Gist of patriotism supported by white statesman (5)
I believe the answer is:
iowan
'statesman' is the definition.
(Iowa is a state)
'gist of patriotism supported by white' is the wordplay.
'gist of patriotism' becomes 'io' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'supported by' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, some letters hold up others).
'white' becomes 'wan' (very pale).
'io'+'wan'='IOWAN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for iowan that I've seen before include "US resident" , "From one US state" , "One from Des Moines perhaps" , "Statesman" , "American" .)