“White evangelical support for Trump still leaves a considerable puzzle to solve, especially whether religion in its many guises was involved. On top of a thorough recitation of the literature, Migliori looks to the words used to explain support for Trump by average voters, interest groups, and other national elites. Her answer, from talking to average voters, effectively challenges the centrality of Christian Right organizations as information brokers as they are not speaking the same language. The book is well worth a look for those interested in religion and politics of the Trump era.” (—Paul A. Djupe, Associate Professor of Political Science, Denison University, USA)
“The subject of this book is an extremely timely and important one. Migliori’s work is the first large-scale qualitative study of how and why religious conservatism bolstered support for Trump despite his overt character flaws. Understanding the Trump phenomenon is absolutely essential due to its unprecedented nature in the U.S. and its similarity to right-wing authoritarian politics in other national contexts.” (—Laura Olson, Thurmond Professor of Political Science, Clemson University, USA)
“Although the Christian Right has long been a central actor in Republican politics, the embrace of Donald Trump by many but not all movement activists came as a surprise to many. A movement that had claimed that Bill Clinton’s affair disqualified him for the office of the presidency embraced a man who paid off a pornstar and who bragged about multiple sexual affairs. A movement that had long upheld the Bible as a source of guidance embraced a man who was the poster boy for the Seven Deadly Sins. In this carefully researched book, Chiara Migliori traces evolving evangelical reactions to Donald Trump, dissects the various frames for his presidency from the right and the left, and helps us makes sense of our cultural movement. Highly recommended.” (—
Clyde Wilcox, Professor of Government, Georgetown University, Qatar)