess (kill shoplifters on sight) that he would consider as representing his teachings. Branding anyone “other” (including “other” Christians) as evil, pedophiles, traitors, satanists or whichever vile label Trump thinks up is heresy. “Normal” Christians should be first in line to reject Donald Trump and castigate those who steal the image of Jesus to advance lies and discord and violence. Yet even as the behavior of these groups sends people, especially the young, fleeing Christianity in droves, most Christians remain silent and politically committed to the 6’3”, 215 pound reincarnation of King Cyrus. Narcissism attracts narcissism?

How about one last trait — lacks self-awareness or insight. How does Christianity maintain its illusions of grandeur when the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore files for bankruptcy to avoid paying anticipated claims to sexually abused children, when the Southern Baptist Convention covers-up rampant sexual abuse of women and children with no accountability for abusers, when Jerry Falwell Jr. does threesomes (not golf), when religious and affiliated political leaders savage LGBTQ children, when the faithful hate the downtrodden, when Christianity (alone among religions) would willingly and enthusiastically sacrifice the lives of women and girls as an offering to their extreme views on abortion? And support Donald Trump? How do you beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

If “normal” white Christians are offended, too bad. This country was founded to protect all religions, not just yours, and the whining and faux outrage simply reinforces the depth of your delusions to others. I will offer that being in a cult of collective narcissism does not mean you are personally a narcissist like your “fearless” leader. Organizations that are narcissistic demand markers of loyalty and devotion such as blind obedience. But blind obedience to “love thy neighbor” is one thing — this is something different. You have convinced yourselves that your silence in the face of this blasphemous, political shit show is acceptable to reach your final goal — that your superior morality can only make America greater. But all that really shines brightly is your abject hypocrisy and your tragic misunderstanding of just exactly what your “final goal” is supposed to be according to your own scriptures. And thanks to your silence America is unequivocally becoming day by day by day less great.