Just want to tweet out this great image of everyone laughing at @TheRickWilson's paralipsis (I'm not saying; I'm just saying) joke last night. Thank you again for having me on The Breakdown last night @ProjectLincoln! I'm going to thread Trump's strategies here for folks.
Trump uses three strategies to ingratiate himself with his followers: ad populum (appealing to the wisdom of Trump's people), paralipsis (I'm not saying; I'm just saying), and American Exceptionalism (America's unique role in the world, for Trump "winning").
Trump uses three strategies to divide himself & his followers from everyone else: ad baculum (threats of force/intimidation), ad hominem (attacking the person instead of their argument), and reification (treating people as objects).
Taken together these strategies allow Trump to consolidate his base of support and divide the nation into us versus them. He uses language as a kind of force, as a weapon. He's a dangerous demagogue.
And here is the link, in case you missed it last night:
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Trump is having a difficult re-election campaign because he lacks ethos--credibility--in a way that he didn't in 2016. In 2016 a lot of Americans thought of Trump as a successful businessman who would run the nation like a business. Experience now shows he wasn't that guy.
Credibility is important in persuasion because people trust speakers who they believe are knowledgeable and who have good will in communicating what they know to the audience/electorate. Trump hasn't cared about his credibility.
You build credibility with an electorate--it's a long-term strategy of proving yourself to be a trustworthy source of information, with good intentions. You build credibility by providing useful & accurate information over time.
I wouldn’t normally share this, but I’m in such great company here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Leftists Call to Cancel Debates: They Are a 'Danger to Public Safety and a Direct Threat to Black Life' breitbart.com/politics/2020/…
ps: advocating for democratic norms is actually conservative.
2020 Plot-twist: the “leftists” are the conservatives and the “conservatives” are the radicals.
I feel a little bit of relief every time the world gets to see what a dangerous authoritarian Trump is because it confirms that I'm not the only one who sees it.
And, if you haven't read my essay on "weaponized communication" and dangerous demagogues like Trump, here it is (open access): oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/bitstream/hand…
I explain all of this more fully in my book, available at your favorite local or in ereader, audio, or regular book form here: amazon.com/Demagogue-Pres…