In this interview in Jacobin, Calvin University’s historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez address the conundrum of evangelical support for Donald Trump. She points outs that much of modern liberalism (feminism, acceptance of alternatives to heterosexuality, etc.) threatens White male authority. Trump’s morality (or lack thereof) can be handily overlooked given his male dominance displays and his ability stoke the fear that “they” (non-evangelicals) are out to get “us” (real Americans).
In her book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, she connects the historical dots and shows the dark underbelly of misogyny and toxic agression has always been present.