Home » Demagogue for President
Product Image

Demagogue for President

Jennifer R. Mercieca
€27.50
Title
Quantity:
In stock with our UK publisher. 14-28 days
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
14 days return policy Shipping & Delivery
2016 campaign
2020 election
A01=Jennifer R. Mercieca
alex jones
Author_Jennifer R. Mercieca
campaign
Category=CBP
Category=CFG
Category=JPH
Category=JPHC
Category=JPHF
Category=NHB
eq_bestseller
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
hate speech
impeachment
intimidation
MAGA
political promises
political rhetoric
president trump
presidential
presidential campaign
rhetoric
speeches
threat of violence
threats of violence
trump
tweets
twitter
white supremacy

Product details

  • ISBN 9781623499068
  • Weight: 640g
  • Dimensions: 157 x 236mm
  • Publication Date: 07 Jul 2020
  • Publisher: Texas A & M University Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Hardback
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns
Description
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.
About Jennifer R. Mercieca
Jennifer Mercieca is associate professor in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University. She is the author of Founding Fictions and coeditor of The Rhetoric of Heroic Expectations: Establishing the Obama Presidency. She frequently appears as an expert commentator and consultant for national and international media outlets.

More from this author