Jon A. Shields

Stephanie Muravchik

Why did so many traditionally "blue" communities break for Donald Trump in 2016? Will they do so again in 2020? Looking for answers, Muravchik and Shields lived in three such "flipped" blue communities, finding that these voters still like the Democratic Party, but it's not the party many of this book's readers will recognize. In these communities, some of the most beloved and longest-serving Democratic leaders are themselves Trumpian--grandiose, combative, thin-skinned, nepotistic. Indifferent to ideology, they promise to take care of "their people" by cutting deals--and corners if needed. Stressing loyalty, they often turn to family to fill critical political roles. Trump strikes a familiar figure to these communities, resembling an old-style Democratic boss. Although Trump's Democrats have often been pictured as racists, Muravchik and Shields find that their primary political allegiances are to their town or county--not racial identity. They will spend an extra dollar to patronize local businesses, and they think local jobs should go to their neighbors, not "foreigners" from neighboring counties--who are just as likely to be white and native-born. When these citizens turn their attention to the nation and their place in it, their thinking is informed by their sense of belonging in their town. Thus, America first reflects a way of imagining political community that resonates by analogy to the social and political life in the places they live. The good news for Democrats is that the appeal of Trump does not yet extend to the rest of the GOP. The Democratic Party can reclaim its historic place as the home of working and lower-middle-class Americans. The first step is to gain a better understanding Trump's Democrats.

Trump's Democrats

Many have worried that the ubiquitous practice of psychology and psychotherapy in America has corrupted religious faith, eroded civic virtue and weakened community life. But an examination of the history of three major psycho-spiritual movements since World War II – Alcoholics Anonymous, The Salvation Army's outreach to homeless men, and the 'clinical pastoral education' movement – reveals the opposite. These groups developed a practical religious psychology that nurtured faith, fellowship and personal responsibility. They achieved this by including religious traditions and spiritual activities in their definition of therapy and by putting clergy and lay believers to work as therapists. Under such care, spiritual and emotional growth reinforced each other. Thanks to these innovations, the three movements succeeded in reaching millions of socially alienated and religiously disenchanted Americans. They demonstrated that religion and psychology, although antithetical in some eyes, could be blended effectively to foster community, individual responsibility and happier lives.

Stephanie Muravchik

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