Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Jonathan Storment

Home
Evangelical
Forgotten Country: Voting for Trump

Forgotten Country: Voting for Trump

Last updated on: December 6, 2016 at 5:01 am by Jonathan Storment

Forgotten Country: Voting for Trump 2016-12-06T01:14:45-05:00 Jonathan Storment

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Forgotten Country 1

I didn’t vote for Donald Trump.

I feel like I need to say that from the start.

I, like many of you reading this, was both shocked and concerned by his popularity and election to the highest office of this country.

But one of the most disturbing things about this election was finding out how many of my family and friends voted for him. None of them did so enthusiastically, but they joined the rest of rural white America and voted for a man who seems antithetical to so much of what they have stood for most of their lives.

So why?

One of the ways I’m making sense of this election is to picture the people from the sitcom The Office. You know, the failing Dunder Miffilin paper company up in Scranton Pennsylvania that awkwardly made it’s way into our heart.

Those are the people who voted for Trump, and yes, Scranton Pennsylvania actually did vote for him.

I’ve found this metaphor to be helpful for non-Trump voters as a way to humanize people on the other side and it also helps me from from viewing them as some kind of evil monolith.

Because the people who voted for Trump weren’t mostly wearing swastikas or klan robes, they were people like Oscar and Dwight and Angela and Stanley. People who worked hard (or at least think they do) and don’t see their lives getting any better.

I think we’re going to be talking about this election for years to come, and the simplistic labels and narratives that are floating out there right now aren’t working.

Everyone who voted for Trump was racist? Does that include the 29% of Hispanic voters who chose him? How do we make sense of the fact that Trump got more of the black vote than both Romney and McCain before him? Or that a large percentage of Trump voters had voted for Obama in the past?

While it’s true that racism and sexism was implicit in some of Trump’s most vocal followers, I don’t think those are what propelled Donald Trump to victory.

The day after the election Dr. Charles Camosy, a professor at Fordham University wrote a column for the Washington Post that, I think, hits the nail on the head:

The most important divide in this election was not between whites and non-whites. It was between those who are often referred to as “educated” voters and those who are described as “working class” voters.

The reality is that six in 10 Americans do not have a college degree, and they elected Donald Trump. College-educated people didn’t just fail to see this coming — they have struggled to display even a rudimentary understanding of the worldviews of those who voted for Trump.

I’m not one giving to hyperbole, but I can’t think of another time in my life when the USA seemed to be so bitterly divided. We not only disagree with each other, we’ve not only lost the ability to trust each other, but we’ve also lost the basic ability to sympathize with each other’s viewpoint.

To those of us, who found ourselves flatfooted and shocked by Trump’s election and are tempted to take the shortcut of labeling and dehumanizing half of the country, I’d like to introduce you to some people you might not have in mind and help you see their humanity, hopes and fears and ways to go further together.

Because I know these people. I grew up in rural Arkansas on a farm with goats and sheep, and when I went to college I was one of the first people in my extended family to do so. Of my dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles I can count on one hand how many went to college.

And when you spend time around people like that, and care enough to listen to them with even a modicum of respect, you’ll hear their concerns differently than you would say, scrolling through your Facebook feed or watching The Daily Show.

So let’s get started.

If you really want to know why half the country voted for Trump, there’s no op-ed piece or blog that is going to help. The divide is too deep.

Instead I’d like to recommend that you read J.D. Vance’s excellent memoir Hillibilly Elegy

Vance grew up in poverty in Appalachia, in the very Rust belt that voted overwhelming for Trump. Through a series of events he wound up leaving Ohio (‘the only way up for a hillbilly is out”) and eventually graduate with a law degree from Yale Law School.

His book is about the culture he comes from and what he wishes that his elite friends knew about it.

What makes this book so helpful for right now is that Vance speaks the language that both conservative and liberals can appreciate. He doesn’t glorify the culture that he grew up in, but he doesn’t turn them into villains either.

He tells the truth about where he comes from, and because he does so in such an honest, insightful way his book has been on the NYTimes best seller list for the past several months.

And so over the next few weeks, if we can keep it civil on here, I want to interact with Vance’s book, and I invite you to read it and follow along. I want us to see why progressive shaming is going to do the opposite of it’s intention in a honor/shame culture like the white working class.

I want us to see why the backlash against “political correctness” isn’t so much about being able to say whatever you want, as it is about the condescension that so much of America felt was directed at them, by the very institutions that were supposed to be working on their behalf.

And I want us to see why a new kind of church is called for in this Post-Trump era.

Because we have much work to do, and I hope we can still do it together.

Previous Post

December 1, 2016

On Being White: Learning To Listen

Next Post

December 8, 2016 On Being White: It's a Privilege

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who prophesied swords would be beaten into plowshares?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joel Daniel Hosea Micah