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2020 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Donald Trump and the Kayfabe Presidency

Professional Wrestling Rhetoric in the White House

Author: Shannon Bow O'Brien

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : Rhetoric, Politics and Society

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book examines Donald Trump's longstanding connections to professional wrestling in relation to how he uses and exploits language, and the ways in which he has weaponized going public never before seen in previous administrations. Trump utilizes the language of wrestling to make rhetorical appeals and draws upon its theatrical tactics to redefine expectations of spaces to fundamentally change the nature of political expectations and expression. Wrestling is almost always about stories within a confined space, and Donald Trump inculcated many of its techniques to command an audience with rhetoric. The emotional performance supersedes truth or accuracy; factual exactness matters less than your presentation of the material. As Donald Trump blends performance and public service, social confusion over boundaries has occurred. Theatrical norms, when applied to daily life, generate vastly different reactions than within the artificial confines of an arena. It is not simply a muddling of public and private, but rather a jumbling of theatrical and generalized social standards. This book examines these aspects and explores how Donald Trump has also utilized well-established presidential tools in completely new ways in an attempt to build the strongest executive branch in American history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This chapter introduces how Donald Trump uses professional wrestling tactics and language to employ a unique manner of going public to the American public. Donald Trump never shifted his rhetoric from campaigning to governance. In a very real sense, he has crafted the truly permanent campaign. It also introduces how he uses social media platforms, like Twitter, to help manufacture his own reality. It provides an overview of all the chapters and explains how they fit together within the book.
Shannon Bow O’Brien
Chapter 2. Manufacturing Realities: Truth Is What You Can Get Away With
Abstract
This chapter explains how Donald Trump utilizes the wrestling concept of kayfabe to forge his own reality. Kayfabe involves pretending an event, action, or activity is absolutely real, no matter how contrived or fabricated it happens to be in actuality. This chapter explores how manufacturing spaces impact perception. The chapter looks at the origins of modern professional wrestling within the circus and theater. The specialized language of wrestling comes directly from the circus, which also helped develop its theatrical mannerisms. It also explores others who have manufactured realities to help create and controls ideas within spaces. It looks at Disney parks, Dan Rice, John R. Brinkley, and Father Charles Coughlin. All three men (Rice, Brinkley, and Coughlin) had political ambitions and used their fame to help achieve them.
Shannon Bow O’Brien
Chapter 3. Wrestling with the Presidency: How Donald Trump Uses Wrestling and Theatrical Tactics in the Public Sphere
Abstract
This chapter looks at the theatrical elements of wrestling (including kayfabe) and how Donald Trump has used them within his campaign and administration. It explores the appeal of wrestling and its tactics to audiences and how Donald Trump has used that to his advantage. His long-standing relationship with professional wrestling has allowed him to use tools like hyperbole and verbal aggression in very specific ways. His use of these tactics has allowed behaviors often contained within theatrical spaces to be released into society leading to confusion over acceptable public behaviors.
Shannon Bow O’Brien
Chapter 4. Going Re“public”an: How Donald Trump Uses Speeches to Target Audiences and Mask Reality
Abstract
This chapter explores the speechmaking patterns of Donald Trump at midterm. Most important, it found that the Trump administration has systematically omitted almost every one of his public rallies from inclusion in the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents. The omission of these speeches raises troubling questions about the public record of this administration. Donald Trump uses Twitter aggressively with the lowest average daily speech totals in 30 years. Through an examination of speeches via media markets and Electoral College results, he is a president who primarily only focuses on places with his strongest support. As a result, he has also regularly gone to some of the smallest cities for rallies in decades when compared to other presidents.
Shannon Bow O’Brien
Chapter 5. Why Does Any of This Matter?: What Can We Learn from These Strategies?
Abstract
This chapter examines going public and other presidential rhetorical tools to help highlight why it is important to explore how Donald Trump uses language to maximize his advantage. The chapter explores some of his more outrageous statements and how he intentionally does this to appeal to specific audiences. This chapter examines him from the perspective of Barber’s presidential typologies and also through the lens of populism to help explain why so many people find Trump’s message attractive. This chapter provides an overview and summarizes some of the more salient findings.
Shannon Bow O’Brien
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Donald Trump and the Kayfabe Presidency
Author
Shannon Bow O'Brien
Copyright Year
2020
Electronic ISBN
978-3-030-50551-6
Print ISBN
978-3-030-50550-9
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50551-6

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