Make America Great Again as White Political Theology

“Trumpism” is not a coherent socio-political doctrine. Where it does cohere is in its symbolic attempts to parry the cultural shocks endured by the self-perceived victims of liberal progressivism – those who see whiteness not as a privilege, but as a state of fragility, those who also narrate this f...

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Main Author: S. Romi Mukherjee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses universitaires de Rennes 2018-09-01
Series:Revue LISA
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/9887
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author S. Romi Mukherjee
author_facet S. Romi Mukherjee
author_sort S. Romi Mukherjee
collection DOAJ
description “Trumpism” is not a coherent socio-political doctrine. Where it does cohere is in its symbolic attempts to parry the cultural shocks endured by the self-perceived victims of liberal progressivism – those who see whiteness not as a privilege, but as a state of fragility, those who also narrate this fragility as constitutive of the end of Christian America or, more broadly, Judeo-Christian civilization. The rationale for Trumpism is not simply policy-based, or economic. Rather, resonating under Trumpism and the promise to Make America Great Again (MAGA) is a white political theology which is deployed in a new “spiritual war” for the soul of America and indeed, the soul of the West. More troubling is how this “spiritual war” articulates itself in the new culture wars and, for some, the inauguration of a geo-political apocalypse which finally resolves the clash of civilizations. This article investigates how MAGA functions as white political theology both within the White House and amongst Trump’s base. Following from this, we explore this political theology as a vast ideological apparatus engendered by neo-liberalism in spiritual-racialist terms.
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spelling doaj-art-05c314bf2e6346198cb5f26941290d802025-01-06T09:02:59ZengPresses universitaires de RennesRevue LISA1762-61532018-09-011610.4000/lisa.9887Make America Great Again as White Political TheologyS. Romi Mukherjee“Trumpism” is not a coherent socio-political doctrine. Where it does cohere is in its symbolic attempts to parry the cultural shocks endured by the self-perceived victims of liberal progressivism – those who see whiteness not as a privilege, but as a state of fragility, those who also narrate this fragility as constitutive of the end of Christian America or, more broadly, Judeo-Christian civilization. The rationale for Trumpism is not simply policy-based, or economic. Rather, resonating under Trumpism and the promise to Make America Great Again (MAGA) is a white political theology which is deployed in a new “spiritual war” for the soul of America and indeed, the soul of the West. More troubling is how this “spiritual war” articulates itself in the new culture wars and, for some, the inauguration of a geo-political apocalypse which finally resolves the clash of civilizations. This article investigates how MAGA functions as white political theology both within the White House and amongst Trump’s base. Following from this, we explore this political theology as a vast ideological apparatus engendered by neo-liberalism in spiritual-racialist terms.https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/9887EvangelicalsAlt-RightAryanismFascismRaceTrump and Religion
spellingShingle S. Romi Mukherjee
Make America Great Again as White Political Theology
Revue LISA
Evangelicals
Alt-Right
Aryanism
Fascism
Race
Trump and Religion
title Make America Great Again as White Political Theology
title_full Make America Great Again as White Political Theology
title_fullStr Make America Great Again as White Political Theology
title_full_unstemmed Make America Great Again as White Political Theology
title_short Make America Great Again as White Political Theology
title_sort make america great again as white political theology
topic Evangelicals
Alt-Right
Aryanism
Fascism
Race
Trump and Religion
url https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/9887
work_keys_str_mv AT sromimukherjee makeamericagreatagainaswhitepoliticaltheology