Have you noticed how much of the GOP, the party of white Evangelicals, is often positively obsessed with grievance, how it marinates in anger at the insults of the "elite" or the "ruling class"?
We experience this reality constantly. It sometimes appears as if the bulk of the conservative media economy is built around finding and highlighting leftist insults, leftist disrespect, and leftist contempt. And yes, it exists, but there is a difference between highlighting a problem and marinating in grievance over the rejection of the left.
—David French, conservative thought leader, writing in The Dispatch, "Where Does the South End and Christianity Begin?" (17 January 2021)
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I respect David French, have been following him for years. He's speaking here on the role of shame/honor culture in the roots of Christian rage, not specifically about Trump … though having just been chastised by someone I thought I knew (a Trump supporter who also calls himself Christian) for my research and thoughts, I would posit that it applies to Trump supporters full stop, no matter their location or their relationship with any church at all. The truth is, I do have nothing but contempt for these people. I can't help it—just look at them. They lie. They support criminals. They cheat and manipulate. They have lost all sense of moral, ethical behavior. You can fill in those blanks.
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