Opinion: Why are Donald Trump supporters so loyal to him?

Why, after multiple federal and state indictments of Donald Trump, and an avalanche of evidence that we saw with our own eyes, why are so many of his supporters so doggedly loyal to him? It is a perplexing question and goes to the heart of human nature.

A passage from Richard Russo’s novel, "Mohawk," helps me understand this, at least in part. The novel imagines a long running set of family relationships in a fictional small town, Mohawk, New York. Over the generations their romances, feuds, marriages, blunders, secrets and tragedies were rationalized at the time as all having had good reasons. But they culminate in a horrific crisis which revealed “how perversely loyal human beings could be to their mistakes.” Bingo. Of course.

Millions of Americans who voted for the former president in 2016 and 2020 had their good reasons. They had been left behind in a cyber-culture shift they did not understand. They were frustrated by a multi-cultural media and multi-racial future that they dreaded. They were angry about multi-millionaires who got rich sitting at a computer and never worked a “real job” in their lives. Trump could be their champion. It’s understandable.

So, having bought their MAGA hats, put Trump signs in their yards, sent money in response to his frequent appeals, and voted for him twice, it is little wonder that they remain perversely loyal. It is hard to admit some of our gravest mistakes, especially when they are made out of party loyalty and after heatedly defending Trump at the dinner table, causing eye rolls, even anger among relatives and friends. So, Trump’s supporters double down, his crimes and his character faults notwithstanding.

One of the most pernicious and perverse dimensions in this peculiar phenomenon is the extent to which fundamentalist, traditionalist Christians have continued and amplified their MAGA support. It was clear from August 2016 there could be real trouble ahead when Trump made an astonishing promise in his acceptance speech at the nominating convention. He vowed to end the Johnson Amendment. Half of the convention crowd went wild, the other half looked confused: what was he talking about?

The delegates that cheered were the hyper-evangelical Christians who have been longing for the day when the IRS regulation that prohibits non-profit organizations from engaging in party politics would be lifted. Not that the rule had ever been enforced rigorously or consistently. But, the threat of churches losing their tax exempt status if they engaged in political activity or endorsed political candidates has always been seen as an affront and a hindrance to their mission. What a gift: their churches could become quasi-Political Action Committees whose contributions would be tax deductable!

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Of course, the Johnson Amendment has not been repealed, but in the Trump administration it was never enforced, and the results are essentially the same. This cemented the perverse loyalty to Trump of what we now know as Christian Nationalism. It created a weird and unholy alliance between country club Republicans and these self righteous crusaders. And further, it inaugurated the devastating spate of legislative and legal attacks on the separation of church and state, which have been initiated and cheered by the Christian nationalists and their millionaire allies.

It is abundantly clear that the first clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits any establishment of religion and protects its free exercise, is utterly necessary to the preservation of our democratic society. It is also no accident that the framers of the Bill of Rights made this the first of these critical principles. They had seen quite enough religious persecution carried out by civil authorities in 18^th Century Europe and before. Plus, they understood the weakness of human nature and our ingrained religious and ethnic tribalism and how destructive they could be.

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This perverse loyalty also is at the roots of racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia and a nostalgia for the Southern lost cause. Of course, all those who are similarly and variously in thrall to these views are part of our body politic and are to be respected and encouraged into the civil dialogue that is necessary to heal our divisions. In the meantime, those who break and have broken the law must be held accountable, and those who act out their anger and hatred must be restrained. Restoring civility in our nation, not to mention “domestic tranquility,” is the daunting task of our time.

Rev. Dr. Rollin Russell is a retired minister of the United Church of Christ and a faculty member of Lancaster Theological Seminary.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Millions of Americans thought Trump could be their champion