Trumpocalypse Now
10th May 2023
Dog whistles work because they are inaudible to humans. Accusing a politician, therefore, of using “dog-whistle politics” – couching a (usually controversial) message to their core supporters in terms the general public do not notice – is formally self-refuting for doing so implies that it can be understood not just by the target audience, but also by the opposition. If that is so, however, the “dog whistle” is just a whistle. For the metaphor truly to work, the message needs to be so far removed from the understanding and concerns of the wider public that it sails straight over their heads, as when film-makers insert jokes aimed at adults into cartoons aimed at children.
Accusing Donald Trump of dog-whistle politics for his use of the phrase “America First”, previously associated with isolationism and the Ku Klux Klan, is therefore inapt. The history of that period is too well-known, and racism too central to the concerns of the left for them not to notice. But there is an area with which liberals, generally, have little experience and with whose language they are unfamiliar, and that makes it ripe territory for dog-whistling: religion.
The observation that Republicans are more likely to be religious than Democrats has been made so often that it has acquired its own name – the “God Gap”. In 2008, 28% of the latter claimed to have no religious affiliation, compared to 12% of the former. By 2021, the difference had widened to 45%-19%. Among those who do claim to be members of a religion, the figures are even more striking. About 80% of evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump twice.