Gerardo Marti: American Blindspot: Race, Class, Religion and the Trump Presidency
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Gerardo Marti: American Blindspot: Race, Class, Religion and the Trump Presidency Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 2020 Corwin E. Smidt1 Received: 8 May 2020 / Accepted: 16 May 2020 © Religious Research Association, Inc. 2020
A great deal of scholarly activity has been expended attempting to explain how Donald Trump came to be elected President of the United States. And, to a certain degree, this also is the endeavor of this book. Yet, it is far more than that, as the author seeks to use the election of Donald Trump as a basis for examining “the intersection of race and ethnicity, social class, and religion in America” (p ix.). These categories of analysis are certainly appropriate tools for a sociologist such as Marti, with the author choosing to focus on these matters because he believes they constitute “critical—yet often misunderstood—dynamics implicit to our current political climate” (p. 4). The substance of the book is primarily an historical examination of cultural thinking and public policies related to race relations, immigration, and economic life, with the focus on religion largely limited to an examination of evangelicals and how, in the author’s view, they became “business-friendly” and later tied to “white Christian Libertarianism.” Marti notes that this study seeks “to fill significant gaps” in our understanding about the intersection of these matters by means of examining “neglected patterns” within American history (p. 4). Rather than explaining why Trump won the election, the analysis of the historical record seeks to explain why it was Trump constituted “a viable candidate for the presidency in the first place” (p. 5) and how it is that his approval is buttressed by a long history of embedded cultural frameworks within American life. Though this book hardly constitutes a persuasive essay, it has some of its qualities. Marti’s goal is “to stimulate ideas” (p. 2), with its chapters comprising “a provocative … presentation of thought-inducing stepping stones for understanding” (p. 3) The overarching themes of the book are “the salient influence of whiteness as a powerful yet unforeseen undercurrent, the consistent yet legitimated economic inequities, and the variety of conservative evangelical manifestations that have supported particular programs and positions” (p. 250). * Corwin E. Smidt [email protected] 1
The Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics, Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
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Review of Religious Research
The book is rich in historical detail, providing credence to the author’s arguments. And, while I do not discount the reality of much of the historical material covered by the author, I am not totally convinced that it is this history alone that accounts for Trump’s viability as a candidate. Certainly, racism and white privilege exist within American society; where disagreements are likely to begin are the level to which they are present and the extent to which they present significant barriers to social, economic, and political
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