Trump and the Protestant Reaction to Make America Great Again Routledge Focus on Religion Series

This book explores how polarised interpretations of America?s past influence the present and vice versa. A focus on competing Protestant reactions to President Trump?s ?Make America Great Again? slogan evidences a fundamental divide over how America should remember historical racism, sexism and exploitation. Additionally, these Protestants disagree over how the past influences present injustice and equality. The 2020 killing of George Floyd forced these rival histories into the open. Rowley proposes that recovering a complex view of the past, confessing the bad and embracing the good, might help Americans have a shared memory that can bridge polarisation and work to secure justice and equality.

An accessible and timely book, this is essential reading for those concerned with the vexed relationship of religion and politics in the United States, including students and scholars in the fields of Protestantism, history, political science, religious studies and sociology.

1. Introduction: remembering and forgetting the past 2. Is MAGA inclusive or exclusive? 3. Make America great again 4. Make America lament 5. Make America better 6. Conclusion: confessing history from George Washington to George Floyd

Matthew Rowley is Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Leicester and Research Associate at the Cambridge Institute on Religion & International Studies, UK.