“He’s an egotistical, narcissistic, morally bankrupt, would be tyrant of a President asserting his power and superiority whilst destroying his country”; or at least that is what many people outside of the US think about President Trump.

Then there are those inside of the US that hold a similar sentiment: “I know I speak for many New Yorkers - well at least the 80% of New Yorkers who did not vote for him in 2016* - by saying that some of the first words we uttered when The Donald ran for President were ‘joke’ and ‘stunt.’”
(* only 19% of registered voters in affluent Manhattan as well as the working class boroughs of the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn voted for Trump in 2016.)

The US is a rich, resourceful and beautiful country, which from my experience is filled with wonderfully kind and hospitable people, yet many of them are currently the subject of global fascination and pity, as outsiders (and many insiders) can’t understand how these same people could elect a man like Trump and what sort of a political system makes it possible.

As an Australian, that for 20 months has been living in the red state of Tennessee, surrounded by many Trump supporters, I know there is another narrative that isn’t heard widely around the rest of the world – besides the tribal like and widely televised ‘God, Guns and Trump’ axiom.

What do the traditional Republican voters think about Trump, and why might they be voting for him in 2020? With my skepticism of the truthfulness of US media, I decided to go straight to the source, and ask some of those Republican supporters exactly why they would vote ‘Trump 2020’.

Following are my findings, either explained at a deeper level, or questioned via some of my own research. Most are obvious and fit within the narrative of the Republican Party, but they offer a real and authentic perspective of those intelligent southerner and northerner conservatives I’ve met here in Memphis, that have lived in the US their whole life, and that have a greater understanding of what is at stake, than my limited knowledge.

1. HE’S A VOTE FOR FREEDOM

“I want to live in the America that the Founders framed – a country founded on freedom, virtue, and faith”, as quoted by one of my sources.

To me, this quote seems to encapsulate the desires of many of the more traditional Republican voters, and with Trump being the Republican President vying for a second term, he is their only hope right now to cling to the America that once was.

I want to delve into this a little further though, because what does ‘freedom, virtue, and faith’ really mean?

There is a plethora of articles online on this exact topic, I think because the idea of freedom is confusing, it’s changed a lot over the years, and it means different things to different people. This article by the Liberty Project What Does Freedom Really Mean? discusses the ‘Four Freedoms’ as outlined by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941:

Freedom of speech and expression
Freedom of worship
Freedom from want
Freedom from fear

And it goes on to discuss their curious paradox – freedom of speech and worship involve only the individual, while freedom from want and fear requires society to take a collective action, and for us to be responsible for one another.

“The freedom we enjoy as individuals is possible only in and through our community.”

It was interesting, and helped me to better realise just how complex the issue of ‘freedom’ is.

I really liked this piece by The Columbian, What does freedom mean to you? The author reached out to 10 community members in Clarke Country, Washington and asked them what freedom means to them, and how their perceptions have been challenged, changed or confirmed. This one really explains how varied people’s thoughts on ‘freedom’ are.

But it was a presentation by English social critic Os Guinness, speaking at a Socrates in the City event that I was sent by one of my sources that I think gets to this crux of what ‘freedom’ means to Republican voters. It’s based on his book A Free People’s Suicide - Sustainable Freedom and the American Future. In it, he describes what he coined ‘The Golden Triangle of Freedom’:

“Freedom requires virtue, which requires faith, which requires freedom.”

It is explained in further detail in this article The Forgotten Triangle of Freedom , this 2.20min YouTube video:

or this is the full 50 minute presentation.

In the full presentation, Guinness discusses the success of the Founders in winning freedom via the American Revolution of 1765 -1783, to ordering freedom through the Constitution in 1787, and to sustaining freedom. He states that the Founders were constantly discussing how they would sustain freedom, but noted it is rarely discussed today (or at least not in the way they intended). He also examines past menaces to previous societies and what caused their downfall, and he explores what he sees as ‘contemporary menaces to freedom in the US’ – in particular the breakdown in the transmission of American values since the 1960s.

He quotes Samual Hunting who said:

“It’s relatively easy to become an American, but increasingly difficult to know how to be an American” referring to the loss of teaching of American values from immigration, and the lack of civic eduction in public schools today.

He states:

“Our system of government was supposed to be more than just laws. The character of its people plays a role that is impossible to ignore.”

and

“Freedom is not the permission to do what you like, it’s the power to do what you ought.”

And I think that is the key to it right there – the character of the people is so important for freedom to work.

This except of his book explains the concept further:

"The ultimate threat to the American republic will be Americans. The problem is not wolves at the door but termites in the floor. The future of the republic depends on whether Americans will rise to the challenge of living up to America's unfulfilled potential for freedom, both for itself and for the world.”

It is this thinking by Os Guinness, but also I believe of many Republicans, that they feel should be preserved for the American Republic to stay free forever. A vote for Trump is one that is most closely aligned to the freedom that was so dear to the Founders. It’s also a vote against the ‘ideological poison of radical history education’ (as quoted by Trump), and one for more patriotic education, as evidenced by his recent announcement to establish the ‘1776 Commission, in his push for more patriotic education in schools.

Clearly it’s a very complex issue!

2. HE’S THE MOST PRO-LIFE PRESIDENT IN HISTORY; CHRISTIANITY, AND A RETURN TO TRADITIONAL VALUES

Many Republican voters I’ve spoken with feel their own values are under attack, particularly their Christian faith. Their deeply held views on pro-life are of particular concern for many. The feel they’ve had alternative views thrust onto them, which they resent.

In Roe vs Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s legal right to an abortion, the power shifted from State to Federal Law. There is a strong feeling by some that it should have remained a State issue, and those States that wanted to legalise abortion could do so (eg California – a state which some have told me they would never step into based on their values) and those more conservative states with a strong religious presence (eg Tennessee, Mississippi, the South in general) didn’t have to - they could determine their own laws. It’s why we are hearing so much about Roe vs Wade potentially being overturned at the moment.

The current consensus is that the Republican Party is pro-life, the Democrat Party is pro-choice, and for some voters, that’s their decision right there. They don’t care about any other issues, they don’t care about the character of Trump, they don’t care about some of his policies that may seem inhumane and are perhaps against the teachings of their Christian faith – because being pro-life is the most important thing to them, and voting Republican is the closest they can get to Roe vs Wade being overturned.

But will it work? Why haven’t the Republicans been able to overturn it in the past? Is being the ‘pro-life party’ just a ploy just to bring in more voters? This article published in America The Jesuit Review discusses why electing Republicans has not reversed Roe vs Wade in the past, and why it’s time to change strategy.

“There has been a majority of Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court for 49 of the last 50 years. And yet abortion is still legal.”

The politicisation of abortion in the US is quite a stirring topic – and one that shocked me a little when I arrived here. In Australia, it’s always seemed to be much less a political issue, and more one of personal conscience - which is backed up in this article by the United States Studies Centre on attitudes towards abortion in Australia and America.

The most interesting finding in the report to me was the much larger partisan gap in the US than Australia. When the question was asked:

“By law, a woman should always be able to obtain an abortion as a matter of personal choice”

In Australia, 47% of Coalition respondents agreed (the party most resembling the Republican Party) , and 66% of Labour respondents agreed (most resembling the Democratic Party). A gap of 19%.
Conversely, in the US, only 15% of Republican respondents agreed, and 68% of Democrat respondents agreed. A gap of 53%.

Historically though, the Republican party was much more pro-choice according to some I’ve spoken to, and many articles I’ve read, including this one The Politicisation of Abortion which states:

“In 1972 a Gallup poll showed 68% of Republicans and 59% of Democrats agreed that ‘the decision to have an abortion should be made solely by a woman and her physician”.

“The Republicans famously stood on a platform of personal liberty and freedom, and usually erred on the side of less laws governing autonomous decision making. They also believed in the segregation of church and state, and abortion was largely seen as a religious issue amongst Catholics. So it stands to reason that the Republicans would be more open to abortion than the Democrats, who had a large Catholic contingent at the time.”

So what changed?

It’s a complicated story, but if we refer back to the same article above, and this one How abortion became a partisan issue in America on Vox, it didn’t become political until 1972 when Nixon was up for re-election, and was convinced to make a stronger stance on abortion. It was Ronald Reagan in 1980 that started to really push the issue:

“While we recognize differing views on this question among Americans in general—and in our own party—we affirm our support of a constitutional amendment to restore protection of the right to life for unborn children.”

And then in 1984, Reagan’s second term, the platform becomes closer to what we associate with the Republican party today:

“The unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life, which cannot be infringed. We therefore reaffirm our support for a human-life amendment to the Constitution. We oppose the use of public revenues for abortion and will eliminate funding for organizations which advocate or support abortion.’’

And the Republican’s current message on pro-life :

“President Trump is the most pro-life president in American history, and with four more years in the White House he will continue to transform the federal judiciary by appointing judges who recognize the sanctity of life and finally defeat the Democrat-backed abortion industry.”

For further information, see this article from the BBC Abortion: How do Trump and Biden’s policies compare.

So much seems to have changed over the last 50 years in regard to this polarising issue.

I thought this article The Values We Share or Why I Am a Republican by former Governor of Massachusetts Bill Weld, summed up nicely the view of the Repubicans I have spoken to. In it, he explains their key values:

Conservatism – order, stability, prudence, honesty, preservation of the republic

Patriotism – their love for the Constitution

Freedom – individual liberty and personal responsibility

Capitalism - a genuine belief that people are wealthiest and happiest when the government stays away from micromanaging their work, and that if you produce something, it’s yours to keep.

Republicanism – the government is there to protect your rights, not to dictate what they are

They fear these will be gone under a Democratic led party.

3. HE IS AN ENEMY OF SOCIALISM

“Socialism is the shared misery of everyone” – Winston Churchill, as quoted to me by a source, which is actually a truncated version of two comments as stated in this Churchill Project text:

“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.”

AND

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

Conversely, as bluntly put in this Rolling Stones article The Unraveling of America written by Canadian Wade Davis, below are the thoughts of many outside of the US, and perhaps those more skewed to the Democrats:

“The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone. All must be prepared to fight for everything: education, shelter, food, medical care. What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights — universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the weak, elderly, and infirmed — America dismisses as socialist indulgences as if signs of weakness.”

I’ve heard the term ‘socialism’ bandied around a lot recently, especially at the Republican National Convention. It’s a dirty word in the US right now. One of the speakers, Cuban Maximo Alvarez said “Trump was fighting the forces of anarchy and Communism” . This confused me, were people really thinking that a vote for the Democrats was a vote for Communism? Or was this just political rhetoric to sway the voters? I wondered, was Trump trying to mislead his followers with this type of ‘perhaps’ misleading information – like the 20,000+ other statements he’s mislead the public on since he became president according to The Fact Checker? Or was this FAKE NEWS?

I kept asking myself, what type of socialism are they referring to? Most capitalist, western democracies have strong elements of social welfare built into them – Canada, Australia, the Scandinavian countries, and yes, there are higher taxes – but to the benefit of society as a whole.

I thought this short Youtube video gave a simple explanation of the term socialism:

“The word "socialism" is loaded with incorrect meanings. Here's a look at the root definition of words like capitalism, communism, and social democracy, and how democratic socialism fits in.”:

Joe Biden has distanced himself from the term ‘democratic socialist’ perhaps because the word socialist has such deeply held negative views in the US. However, Republicans fear the connection with fellow Democratic nominee, Bernie Sanders, and the power he may weild throughout a Biden Presidency. Sanders has openly clarified his position on Democratic Socialism as follows :

“What Democratic Socialism means to me is we expand Medicare, we provide educational opportunity to all Americans, we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. In other words, government serves the needs of all people rather than just wealthy campaign contributors. That’s what it means to me.”

However to many, that conjures fear and a shift closer to socialism, which is not how the Founders framed the Republic of the United States of America. It would be a fundamental change to the US, which many do not want – even though in 2020 we’ve already seen a dramatic dependence on social welfare benefits due to COVID.

4. THE ECONOMY (before COVID)

The general consensus from most seems to be that the American economy was booming before COVID. Trump told everyone, many times!

“We built the greatest economy in the history of the world, and now we are doing it again”.

For some, this is the key reason for voting Trump. It appears the economy was doing well before COVID hit, but was it doing as well as Trump claimed? This article US 2020 election: The economy under Trump in six charts from the BBC paints an interesting picture – from US Economic Growth since 2009 & 2050, to unemployment rates and others. Here are a couple I pulled out that I thought were particularly relevant. Of course we await the 3rd quarter figures which will probably show a greatly improved economy since the beginning of COVID.

During his first three years in office, President Trump oversaw an annual average growth of 2.5%.

The last three years of the Obama administration saw a similar level of growth (2.3%) along with a significantly higher figure (5.5%) in mid-2014.

But the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year has triggered the sharpest contraction since records began.

In the second quarter of 2020 - accounting for April, May and June - the economy contracted by over 30%. That's more than three times greater than the 10% fall in 1958.

Prior to the pandemic, President Trump claims to have delivered the lowest unemployment rate in half a century.

This is true. In February this year, the rate stood at 3.5%, the lowest for more than 50 years.

However, the Obama administration added more jobs to the economy, comparing similar time-frames.

Under Trump, in the three years prior to the pandemic, there were an additional 6.4 million jobs. In the last three years under Obama, seven million jobs were added.

As in many parts of the world, coronavirus lockdown measures very quickly led to soaring levels of unemployment in the US.

The rate jumped to 14.7% in April, the highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The US Labor Department says more than 20 million people lost their jobs, eliminating a decade of employment gains in a single month.

Since the peak in April, unemployment has fallen back significantly to 7.9% in September.

Regardless of how you interpret the statistics, the US economy was performing well (by many measures) prior to the impact of COVID. Whether the adoption of ‘America First’ protectionist policies will prove to be successful in the long run is largely irrelevant to a society besotted with short-termism and confounded by the contradictions of four year electoral cycles. Trump is considered by many to be a successful businessman and the economy is his strong point. There is very much a sense of ‘he did it before, he can do it again’.

5. LAW AND ORDER

“There is no problem with police brutality when you look at the statistics, the bigger problem is black on black killings.” As quoted by one source. I’ve heard this mentioned a lot, and I see it on the news here in Memphis on a daily basis. So I went digging for some further evidence.

What I found was that yes, black on black killing IS a major problem as can be seen by these statistics from a 2016 FBI Report, but as is white on white killing, which we don’t hear as much about.

Of the 6,676 homicides in the US in 2016:

White on white homicides made up 82% of white deaths, with 15% black on white and 3% other.
Black on black homicides made up 89% of black deaths, with 8% white on black and 3% other.

When broken down, these are the raw statistics:

Total whites killed – 3,499, or 52.4% of total homicides
Total blacks killed – 2,870, or 43% of total homicides
Total others killed - 307, or 4.6% of total homicides

It’s worth noting that whites make up approximately 76.3% of the population and blacks 13%, so black homicides are certainly much more prevalent. But it’s also a pretty complicated issue, and one fraught with danger when writing about it, so I’m just including the following quote, from this ABC News article, which backs up what Trump supporters have told me and goes into greater detail on the issue:

"The greatest danger for Black men in America is not a police officer, not somebody in a blue uniform, by any stretch of the imagination - it doesn't even compare. The greatest danger for a Black man in America today is another Black man," said E.W Bishop, an African American minister and lawyer who identifies as a conservative, on his podcast in October 2019.

But, statistics do seem to show that blacks are disproportionately affected by police shootings:

Something else I’ve heard by many is that “Black Lives Matter is a political movement.”

This article Understanding What is Happening in America: A Christian Response by Larry Taunton discusses his belief that there is an evil logic behind the riots, flag burning, and statue-topping, and that it’s not just America that’s under attack – it’s the Christian faith that’s under assault. You could just read this article alone to gain a greater understanding of why voters will vote for Trump, and it begins with this:

“What is the goal of these protests? What do the protesters want?

Is it about justice for George Floyd?

Is it about ending police brutality?

Is it about ending racism?

Is it about equality?

Nope.

None of these keys unlock the mysteries of the political and societal puzzle we are witnessing”, and he goes on to discuss what he believes it’s really about, Marxist political theorist Saul Alinsky.

“Alinsky (1909-1972), an American of Jewish parentage who was born and raised in Chicago, dedicated his life to Marxist thought, writing, and political agitation. He was a great admirer of not only Marx, who was, like himself, merely a theorist, but he was also of Vladimir Lenin, who was a practitioner of Marxist thought.

If we are to properly interpret modern events, we must understand how the thought of Saul Alinsky is driving them, because his writings have been enormously influential on the radical Left. His influence on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has been well documented. But now a new generation seeks to put into practice the play this dead maniac drew up on the chalkboard.

Perhaps you are thinking, as so many are, there is no rhyme or reason to what is going on! It is just anarchy! But I assure you that those organizing it—as opposed to those who are simply caught up in it—are following a carefully prepared strategy.”

Conversely, for an opposing view to this argument, this article Hillary Haters' Fixation on Saul Alinsky is worth a read if this is of interest.

At its core though, I sense that most Republican voters are sickened by the protests, looting and destruction of statues and property, and just want someone to take control. The prevalence of these events in Democrat controlled cities (New York, Seattle, Portland, Washington DC) adds to the perception that they are soft on law and order, and Biden’s failure to denounce the violence and looting during his campaign launch adds to the narrative that there is a stark choice on this issue.

6. HIS CHARACTER

Republicans are prepared to concede that President Trump is brash, bombastic, egotistical, and can be obnoxious, but:

He gets the job done
Says what he means & tells it like it is
Wins (when previous nominees couldn’t – John McCain and Mitt Romney who were too nice) – politics is about winning!
He fights hard for the American people – when there was a perception that previous nominees didn’t
Knows how to bring the base along by speaking at their level – not from an elite level. They’re tired of politicians saying the right things.
Not a career politician – gave up his luxury life to serve the country and doesn’t owe anything to the party establishment
He’s a true patriot that is fighting for America
Most pro-life President they have had
He’s funny
He’s not an ideological conservative

Whilst so much has happened regarding Trump in the last 2 weeks - the debate, the taxes, the COVID, the recovery, the defiance, the narrative of not letting COVID control your life etc etc - I honestly don’t think this would change any Trump voters mind. He is who he is, and they respect that.

And finally,

7. FAKE NEWS

There is a strong belief amongst Republican/Trump supporters of the existence of a private cabal of media, elites and academia that are out to destroy Trump. Without elaborating too much on the ‘Deep State’ conspiracy theories, I did find this opinion piece Trump defies the global elites that seemed to back up the sentiments of the people I had spoken to:

“The hysterical, savage and frenzied attacks on President Trump by Democrats, the media, powerful deep state and political establishment has been ongoing ever since the day he was elected. Most think this continual insulting harassment is because Trump is not a part of the D.C. club, is brash, outspoken, ignores political correctness, it was not “his turn” and he operates on a completely different style than the entrenched power politicians. These assumptions are true and valid, but the most dangerous and destructive anti-Trump cabal is the global elitists whose goal is a new world order. In the USA the global elite includes presidents Carter, Clinton, the Bushes and Obama and their new world order agendas that sells out American jobs, American workers and American sovereignty. Trump’s America-first initiative is a distinct threat to those goals of the new world order elitists who pull the strings of governments worldwide.”

Some say it’s all a conspiracy theory, others claim it’s true. It’s hard to know what or who to believe in 2020. Is there FAKE NEWS? It certainly seems that way, but it’s just as apparent on both sides of the political fence. You only have to play the game of flicking between Fox News and CNN to know that the only one winning out of all of this seems to be the media……as they say, ‘truth is the first casualty of war.’

It seems that since the 1950s, the axis of America has been tilting.The Republicans I spoke with feel the country is drifting further and further away from traditional family, pro-life, Christian values – values they believe are important for freedom to be sustained in America. For many, the intensity of the current political situation is just too much. Their souls have been shocked and pained by the destruction they’ve seen in 2020 – the toppling of statues, the rioting, the divide amongst the people; and their hearts feel broken. They long for an America that seems to no longer exist, and they cling to the small flicker of hope they see in someone who claims he’ll ‘Make America Great Again’ – whether that’s the America that the framers founded, or perhaps a more nostalgic 1950s America where the Christian family reigned supreme. Even if he isn’t perfect, and despite the attack on him from the media, Donald Trump is a proven winner, and their only shining light against the ‘evil of the socialist elite’, and a beacon of hope in the America they so love.

Come November 3, the options are not as obvious as they may appear to an outsider and the people I have spoken to in developing this blog have been genuine, passionate and compelling and for that I am most grateful. One thing is for sure, Trump will do whatever it takes to win a second term, but this does have the potential to get uglier in the weeks ahead.

As is often heard here in the South, ‘my thoughts and prayers’ are with the American people at this trying time.