Why is Jesus on the Ballot?
Unlike other Western democracies, America's politics are infused with religion. God is everywhere, all the time, especially during election season. As we get closer to the November polls, it would seem Jesus is personally invested in the outcome of the vote if you listen to candidates up and down the ballot.
Unlike other Western democracies, America's politics are infused with religion. God is everywhere, all the time, especially during election season. As we get closer to the November polls, it would seem Jesus is personally invested in the outcome of the vote if you listen to candidates up and down the ballot.
I’ve covered elections across the world for the past thirty years, and I can’t think of another country (that isn’t a theocracy) that has such a deep sense of its own religiosity when votes are being courted and counted.
Doug Heye is a Republican strategist and even though I wasn't planning on talking about Trump, Republicans and God with him, the conversation went there and I am so glad it did. It’s so fascinating!
Doug Heye says Republicans and Democrats have used religion to attract voters in the past but evangelical fervor for Donald Trump has turbo-charged the Republican ticket in different ways.
President Trump, who struggles to quote Bible verses and is no poster child for the Ten Commandments, has a loyal and powerful base among evangelical Christians. Trump and his supporters say they are doing God’s work because, in spite of the fact that he slept with a porn star weeks after his wife gave birth to his son, they see him as a savior on single issues around abortion, IVF and even gun control. It’s a Faustian bargain for the true believer, but it’s one that millions of Christians are willing to make this November.
Doug Heye is wary of making a moral equivalency but he suggests that campaigning in churches has been a constant in American politics, even for Democrats. The civil rights movement, he says, was a faith-based movement that was extremely powerful. Democrats, especially in places like Atlanta where I live, continue to base a large part of their outreach to voters via African-American churches.
But there is something more, isn’t there, about the temperature levels of religion in this election? It feels almost too hot to write about or talk about in a podcast; as if questioning why there’s the personification of Jesus in this race is an act of diabolical heresy.
For years now, Doug points out, there's been an erosion in institutions - from the press, to the church, to government, to even Hollywood. The breakdown in institutions was super-charged by Covid. So, he says, politics has become a religion for a lot more voters than it used to be. It’s intense and it’s personal.
That made a lot of sense to me. ‘Politics is the new Religion’ helps me understand why some voters can sit with the hypocrisy of language that is thrown around so carelessly. In an age of division, extremism and identity politics, even though the pious can preach they love their neighbor, they don't.
Self-righteousness across the political spectrum is easy to find nowadays. From the left to right, it sometimes sounds like voters think their political viewpoint is divinely set in stone. “There is a tendency to want to find somebody as an apostate, or as a heretic,” says Doug. Leaders, of course, are quick to manipulate.
Take a listen, and if you’d like a more outsider perspective of America please get friends and family to sign up to this newsletter and follow us on Searching for America wherever you get your podcast. Join me,
Robyn
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Enemies can be perceived to be everywhere, even in classrooms.
Sarah and her family are not Trump voters - “Can’t stand the guy” - but she is also critical of Democratic Party which she believes ignored the pleas of large chunks of ordinary Americans who were struggling with the effects of globalization and the challenges of small-town life.
There are many frontlines in America’s culture wars. In a divided country, enemies can be perceived to be everywhere, even in classrooms.
I can’t wait for you to listen to Josh Clark, who is a head teacher and on the board of the National Association of Independent Schools. He’s also a world expert on teaching dyslexic kids. Josh has a broad, bird’s-eye view of how identity politics and censoring self-righteousness has invaded classrooms.
“Us versus Them” thinking creates children who are scared of complexity or ambiguity. Josh is emphatic that teachers need to be trusted to teach multiple viewpoints without overprotective parents thinking their kids are being indoctrinated. No teacher, says Josh, goes to work to be underpaid, overworked and to “screw over” your kid.
I have been wanting to talk to author Sarah Smarsh for years because she is one of the few people on the national stage who can explain, with authenticity, about a part of America that is often overlooked and undervalued. Sarah grew up in a poor, white rural area of Kansas. Her mom gave birth to her when she was seventeen and she was raised by her grandparents on their farm. Her latest book is called Bone on Bone; Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class.
Donald Trump won over poor, white, working class folk in rural America because he has been able to channel their anger. Sarah and her family are not Trump voters - “Can’t stand the guy” - but she is also critical of Democratic Party which she believes ignored the pleas of large chunks of ordinary Americans who were struggling with the effects of globalization and the challenges of small-town life.
In Searching for America, I’m curious about stories and perspectives from places that are not New York or Washington.
Josh grew up in Tennessee. His dad was a prison warden and as a young boy he lived in the warden's house inside a federal penitentiary complex in Virginia. Josh’s first friend was a prisoner called Nelson. "Nelson was an inmate who worked in our yard, who'd smuggled cocaine into the country in a private plane in the 1970s. I was seven. I thought he walked on water. But it was interesting growing up in this dynamic of the industrial prison system."
Sarah writes with empathy about her grandmother’s dentures (all her teeth were removed in her twenties because she had no dental healthcare) and helping her grandparents harvest wheat or butcher their livestock. No matter if rural folks vote for Harris or Trump, Sarah helps us understand the deep sense of frustration felt by millions of Americans towards the “elites.”
American politics is more than polls. The election is about stories; which voters feel seen and heard and which voters feel invisible and angry. One group is going to outvote the other. I don’t want to be surprised again, like we were in 2016, so I’m trying to understand by listening.
Join me,
Robyn
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Why I launched a podcast to decode the U.S.A. for the world (and maybe a few Americans too.)
Why I launched a podcast to decode the USA for the world
In my search for the real America - that elusive soul of the U.S.A. - I’ve come to realize, via miles traveled and steps walked, that the sheer size of this country makes it almost impossible to pin down a single description of America or its inhabitants. The landmass is so huge and geographically and culturally diverse that I’ve barely visited a fraction of the places I want to see in the decade I’ve called Atlanta, Georgia my home.
With the Presidential election looming, I’ve been struck by how many Americans feel unrepresented by the politicians and two political parties that dominate this gargantuan landscape. The words ‘politically homeless’ are thrown about a lot to describe a large chunk of the electorate.
Here in the South, and across the country, there are millions of good Americans who want the best for this country, who are dismayed by the loud extremism from the right and the left and who want to mend fences with fellow Americans after years of division.
I know a lot of good Americans - soldiers, teachers, politicians, writers, comedians, chefs, journalists, singers - and the conversations we have on this podcast will hopefully help to decode the choices Americans are making.
I travelled the world as an anchor and foreign correspondent for decades. I look at America through the lens of outsider and outlier, even though I live here. The only way to make sense of troubling times is to listen to everyone and, hopefully, laugh along the way.
Thanks for joining me,
Robyn
Good Americans
Lt. Gen Mark Hertling and Jason Kander
Lt. General Mark Hertling is a soldier, a thinker and a man who admits he cries at the ‘opening of a supermarket’ even though he won a Purple Heart for bravery.
When I was a CNN anchor, Mark and I spoke many times on air during battles, wars and terror attacks. I often wanted to chat to Mark after my show was over and listen to his stories.
Jason Kander 'sorta ran for President' in 2020 before checking himself into a military psychiatric ward for PTSD (he served as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan.) Jason knows Kamala Harris and is still dialed into Washington politics from his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri where he runs a charity for homeless veterans.
Searching for America gives me the opportunity - and indulgence - to go back to some of the most interesting people I’ve interviewed and ask them the questions I didn’t get time to ask during breaking news.
What does it feel like knowing you’re willing to die for America? Why are military veterans treated with such reverence at baseball games and airports? Why do so many civilians dress in camouflage gear and carry weapons of war? Who is Kamala Harris? Who votes for Donald Trump?
I deliberately spoke to two army veterans over the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. 9/11 changed their lives and they can articulate what it means to be American right now with a unique perspective.
