In this chapter I explore the ways in which Trumpism, as we currently understand it in 2025, has been relevant to the Lost Cause and lost causes more generally. Trump’s politics have traditionally been at least friendly to the Confederate Lost Cause. Much attention was paid in the aftermath of Trump’s only electoral loss to his signaling of a new lost cause—one in which, he falsely asserted, the election had been stolen from him. I begin this chapter by analyzing the facets of Trumpism that have continually triangulated on victimhood. In 2016, Arlie Russell Hochschild’s research posited the deep story framework, arguing that deeply felt perceptions of being passed over in favor of others who didn’t deserve it animated not only the Tea Party, but the segments of the right that supported Trump. I engage with this framework to explore what has made “Make America Great Again” such a compelling message to Trump’s voters over the past decade. This is itself a conversation about perceived loss and perceived victimhood that was only made more relevant by Trump’s 2020 loss. From there, I examine some of the contemporary 2020-era accounts of Trumpism as a new lost cause before then providing overviews of three of the groups that acted as foot soldiers in his pursuit of it on January 6: the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and QAnon. I argue that through the politics and rhetoric that are endemic to Trumpism, not only is the Lost Cause itself still relevant, but that Trump’s lost cause fulfils the three core features of the Lost Cause I’ve posited: victimhood, theodicy, and ethnonationalism.

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Trumpism, Lost Cause Mythology, and a New lost cause

  • Anastasja Abraham

摘要

In this chapter I explore the ways in which Trumpism, as we currently understand it in 2025, has been relevant to the Lost Cause and lost causes more generally. Trump’s politics have traditionally been at least friendly to the Confederate Lost Cause. Much attention was paid in the aftermath of Trump’s only electoral loss to his signaling of a new lost cause—one in which, he falsely asserted, the election had been stolen from him. I begin this chapter by analyzing the facets of Trumpism that have continually triangulated on victimhood. In 2016, Arlie Russell Hochschild’s research posited the deep story framework, arguing that deeply felt perceptions of being passed over in favor of others who didn’t deserve it animated not only the Tea Party, but the segments of the right that supported Trump. I engage with this framework to explore what has made “Make America Great Again” such a compelling message to Trump’s voters over the past decade. This is itself a conversation about perceived loss and perceived victimhood that was only made more relevant by Trump’s 2020 loss. From there, I examine some of the contemporary 2020-era accounts of Trumpism as a new lost cause before then providing overviews of three of the groups that acted as foot soldiers in his pursuit of it on January 6: the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and QAnon. I argue that through the politics and rhetoric that are endemic to Trumpism, not only is the Lost Cause itself still relevant, but that Trump’s lost cause fulfils the three core features of the Lost Cause I’ve posited: victimhood, theodicy, and ethnonationalism.