5. They herald from honor cultures.
A lot of evangelicals still reside in cultures different from those of the hip urban Millennial Christian, and VERY different from those of the great self-appointed opinion-makers of the country. Rod Dreher was able to highlight some of these important distinctions in his recent interview with J. D. Vance, entitled “Trump: Tribune Of Poor White People.” In his interview, Vance explains, “The simple answer is that these people–my people–are really struggling, and there hasn’t been a single political candidate who speaks to those struggles in a long time. Donald Trump at least tries.”
“A big chunk of the white working class has deep roots in Appalachia, and the Scots-Irish honor culture is alive and well. We were taught to raise our fists to anyone who insulted our mother,” Vance continues, “Unsurprisingly, southern, rural whites enlist in the military at a disproportionate rate. Can you imagine the humiliation these people feel at the successive failures of Bush/Obama foreign policy? My military service is the thing I’m most proud of, but when I think of everything happening in the Middle East, I can’t help but tell myself: I wish we would have achieved some sort of lasting victory. No one touched that subject before Trump, especially not in the Republican Party.”
Trump appeals to an honor-culture denizen the same way Andrew Jackson did in the 19th century: in his bellicose rhetoric, in his threats of personal violence, in his fantastical exploits, in his devil-may-care attitude towards mincing social propriety, and (most frighteningly) in his ambivalence to the rule of law. Honor cultures do not smile on those who escape their just deserts by weaseling their way out on a technicality.
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