LUMBERTON, N.C. — “Southern hospitality,” said my 19-year-old Cracker Barrel waitress, Evita. This was her answer after I asked why President Trump performed so strongly among voters last November in counties containing a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Then she added, “Gun rights, older folks with older ways. They’re from a generation that stresses an older American way.”

Evita was right: Nostalgia for “an older American way” is evident in every tool, sign and photograph that adorns the walls of Cracker Barrel restaurants. It was also the subtext of Trump’s campaign pledge to “Make America great again.”