God's Ape

The Today programme this morning interviewed US sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, known especially for her 2016 book on Tea Party supporters in Louisiana, Strangers in Their Own Land. She outlined why the poor white Americans she'd spoken to then, and revisited recently, would still vote for Donald Trump next week (if they hadn't already done so), despite dislike for his character and 'weariness' at the chaos and conflict he has brought with him. He is 'a representative of their way of life': he speaks for them, he seems to respect them, so they are electorally and emotionally loyal in return for being 'culturally uplifted'. 

The evangelical Christians among them, Dr Hochschild says, have a particular viewpoint. Some have moved on from seeing the President as Cyrus, the instrument in God's hand no matter what his personal opinions may be, to placing him in a different context:

some of them, especially the evangelicals, are thinking, Oh, he’s suffering for us. It fits into a religious theme: he’s taking on our welfare, he’s facing enemies for us, almost like he’s Jesus.

Now, this is visibly different from the kind of sloppy and imprecise use of religious language that might describe a secular political figure as 'a saviour' because they are regarded as coming to the rescue of a particular point of view or group of people. It places Mr Trump in a redemptive framework, and interprets events such as his contracting Covid or being vilified in the media as equivalent to the sufferings of Christ: by these experiences he draws fire from his supporters in a strangely mystical way justifying them as people and the way they look at the world. I can't think of any other political figures being regarded in quite this way. To ascribe the redemptive role of Jesus to any other person could not unreasonably described as blasphemy. 

If the President wins next week, you can expect this to increase apace, and it leads me to disturbing reflections. I am already coming round to the conclusion that the effects of climate change mean that our civilisation will not outlast this century, and realistically I can't see anything that will avert that. But although this may entail the end of the current order of things, I still thought the religious element was missing. The Book of Revelation depicts a situation in which the climactic division of good and evil takes place through the activities of a figure who presents themselves as a suffering servant, a parody of Christ, and who deceives the world - or part of it. That piece of the puzzle may be sliding into place, and St Levan's Stone is pulled a little farther apart.

PS. I'd forgotten until today that Mr Trump stated that him catching Covid was 'a gift from God' ...