Demagogue for president : the rhetorical genius of Donald Trump

"Deserves a place alongside George Orwell’s 'Politics and the English Language'. . . . one of the most important political books of this perilous summer."—The Washington Post "A must-read"—Salon "Highly recommended"—Jack Shafer, Politico Featured in "The Best New Books to Read This Summer" and "Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2020"—Literary Hub Historic levels of polarization, a disaffected and frustrated electorate, and widespread distrust of government, the news media, and traditional political leadership set the stage in 2016 for an unexpected, unlikely, and unprecedented presidential contest. Donald Trump’s campaign speeches and other rhetoric seemed on the surface to be simplistic, repetitive, and disorganized to many. As Demagogue for President shows, Trump’s campaign strategy was anything but simple. Political communication expert Jennifer Mercieca shows how the Trump campaign expertly used the common rhetorical techniques of a demagogue, a word with two contradictory definitions—“a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power” or “a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times” (Merriam-Webster, 2019). These strategies, in conjunction with post-rhetorical public relations techniques, were meant to appeal to a segment of an already distrustful electorate. It was an effective tactic. Mercieca analyzes rhetorical strategies such as argument ad hominem, argument ad baculum, argument ad populum, reification, paralipsis, and more to reveal a campaign that was morally repugnant to some but to others a brilliant appeal to American exceptionalism. By all accounts, it fundamentally changed the discourse of the American public sphere. Winner, Bronze, 2020 Foreword Indies, Political and Social Sciences Winner, 2021 PROSE Award for Government & Politics "Deserves a place alongside George Orwells 'Politics and the English Language'. . . . one of the most important political books of this perilous summer." The Washington Post "A must-read" Salon "Highly recommended"Jack Shafer, Politico Featured in "The Best New Books to Read This Summer" and "Lit Hub'sMost Anticipated Books of 2020"Literary Hub Historic levels of polarization, a disaffected and frustrated electorate, and widespread distrust of government, the news media, and traditional political leadership set the stage in 2016 for an unexpected, unlikely, and unprecedented presidential contest. Donald Trumps campaign speeches and other rhetoric seemed on the surface to be simplistic, repetitive, and disorganized to many. As Demagogue for President shows, Trumps campaign strategy was anything but simple. Political communication expert Jennifer Mercieca shows how the Trump campaign expertly used the common rhetorical techniques of a demagogue, a word with two contradictory definitionsa leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power or a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times (Merriam-Webster, 2019). These strategies, in conjunction with post-rhetorical public relations techniques, were meant to appeal to a segment of an already distrustful electorate. It was an effective tactic. Mercieca analyzes rhetorical strategies such as argument ad hominem, argument ad baculum, argument ad populum, reification, paralipsis, and more to reveal a campaign that was morally repugnant to some but to others a brilliant appeal to American exceptionalism. By all accounts, it fundamentally changed the discourse of the American public sphere. Trump and the Distrusting Electorate -- "I don't, frankly, have time for total political correctness." (Ad Populum) -- "It's going to be like this ... I'm going to continue to attack the press." (Ad Baculum) -- "You could have a Trojan horse situation. You could--this could be the ultimate Trojan horse." (Reification) -- "Now, the poor guy. You gotta see this guy." (Ad Hominem) -- "I'm not saying that he conspired; I'm just saying that it was all over the place." (Paralipsis) -- "I am 'America First.' So, I like the expression. I'm "America First.'" (American Exceptionalism) -- Trump and the Polarized Electorate -- "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters." (Ad Populum) -- "Low-Energy Jeb!" (Ad Hominem) -- "I didn't tweet; I retweeted somebody that was supposedly an expert. Am I gonna check every statistic? All it was is a retweet. And it wasn't from me." (Paralipsis) -- "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment, people, maybe there is. I don't know." (Ad Baculum) "Political communication expert Jennifer Mercieca shows how the Trump campaign expertly used the common rhetorical techniques of a demagogue, a word with two contradictory definitions--"a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power" or "a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times" (Merriam-Webster, 2019). These strategies, in conjunction with post-rhetorical public relations techniques, were meant to appeal to a segment of an already distrustful electorate"-- Provided by publisher