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The message from Trump supporters

Everyone asks who they are and why they support him -- even when he says things no other candidate could get away with.

For all the brouhaha over Donald Trump these days, Trump himself is not that hard to figure out. His supporters, however, are quite another matter.

Everyone is asking who they are and why they are supporting him — and why they have continued to support him, even when he has said things no one else running for the presidency could get away with.

Trump supporters do not fit easily into the categories that have traditionally defined Republican primary elections. They cross ideological, geographical, and religious lines. They are not even all Republicans; Trump is attracting a sizable number of independents and Democrats as well. However, while they represent a wide swath of the American population, they nonetheless are, on average, less educated and more lower and middle class than their more educated and wealthier anti-Trump counterparts. In essence, Trump voters are fairly ordinary people. They are pretty much Middle America.

We know that Trump backers are tired of politics as usual and frustrated with the talking heads on TV, whether it be politicians or media pundits. While the heads yak, the nation declines.

Against the backdrop of 9/11, there remains today a ubiquitous feeling of national insecurity, which is fueled by Islamic extremists who flaunt their power and prowess in vivid, bloody detail on the screens of our TVs and laptops. The lack of national security is combined with a lack of financial security. The national debt has skyrocketed into the unimaginable trillions, the economy remains stagnant, and many people are not only still unemployed but have given up any hope of finding work.

All of this is happening while the powers-that-be seem more concerned with politically correct speech and policies, whether it be in terms of immigration, marriage, transgender bathrooms, or arguing over whose lives matter.

It is no surprise, really, that Americans are tired of a political correctness that makes no sense to them and that too often mocks them. Their religion, morality, and way of life are targets of disrespect by elected and unelected politicians, and by Hollywood and sophisticates in general. Add to this the fact that they are commanded to obey laws not of their making and that are based on principles with which they fundamentally disagree.

From the perspective of Middle America, there is trouble in River City. In recent years their society has changed so rapidly that at times it appears unfamiliar, unrecognizable. They feel disoriented, powerless, and surrounded by a pervasive uneasiness. In short, a lot of Americans no longer feel at home in their own country.

This inquietude is the common factor that connects the diverse group of people who back Trump. This is the distressed civic spirit that Trump has been able to tap into. It is not of Trump's making and it is not a random aberration. It is a product of the clash between the traditional ethos that the nation was built upon and a new, modern, and secular morality that seems to be dramatically transforming the political and social landscape.

A similar situation characterized America in 1920. At that time, the nation had gone through a period of social reform, massive immigration (largely Catholic), global war, modernization, and internationalization. The country looked and felt very different than it had a generation before. While a number of people embraced the new political and social post-war European-style values, quite a number of other Americans did not. The former were generally better educated, more urban, wealthier, more secular, and younger. The latter were largely Protestant, rural, older, and middle class. Middle America believed that its values and way of life were under siege, and their anxiety was palpable.

One can visualize this clash of cultures by imagining a Saturday Evening Post featuring a Norman Rockwell print juxtaposed against a trendy Life magazine cover with a jazzy flapper couple dancing, smoking, and ginning it up.

But the Progressives did not win the election of 1920. Warren Harding did — on the slogan of a "return to normalcy."

Although Progressivism is often described as a short-lived and failed political movement, it really did not fail. Its ideals form the core of the new progressivism and elitism today, which are once again challenging the American political tradition from the founding to Lincoln to Reagan.

Trump supporters think their nation is slipping away from them and that the politicians are doing nothing about it. Whether Donald Trump is the best person to help them stop the slippage, I do not attempt to answer here.

As for Trump's supporters, their frustration is not just a passing fad. Neither is their goal, which is to reclaim their country and make it a safe and hospitable home again. And their message to establishment politicians is, if you won't do it, we will.

Colleen A. Sheehan is a professor of politics and director of the Matthew J. Ryan Center at Villanova University.  colleen.sheehan@villanova.edu