Overwhelming people with a deluge of announcements makes it difficult to easily track and understand what is happening in the White House.
- Professor of Communication and Journalism, Texas A&M University
Legitimate political discourse is based on persuasion, not coercion or violence. Two scholars of communication and democracy explain the difference.
America’s public sphere is broken because propaganda has replaced political communication. How did we all become propagandists?
The Republican National Convention wrapped up with Trump sounding familiar themes but speaking from an unusual location.
Donald Trump uses language like a dangerous demagogue. The author of a book on Trump’s rhetorical skill gives a guide to the six most important rhetorical strategies Trump uses.
Democrats and Republicans are speaking about impeachment with dramatically different language. The winner of this frame war will succeed in shaping how Americans understand the impeachment inquiry.
Americans want government to serve them, but don’t have confidence that it actually can.
The problems facing America are unrestrained capitalism and corruption, said the Democratic presidential candidates over two nights of debates. Or was that really Teddy Roosevelt speaking?
Michael Cohen wants you to know that throwing your kid a ball doesn’t make you a Red Sox pitcher. So he told lies, he says, but that doesn’t make him a liar. A rhetoric scholar dissects his argument.
Trump’s surrogates have deployed tried and true rhetorical techniques to defend the president.
Aristotle coined the term “enthymeme” to refer to arguments, words and ideas that are broadly accepted among the people of a nation. So what happens when enthymemes start to disappear?
A scholar of rhetoric makes note of one way Trump’s language has changed since he became president.
A good concession speech will use what rhetorical scholars call ‘transcendent rhetoric,’ which emphasizes conciliatory, unifying language.
An expert in political rhetoric singles out Trump’s repeated use of reification – the tendency to treat people as things – and the role it’s played in his tortured response to the leaked tape.
Trump appeared surprisingly presidential. According to a scholar of American political rhetoric, there were echoes of Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Reagan.
Elected officials and the media are in cahoots. Both have succumbed to a two-party system that treats voters not as independent thinkers, but as blind partisans.
An expert in American political rhetoric explains why Trump’s controversial retweets are actually an extremely effective rhetorical device.
Our panel of scholars listened to the sixth GOP debate with a critical ear and picked one quote to analyze.
An expert on American political rhetoric breaks down Donald Trump’s rhetorical prowess, pointing to the various techniques the candidate has mastered.
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