Abstract
This chapter uses the concept of Invited Behavior to show how Donald Trump developed in three stages a powerful political rhetoric that combined traditional American culture with elements drawn from a new culture created by Reality TV. This new cultural combination undermined democratic norms and fostered autocratic tendencies. The first stage established Trump’s credibility by drawing on traditional values—individualism, materialism, and meritocracy—that were validated (melodramatically) by his Reality TV show—The Apprentice. In the second stage, Trump used new cultural elements from Reality TV to engage other candidates and the media. Three elements will be analyzed—blatant aggression (including bullying); voluminous, hyperbolic lying; and the call to violence. In the third stage, during his last year as president, Trump took these elements to their extreme and again combined them with traditional culture to produce a rhetoric that fomented the violent storming of the United States Capitol, an attack aimed at overturning the 2020 election results. The success of this rhetoric was made possible by the culture war and legitimacy crisis that have gripped American politics since the 1960s.
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Krasner, M.A. (2021). Donald Trump: Dividing America Through New-Culture Speech. In: Feldman, O. (eds) When Politicians Talk. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3579-3_15
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