Who he is
Who he is (Ida Mae Astute/ABC via Getty Images)

Ever since sociologist Robert Bellah wrote "Civil Religion in America" in 1967, the concept he defined has been important for understanding how Americans understand themselves. Every time I hear Donald Trump speak, I am reminded of this essay — not because of what he evokes, but because of what he fails to.

Most American politicians are expert at tapping into the time-honored themes we have all heard many times before: Americans as a chosen people; hope, rebirth, freedom; the Founding Fathers, charity and faith. Politicians like Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are masters at summoning these themes to connect Americans to the larger philosophical framework that has informed the nation's rich history.


Not Trump. His language is almost devoid of values-based language that link Americans to their history and sense of self. Instead, it constitutes a crass, unmoored, of-the-moment sales pitch about how bad things are today and how great he'll make them tomorrow.

It is not Trump's gloomy image of the United States that is particularly new. Every candidate in the opposing party has to present the last four or eight years as having taken the country in the wrong direction. They then have to talk about how they will correct course.

But I don't think the candidate understands what's glaringly missing from his sales job.

As Bellah noted long ago, while there is of course a separation of church and state in the U.S., there is also a kind of prophetic spirit that animates the political realm in the country, and it is based on peculiarly American beliefs, symbols and rituals.

As Bellah wrote, "Behind the civil religion at every point lie Biblical archetypes: Exodus, Chosen People, Promised Land, New Jerusalem, Sacrificial Death and Rebirth. But it is also genuinely American and genuinely new. It has its own prophets and its own martyrs, its own sacred events and sacred places, its own solemn rituals and symbols.

"It is concerned that America be a society as perfectly in accord with the will of God as men can make it, and a light to all the nations."

This is the markedly special aspect of American patriotism that many who are not American can't fully comprehend. Though some of us roll our eyes when politicians end their speeches with "God bless America," those words are a perfect expression of the creed.

The God of American civil religion guides the country's history, protects its leaders and has a special concern for its future. The soldiers who fight on its behalf are inviolable and should be revered.

Instead, Trump seems to reject the idea that there's anything unique about the United States. Last year, he said of American exceptionalism, "I never liked the term." In 2013, he called the idea "very insulting" to other countries.

Presidents play both a priestly and prophetic role; they bring warning, but also bring promise. They sound the siren when America has turned its back on its "God-given role" in the world, and help it get back on course.

In this regard, Trump is quite out of his element. This is why he answered George Stephanopoulos' question about soldiers and sacrifice with "I've created thousands of jobs" and "built great structures." It is why he questioned whether Sen. John McCain was a war hero given that he was captured. It is why he doesn't really understand why people are outraged by his statements about the Khan family.

Bellah wrote that American civil religion was a double-edged sword. It could be a powerful tool to rally the masses and forge a new path, or it could drive the country into a narcissistic and idolatrous worship of itself. Trump cannot inspire the masses because he demands that they be inspired by him. The American people, one hopes, will realize soon that he is not the prophet for whom they have been waiting.

Amarasingam is a fellow at the George Washington University's Program on Extremism.