Chapter 13 analyses how profound socio-demographic changes in America have contributed to a shift from the faith-driven culture wars of the twentieth century to a more secular identity politics between liberal cosmopolitans and populist communitarians in the twenty-first century. This trend appears closely linked to the rapid decline of American Christianity, which along with globalisation, individualisation and rapid ethnic change has led to an identity crisis in parts of the white working class. Given the relative unresponsiveness of the traditional party system to this development, Donald Trump succeeded in capitalising on this crisis of identity through a ‘hostile takeover’ of the GOP by the alt-right, and a gradual ‘Europeanisation’ of the American right, which shifted from a faith-based social conservativism to a more identitarian and populist white identity politics.

Chapter 14 analyses the Trump campaign’s relationship with religion in more detail. Based on the material gathered in several dozen elite interviews with political and religious leaders it shows how in the context of an identitarian turn in American politics, the Trump campaign appealed to America’s tradition of white Christian nationalism and forged an alliance with a subset of Christian leaders. However, it also shows how, while doing so, the Trump campaign and administration increasingly departed from America’s civil religious tradition, clashed with Christian doctrine on identitarian issues, and embraced a more identitarian and transactional approach to Christian institutions, indicating less the resurgence of the Christian right in American politics than its erosion and gradual replacement by a more secular but no less radical populist and identitarian right.

This historical overview of American evangelical attitudes towards the apocalypse illustrates its consistent presence as an existential issue in the community, fueling theological debate, cultural productions, and political activism.