IJRDO - Journal of International affairs and Global Strategy
RUNNING HEAD: Who’s the Biggest Demagogue? O Beautiful Border Wall, Who’s the Biggest Demagogue of All? President Trump’s Populist Tweet-Storm Blows Away His U.S. and Global Counterparts Darrell L. Roe Eastern New Mexico University Abstract In his two and a half years in office (January 21, 2017 to July 21, 2019) President Trump sent 9,122 tweets. During this time he used terms that have been associated with demagogic rhetoric that both divides his audience and sets up an “us” versus “them” antagonism for his own political advantage. This study compared Trump’s Twitter rhetoric in terms of demagogic content and frequency across seven key terms to a then field of twenty-five Democratic presidential candidates for 2020, as well as to several members of Trump’s cabinet and administration. The study further compared seventeen nationally influential political figures and eleven global leaders who were active on Twitter during the same time period. Finally, the study looked at key hashtags, pet phrases, and “I” statements made by the president which may evidence his demagogic traits. The history and characterization of demagogic rhetoric is explored, and complexity-extremity theory is used to explain the effect of “us” versus “them” appeals in political communication. Ultimately, President Trump was found to use demagogic verbiage more widely and on a far more frequent basis than a vast field of his American peers and international contemporaries. demagogue (noun) dem·a·gogue | \ ˈde-mə-ˌgäg \ a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power (Merriam-Webster, 2019) Demagoguery Re-Evaluated Despite its rather straightforward definition, the use of the word “demagogue” and its various iterations (e.g., demagoguery, demagogic) has historically conjured up a host of complex, even contradictory, images (Mendes, 2016). In fact, it was not until the twentieth century that the term began to be used to cast suspicion on the rhetoric of the powerful and to critically analyze their motives (see Lomas, 1961). Recently, however, the word that has so effectively cast a negative light on speakers has also begun to bring critics’ use of it under scrutiny (Roberts-Miller, 2005). Darsey (2006) noted, as did Roberts-Miller, that academic research in the area of demagoguery has waned, dropping off precipitously after the 1960s and, by the turn of the century, was nearly nonexistent, a “lacuna,” in the literature, as Darsey (p. 463) put it. In one sense, the term has fallen out of favor with modern rhetoricians (Roberts-Miller, 2005; Johnson, 2017; see also Goldzwig, 2006) who feel its use is archaic and not appropriate for today’s complex, culturally sensitive audiences and is, in effect, a self-defeating tactic to employ. In another sense, scholars have eschewed the term because of its ambiguity and ineffectiveness as an analytic tool or for being too much of a hammer in an age where more precise instruments are favored (see Darsey, 2006). Finally, politicians, pundits, and analysts have tried to distance themselves from the term and discourage its use as being too biased to be accurate. Some fear it may lead to unfairly pre-judging and maligning unpopular speakers (Roberts-Miller, 2005; see
Volume-1 | Issue-1 | Jabuary,2020
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