John R. Hibbing - The Securitarian Personality

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hibbing, John R., author.

Title: The securitarian personality : what really motivates Trumps base and

why it matters for the post-Trump era / John R. Hibbing.

Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2020. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020007942 (print) | LCCN 2020007943 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780190096489 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190096502 (epub) | ISBN 9780190096519

Subjects: LCSH: Political participationSocial aspectsUnited States. |

Political cultureUnited States. | Social conflictPolitical aspectsUnited States. |

Identity politicsUnited States. | National characteristics, AmericanPolitical aspects. |

Trump, Donald, 1946Public opinion.

Classification: LCC JK1764 .H529 2020 (print) | LCC JK1764 (ebook) |

DDC 306.20973dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020007942

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020007943

To Taryn, Xander, Matilda, and Penelope

Over the course of my career, I have co-authored with dozens of people but five stand out for putting up with me over extended periods: John Alford, Matthew Hibbing, Kevin Smith, Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, and Susan Welch. This book is the first project I have done on my own in quite some time and it made me realize how much I have depended on co-authors. At several points during the preparation of this book, I was in dire need of them. As an indication of how special they are, all five agreed to read manuscript drafts even though I did not have the decency to give them a reasonable amount of time to do so. Despite this, they provided remarkably probing and insightful comments. Yet again, I am in debt to these bright and generous scholars and friends.

It is fortunate for the planet that I do not have as many members of my immediate family as co-authors but my spouse, Anne, and three children, Michael, Matthew, and Anthony, all agreed to read the manuscript, also on short notice. Their willingness was particularly valuable because my hope is that this book will be useful, not just to scholars, but also to informed and interested laypeople, and I can think of no laypeople more informed and interested than these four. Anne went the extra mile by funneling relevant posts and writings my way and by reading the entire manuscript twice. Careful readers will note that Matthew shows up on both lists and he responded admirably to this additional pressure. My thanks and love to all four of them.

I would also like to thank two graduate students who were crucial to this project: Stephen Schneider and Joaquin Suarez. Stephen produced sensible tables and figures from the chicken scratches I sent him and Joaquin sorted through my jumble of notes, musings, and vague recollections to compile intelligible endnotes and references. My editors at Oxford University Press, David McBride and Emily Mackenzie, shared my vision for a crossover book and managed to be helpful and unobtrusive at the same time. Finally, I would like to thank the many ardent Trump supporters who, despite knowing I was not one of them, were willing to talk at length with me. Some of them were my students; a few were members of my extended family; most were focus group and other research participants; but all patiently explainedwell, usually patientlythe basis for their veneration of Donald J. Trump.

An autumn day in the Midwest. Blue skies tease to the north but a layer of clouds persists over the Columbia, Missouri, Regional Airport. People have been arriving since early in the morning. Parking lots and shuttle buses fill quickly. Lines of cars stretch for miles as the Highway Patrols carefully arranged traffic patterns are badly overmatched. A light rain starts. At precisely 3:30, the huge doors to Hangar 350 swing open and the crowd streams in. When the hangar can hold no more, people are channeled toward adjacent outside areas where they view the inside activities on huge screens. The rain picks up. Darkness falls. The assemblage is excited but restive; the 6:30 scheduled starting time comes and goes. At 6:45, a public address announcement: Air Force One is on final approach. The crowd goes wild. Five minutes later, another announcement: Air Force One is wheels down. The crowd loses it. The mammoth aircraft taxis directly behind the stage, perfectly positioned to provide a dramatic backdrop. At 7:00, Donald J. Trump appears at the top of the stairs that have been rolled to the plane. He waves, descends, and approaches the lectern, to rapturous applause and chants of Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump... He waits for the loudspeakers to quit blaring the song Proud to Be an American, basking in the scene and adulation.

Donald Trump was in Columbia to stump for Josh Hawley, the Republican challenger in the 2018 midterm who was attempting to unseat incumbent Democratic US Senator Claire McCaskill. I was there because I thought someone writing a book on Trump supporters should observe them in vivo. Surveys and focus groups are valuable but they place participants in artificial situations; people attend a Trump rally voluntarily and researchers do not manipulate the setting. Studying non-human animals in the wild is revealing and the same is true of studying humans.

So it was that I reserved an electronic ticket, donned a flag-emblazoned baseball cap and red, white, and blue T-shirt, and prepared for the drive. Thinking there might be down time before the event itself started, I grabbed an issue of The Atlantic and Francis Fukuyamas latest book. Before I could leave, my wife suggested that taking reading material would surely blow my cover.

But Fukuyama is conservative, I protested.

Doesnt matter, she responded coollyand correctly, as it turns out. I didnt see a single soul passing the hours by reading.

What did I see? I expected parking lots jam-packed with pick-up trucks and gun racks. This was a Trump rally in rural Missouri after all. In fact, there were only a few pick-ups and I did not see a single gun rack. Most of the vehicles were late-model SUVs and crossovers. As to the people, they appeared to be from all walks of life. There were a surprising number of women and young people; however, I did not see any people of color.

The attendees were neither bitter nor angry but rather pleased and excited, talking animatedly about Trump, politics, and football. The rain discouraged discussion and made eavesdropping challenging but I heard enough. The focus of many conversations was Trumps persona and mannerisms, his refusal to take guff from anybody. People loved the degree to which he was changing the very nature of politics by his willingness to say and tweet whatever was on his mind and by standing up for his own beliefsand by extension, theirs. They remarked repeatedly on the horrible abuse he was suffering at the hands of the established media and they compared this Missouri rally to other Trump rallies they had attended. Hats emblazoned with Make America Great Again were everywhere, as were signs reading Finish the Wall.