#Jennifer Mercieca

[tomorrowusa]

Trump is trying to normalize his fascist rantings by just repeating them a lot. That way they are no longer considered news and subject to outrage. But it still allows him to fire up his unhinged and violent base.

Donald Trump, just weeks after using the fascist terminology “vermin” to describe sections of American society he dislikes, again declared at a New Hampshire rally that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country”. [ ... ] “They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done,” Trump told the crowd. “They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America … but all over the world. “They’re coming into our country, from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.” It is the second time Trump has used the poisoned blood phrase, which has been widely condemned for echoing white supremacist rhetoric. The first time he did so, in October, Joe Biden said the former president, who faces 91 criminal charges, was starting to use language heard in Nazi Germany.

Donald Trump is the true poisoner of public discourse in the United States. Things were notably nicer before 2015.

Trump probably is a cinch for the GOP nomination. Even if Nikki Haley does surprisingly well in New Hampshire, that will have little impact on Republican primaries in places like Texas, Tennessee, or Missouri. Trump's rhetoric is focused on the general election.

Mehdi Hasan describes Trump's strategy for fascist normalization.

The broadcaster Mehdi Hasan said on Saturday: “Classic Trump: say something crazy outrageous, neo-Nazi-like and it gets headlines, creates outrage. “So wait a little. Then say it again, no one notices, no coverage, and it gets normalized and mainstreamed. “Let’s be clear: migrants ‘poisoning the blood’ is Hitler rhetoric.”

In this rally Trump was quoting Vladimir Putin. That should give us some idea of whose best interests would be served by a Trump victory. Putin and Trump are certainly on the same page regarding hating liberal democracy.

Trump quotes Putin condemning American democracy, praises autocrat Orban

“Donald Trump sees American democracy as a sham and he wants to convince his followers to see it that way too,” said Jennifer Mercieca, a professor at Texas A&M University who researches democracy and rhetoric. “Putin hates western values like democracy and the rule of law, so does Trump.” Trump quoted Putin, the dictatorial Russia president who invaded neighboring Ukraine, criticizing the criminal charges against Trump, who is accused in four separate cases of falsifying business records in a hush money scheme, mishandling classified documents, and trying to overturn the 2020 election results. In the quotation, Putin agreed with Trump’s own attempts to portray the prosecutions as politically motivated. [ ... ] He went on to align himself with Orban, the Hungarian prime minister who has amassed functionally autocratic power through controlling the media and changing the country’s constitution. Orban has presented his leadership as a model of an “illiberal” state and has opposed immigration for leading to “mixed race” Europeans. Democratic world leaders have sought to isolate Orban for eroding civil liberties and bolstering ties with Putin. [ ... ] In the speech, Trump also repeated his own inflammatory language against undocumented immigrants, by accusing them of “poisoning the blood of our country” — a phrase that immigrant groups and civil rights advocates have condemned as reminiscent as Hitler in his book “Mein Kampf,” in which he told Germans to “care for the purity of their own blood” by eliminating Jews.

Calling out Trump and pointing out his dictator comments will have no effect on his hardcore MAGA fanatics. But the more wishy-washy Trump-curious voters might be a bit more open to well targeted criticisms – as long as we don't use the same type of rhetoric that liberals are usually associated with. In close elections, small groups of voters count a lot.

#donald trump #the far right #immigrants #white supremacy #hate speech #vermin #fascism #normalizing trump's fascism #mein kampf #nazism #republicans #vladimir putin #liberal democracy #viktor orbán #jennifer mercieca #mehdi hasan #election 2024

[hangtime23-blog]

LIVE: DISTURBED Trump’s Sick and Twisted Plans EXPOSED by Top Expert | T...

[47burlm]

question for all and especially for those here in "T" land-

WHY DO PUT UP WITH THIS MAN-

Republican polling leader Donald Trump approvingly quoted autocrats Vladimir Putin of Russia and Viktor Orban of Hungary, part of an ongoing effort to deflect from his criminal prosecutions and spin alarms about eroding democracy against President Biden.

His speech at a presidential campaign rally here on Saturday also reprised dehumanizing language targeting immigrants that historians have likened to past authoritarians, including a reference that some civil rights advocates and experts in extremism have compared to Adolf Hitler’s fixation on blood purity.

And he used the term “hostages” to describe people charged with violent crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.

The comments came as experts, historians and political opponents have voiced growing alarm about Trump’s rhetoric, ideas and emerging plans for a second term, pointing to parallels to past and present authoritarian leaders.

“Donald Trump sees American democracy as a sham and he wants to convince his followers to see it that way too,” said Jennifer Mercieca, a professor at Texas A&M University who researches democracy and rhetoric. “Putin hates western values like democracy and the rule of law, so does Trump.”

[pscottm]

Rhetoric expert explains why there's no way to fact-check Trump's 'layers of lies' - Raw Story

[meret118]

If you want to understand Donald Trump as a political actor, Jennifer Mercieca's book "Demagogue for President" (Salon interview here) remains the clearest, most illuminating explanation. But if you want to understand the larger story in which Trump plays a part — however large he may still loom at the moment — then Francesca Bolla Tripodi's new book "The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy" offers a stark and clarifying picture of how Trump's political stage was constructed in the first place, and how that project may continue into the indefinite future, with or without Trump.

#Books #Trump

[kali-tmblr]

How the right is winning the hashtag wars — and how the left can fight back

#politics #us politics #republicans #republican hypocrisy #republican family values #republican #conservative christianity #conservatives #conservatism #media #media industry #media manipulation

[heykav]

Trump spins baseless tale of 'thugs' flying to protests

Trump spins baseless tale of ‘thugs’ flying to protests

[ad_1]

CHICAGO: President Donald Trump is recycling a baseless conspiracy theory to claim that recent protests have been orchestrated by powerful people in “dark shadows” intent on undermining his reelection prospects. The claims first took root on Facebook and Twitter earlier this year after racial justice protests swelled across the country following the deaths of Black Americans in police…

View On WordPress

#African Americans #Donald Trump #Federal Bureau of Investigation #jennifer mercieca #Mike Pence

[bigtickhk]

Demagogue For President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump by Jennifer Mercieca

US: https://amzn.to/38Z6Sqo

UK: https://amzn.to/390N0TM

#Demagogue For President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump #Jennifer Mercieca #trump #trump administration #political books #us politics #democracy #authoriatarianism #books #book revview

[snapthistiger]

the typeface is a little difficult to read, but communication techniques to watch for in the debate.

credit to  Dr. Jennifer Mercieca, professor of communication at Texas A & M University.

[canadianabroadvery]

Trump, of course, is no longer the cash-strapped operator of gaudy gambling halls on the New Jersey shore but the president of the United States. Once again, though, he is in dire straits. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and its attendant economic wreckage, the possibility that he could be reelected has never seemed less certain. The annals of American history are littered with presidents brought down by their failures to deal with a national crisis, from Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression to Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War to Jimmy Carter and the Iran hostage affair and the oil shock. Those presidents, though, had something else in common, too. They were not Donald Trump....

... “He’s a magician that way. Other people would stop and recognize that they were defeated. Or that they should be shamed. He refuses.”

Jennifer Mercieca, a professor at Texas A&M University and the author of the forthcoming Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump...”

#donald trump lies #right wing politics #us politics #republican party

[apveng]

#Propaganda #How it is done

[baileye]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/03/dan-bongino-and-the-big-business-of-returning-trump-to-power/amp

Jennifer Mercieca, a professor of rhetoric at Texas A. & M., analyzed the information warfare of the Trump era in her book “Demagogue for President,” and catalogued some of the ascendant patterns of communication. There was “paralipsis,” emphasizing something by professing to say little of it (“I’m not going to call Jeb Bush ‘low energy’ ”), and the ad populum appeal, flattering a crowd by praising its wisdom (“The people, my people, are so smart”). When possible, Trump turned to the power of “reification,” applying nonhuman sobriquets to his opponents (“disgusting animals,” “anchor babies,” “pigs”). Aldous Huxley recognized that tactic as long ago as 1936, writing, “The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”

Mercieca describes Bongino as “an important node in the amplification of propaganda.” She told me, “Propaganda used to be primarily vertical, in the sense that it came from the state or some authority, and it was distributed down to everyone through one-way channels of communication. But, in the current moment, propaganda has become horizontal, too.”

[weeeeenger]

*Dramatistic Rhetoric*

How is Burke’s notion of the unification device evident in this artifact? How are each of the components at play? How is this unproductive for society (unethical)?

In this essay, I will be examining the introduction of Demagogue for President by Dr. Jennifer Mercieca and applying her examples to Robert Burke’s explanation of Hitler’s unification device. The language, rhetorical devices, and presentation style Trump used during his campaign and presidency mimicked Hitler’s unification device, which has helped create a counterpublic of people who are distrusting of the government, default to prejudice to explain minority groups, and who see Donald Trump as their chosen leader.

Dr. Jennifer Mercieca is an associate professor at Texas A&M University, specializing in rhetoric and public affairs. She writes about American political discourse and has published three different books on political and presidential rhetoric, including Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump. This book, published in July of 2020, discusses the rhetoric used by former president Donald Trump during his rise to power in the United States. Mercieca outlines six different rhetorical strategies that Trump uses during his campaign and presidency. She argues that Trump uses rhetoric as a weapon to use against the media and his opponents while being able to gain and keep loyal supporters during his campaign and presidency. It is important to note that Mercieca (2020) classifies Trump as a demagogue, using this definition to make her argument, “A leader of a popular faction, or of the mob; a political agitator who appeals to the passions and prejudices of the mob in order to obtain power or to fulfill his own interests; an unprincipled or factitious popular orator” (p. 10). This definition can outline how Trump uses his rhetoric in the political sphere to push his own agenda and disregards how influential his rhetoric can be on his supporters. Mercieca also explains how Trump’s rhetoric defied the norms of modern American political discourse, which benefited his campaign.

Kenneth Burke outlined Hitler’s rhetoric style in his article, The Rhetoric of Hitler’s “Battle,” into four main points. The first point of Hiler’s unification device is inborn dignity, or asserting that a group of people are heroic, noble, or inherently better than others based on easily distinguishing traits such as ethnicity, religion, and politics. When Hitler used this idea, he put forth the idea that it was both the Law of Nature (the Aryan line is pure from African and Jewish descent) and the Law of God (God elevated Aryans above all others and made them the “chosen race”) that proved the Aryan race was the “superior race.” Hitler also used a projection device to help separate the two groups - pushing all ills as the cause of the “inferior group” and using that group as a scapegoat. This was an easy way for people to put blame onto the Jewish population without having to self examine to see how they exacerbated the problem. Using this logic, the “lower group” was inherently bad and the people in the “higher group” were able to disassociate themselves from these bad attributes. The third point of the unification device was to have a symbolic rebirth which allows the followers to have a new, positive view of life without having to associate with the people who are part of the “lower group.” For this to fully work, there has to be a materialistic or visual way to separate the two groups. Hitler used race because it was an easy way to determine the two groups from each other. The last way the unification device is solidified is by trying to sell an idea that benefits your followers. For example, Hitler attacked “Jew finance” instead of the general term of finance to stimulate a movement which left Aryan finance in control of Germany. By using a pre established divide, Hitler used his unification device over and over to ensure that he came to power and kept the divide going in Germany.

A key part of Donald Trump’s rhetoric is using the myth of American exceptionalism to prove his claim that the United States is the best nation. This notion, America is the best among other nations, the US is chosen by God, and that we have helped spread knowledge and democracy throughout the world, helps establish inborn dignity in his followers (Mercieca, 2020). Because of this, Trump can say that his ideas and actions support America and American citizens which solidifies the connection between him and his supporters. There are two other components to the idea of Trump’s inborn dignity - Trump is a truth teller and a noble hero and anyone who is not a Trump supporter can be generalized into a stereotype, with prejudice being used to paint others negatively. The idea of Trump being a “truth teller” began during his “birthing quest” of Barack Obama at the beginning of his first presidential campaign (Mercieca, 2020). Throughout his whistleblowing about the current president, Trump said many offensive things about Obama, the possible countries he came from, and brought black stereotypes back into modern American politics. It didn’t matter if Trump was telling the truth or not, this conspiracy helped set doubt about current American politics into the minds of his followers which added to the distrust of the government that was already there. A key to Trump’s rhetoric is to deny that he is lying while accusing those who oppose him (liberals, Democrats, and the media) of lying about him and trying to silence him. This allows his followers to bandwagon on his ideas or conspiracies and gives them a sense of being more “enlightened'' than those who do not support Trump. This group is able to elevate themselves above other groups because they know the “truth” and are prejudiced against anyone who is not like them or who has different politics than them.

The second point of Hitler’s unification device is having a projection device or scapegoat to attribute frustrations to. There are different groups that Trump attacks (Democrats, liberals, “soft” Republicans, immigrants, African Americans, latinex community) during his campaign and presidency. He attacked his political opponents by treating his enemies as things or asserting that his enemies were unworthy of fair treatment and by using argument ad hominem and making the argument about the person and not the topic (Mercieca, 2020). For example, Donald Trump called Senator John McCain a “loser” for being a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War after McCain refused to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Trump also attacked Joe Biden during a presidential debate by referencing his son, Hunter Biden who he claimed was dishonorably discharged from the military for cocaine use. This was to evade questions about Trump’s comments on members of the military. By using past experiences, family history, and name calling, Trump could subdue Democrats and Republicans alike into staying quiet about his actions because they were afraid of what he would say about their personal life. These direct personal attacks on his opponents shifted the public’s perspective from political matters to the integrity of politicians based on claims Trump was making. This strategy was used to discredit groups of people within and outside the United States (Mercieca, 2020). Trump’s first campaign ran on the repeated claims that illegal immigrants were “violent, rapists, gang members” that came to the United States to entice violence and steal from the government. He deemed this group as violent, vile, lazy, and trying to steal from the American people by taking jobs and living off of the government. He also did this with Democrats and liberals by calling them communists, socialists, and trying to take guns away from the American people. These dramatic overgeneralizations only perpetuated stereotypes and added to the prejudice Trump supporters may have had before he made these claims. Without any politicians trying to stop him from spewing this weaponized rhetoric, Trump was able to solidify a divide between his followers and others groups.

The third component of the unification device Burke talks about is a symbolic rebirth for the group. There has to be a way to give the followers a new, “positive” view of life and there must be a materialistic way to separate the group from minority groups. This was easy for Trump to capture, if he was elected president and put into power, then his supporters would not have to worry about the “crooked politicians” because Trump would be able to straighten them out and keep the country in order. Trump’s slogan for his campaign was, “Make America Great Again,” inferring that under the current administration he could finally bring the change his followers want. Trump made his rhetoric vulgar and politically incorrect to appeal to his audience, they feel as if he is not like other politicians, fake and scripted, but someone who is authentic and who will not lie to them (Mercieca, 2020). By creating conspiracy theories and increasing distrust in the government, Trump made his followers believe that this was their only chance to fix all of the issues in the government and keep the groups they disliked in order. In addition to this, Trump used MAGA merchandise and American flags to usher in his campaign but it eventually evolved into MAGA being paired with the confederate flag during his presidency. This is because different white supremacist groups took his slogan and applied it to their cause. The materialization of his symbolic rebirth helped further his rebellious rhetoric and showed that he tolerated prejudice. Trump’s victory in the 2016 election was the symbolic rebirth of his supporters and gave them an open floor to do and say whatever they wanted to say.

The final point of the unification device is commercial use of selling an idea or politician to give a noneconomic explanation to economic ills. With Trump being a successful businessman in his past, he used this to convince less radical Republicans to grow his follower base. He claimed that he could stimulate the American economy by building a wall on the border of the southwest United States and northern Mexico. This would also stop illegal immigrants from coming into the US and prevent them from living off government funds and stealing jobs from the white working class. Trump also claimed that he would be able to provide thousands of jobs from building the wall, while not making the US cover the cost. Presenting this idea during his campaign made Donald Trump have economic worth for the American people, as he said he could boost the economy and lower taxes which appealed to his large voter base of white working-class Americans (Mercieca, 2020). Trump made himself an economic bargaining chip which only solidified his relationship with his supporters and drew in new voters who had economic interests.

The rhetoric Donald Trump uses is often erroneous, prejudiced, and emotionally manipulative, making his whole rhetorical style unethical. To start, Trump is known to be a serial liar when he speaks, disregarding any data or fact checkers that try to correct him. Through his pursuit of being a “truth teller,” Trump takes myths and tries to spin them as the truth. When the media tries to reject his claims, he argues they are “fake news” or are liars themselves (Mercieca, 2020). Not only this, but Trump will take stereotypes and exaggerate them to demonize any group that does not stand with him. For example, Trump called protesters of the Black Lives Matter movement, who were mostly black, thugs and violent which are unfounded because their protests were peaceful. Along with this, he has had many different opportunities to condemn white supremacist and far-right extremist groups but has refused to do so. Trump likes to increase the divide in the country by alienating liberals and conservatives from each other, making tensions about politics soar since his presidency. He uses emotional language and incites violence in his speeches (Mercieca, 2020), this is most exemplified by his “Save America” speech on January 6 which ended with a large group of his supporters storming the capitol building. All in all, Trump’s rhetoric is very unethical as it only supports his agenda and does not have the American public’s best interest in mind.

During his campaign and presidency, Donald Trump claimed to be very “anti-politics,” meaning he was not going to hide behind intellectualism and political correctness. Orly Kayam argues that this strategy is what made Trump win over white working class voters during his campaign. In his paper, Donald Trump’s rhetoric, Kayam (2018) argues that being anti-politically correct, negativity, simplicity, hyperboles, and marketing to make himself sound like his voter base and connect with them on a level no politician had before. Trump is known for his short sentences, use of everyday language (including curses and slang), and buzzwords throughout his speeches. He is also known for his Twitter use to get the attention of voters and the media and where he could say anything he wanted without being censored. Mercieca addresses this in her book:

I’m not focusing on, for example, Trump’s eloquence. I’m not focusing on how beautiful his prose was, or how he constructed an argument, used evidence, or led his audience to reason through difficult concepts. To do so would be an exercise in tedium - for Trump’s rhetoric is neither beautiful nor well argued. (p. 17)

Both Kayam and Mercieca argue that this lack of intellectual prose helped Trump resonate with voters which led to his victory in 2016. All voters could understand what Trump was saying and what his views were, because he “spoke their language” and came off as being the same as a blue-collar worker. This is what helped give Trump such a big voter base, because this politically marginalized group finally felt heard in their grievances and wanted to see how Trump would change politics for them.

Donald Trump has rhetoric that has never been seen in the modern political sphere. He used multiple different rhetorical devices to draw in voters and alienate those who opposed him. Trump spoke differently from other politicians, stumbling through his speeches at times, but this was part of his strategy to draw voters to his platform. He also used conspiracy theories, stereotypes, prejudice, and “truth telling” to make his supporters distrust the current administration and look for Trump to “fix” American politics. Despite being wholly unethical and relying on extremist groups to back him up, Trump was a popular leader and it can not be argued that he has rhetorical genius.

References

Burke, Kenneth. Readings in Rhetorical Criticism. Edited by Carl Burgchardt, 3rd ed., Strata Publishing Inc., 2005, pp. 193–201.

Kayam, O. (2018). Donald Trump’s rhetoric. Language & Dialogue, 8(2), 183–208.

https://proxy.augustana.edu:2138/10.1075/ld.00012.kay

Mercieca, J. (2020). Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump. United States: Texas A&M University Press.

[bigtickhk]

Demagogue For President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump by Jennifer Mercieca 

US: https://amzn.to/38Z6Sqo

UK: https://amzn.to/390N0TM

#donald trump #us politics #republicans #books #book excerpt #Demagogue For President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump #Jennifer Mercieca

[thelifeelsewhere]

Four Traumatic Years Later In the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, we asked a panel of distinguished guests to share their opinions on the outcome.

#Apple Podcasts #Binoy Kampmark #Cornucopia Radio #Dave Hill #Dr. Jennifer Mercieca #IRN #Mark Haskell-Smith #NPR One #NWCZ Radio #Stephen O&039;Connor #Steve Brodner #Terry Morgan #The Source WMNF HD3 #WNRM The Root

[garudabluffs]

thug talking to hear his self talk? like all mobsters, looking important to sound intelligent? or sounding important to look intelligent?                  TWEET TWEET

teleprompter doublespeak                    TWEET TWEET

“Even Donald Trump occasionally called for unity—in speeches from the teleprompter, of course.” https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/20/no-there-wont-be-unity-460964

“Wow -- of all the books I’ve read, I think Dr. Mercieca’s “Demagogue for President” does the best job of explaining the incredible, unwavering support numbers that Trump has enjoyed for the past 4 years.(5 star amazon review) As an upfront disclaimer, I will readily describe myself as having “Trump derangement syndrome.” Here's why: as shown in the St. Louis FRED data, *all* of Obama’s economic numbers were as good as, or better than Trump’s. From the growth in the S&P 500 (Obama +12.8%/yr, Trump +12.6%/yr), to the growth in GDP (Obama +2.16%/yr, Trump +1.88%/yr), to new jobs created (Obama +3.8%/yr, Trump +2.0%/yr), all stats improved more under Obama than Trump. Granted, unemployment fell under Obama by 6.1%/yr, and under Trump by 9.1%/yr, but that was the only statistic in which Trump did better at than Obama. (Note that I cherry picked all of the data sets above to end on 2/1/2020, to give Trump the benefit of the doubt. I did not include any economic numbers from his botched handling of the pandemic, to show that even at his best, he was only as good as Obama. The only way to say that his numbers were better than Obama’s is to use the excuse he gave in March of 2017, “They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now.”) Given that Obama did better than Trump economically, given that Obama had 0 indictments related to his administration while Trump has had 215 (and was impeached himself), given the Russian revelations from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and given Trump’s terrible handling of the pandemic (4% of the world’s population with 25% of world’s coronavirus cases), why the unwavering support for Trump? To answer this I read a number of books, including Steve Hassan’s “The Cult of Trump,” Matt Taibbi’s “Hate, Inc.”, and Scott Adams “Win Bigly.” All three books provided insight into why Trump enjoys the support he does. Hassan talked about high demand organizations (like Evangelical Churches) transferring support to Trump, Taibbi talked about the business models for media organizations leading to increased polarization of the electorate, and Adams talked about Trump’s persuasion skills (labeling him a “master persuader”). But Dr. Mercieca’s book is the first one that describes the rhetoric Trump employed to really create an “us / them” dynamic with the electorate.

paralipsis (“I’m not saying, I’m just saying”)

My favorite line in her book, and the one I’ll close with, is when she wrote, “As much as Barack Obama had looked different from every previous president in 2008, Donald Trump sounded different from every previous president in 2016.”

How President Trump's Rhetoric Has Affected U.S. Politics

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of American political rhetoric, about how President Trump has changed the way Americans talk about politics, the government and each other.

5-Minute Listen https://www.npr.org/2021/01/19/958472423/how-president-trumps-rhetoric-has-affected-u-s-politics

#Trump rhetorical stuntman