tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/political-rhetoric-14897/articlesPolitical rhetoric – The Conversation2024-01-18T13:28:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197782024-01-18T13:28:38Z2024-01-18T13:28:38ZWomen presidential candidates like Nikki Haley are more likely to change their positions to reach voters − but this doesn’t necessarily pay off<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568066/original/file-20240105-19-uz1nkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley greets supporters on Jan. 3, 2024, at a bar in Londonderry, N.H. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/londonderry-nh-former-south-carolina-governor-and-news-photo/1902583157?adppopup=true">Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has said that she is “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nikki-haley-abortion-republican-primary-1827870a52349f3ee2f0c2b50e110b3b">very pro-life,</a>” she has also said that abortion is a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/12/18/nikki-haley-democrats-republicans-presidential-2024/">“personal choice</a>.” Her wording on different thorny political issues such as abortion has left <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/12/18/nikki-haley-democrats-republicans-presidential-2024/">some voters confused</a> about where she actually stands.</p>
<p>This has led some political observers, such as Politico journalist Michael Kruse, to say that Haley has “made a career of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/29/nikki-haley-profile-trump-gop-00118794">taking both sides</a>,” citing her positions on issues such as identity politics, Donald Trump and abortion.</p>
<p>In the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses, an Iowa voter praised Haley for pursing a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/12/18/nikki-haley-democrats-republicans-presidential-2024/">“political middle,”</a> noting this allowed the former South Carolina governor to “compromise” and work “both sides.” Conversely, some conservative commentators have also suggested that Haley’s approach is <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/republicans-brace-nikki-haley-ron-desantis-showdown-debates-rcna117786">“inauthentic</a>.” </p>
<p>Haley placed third in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15, 2024, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/15/us/elections/results-iowa-caucus.html">drawing support from 19% of voters</a> there. </p>
<p>Polls on Jan. 16, 2024, showed Trump’s lead over Haley in the New Hampshire primary, set for <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-r/2024/new-hampshire/">Jan. 23, narrowing</a>. </p>
<p>We are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Shawn-J-Parry-Giles-2037362650">communication and English</a> scholars <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/english/about-us/faculty/bios/david-kaufer.html">who study</a> the role of language and persuasion in politics. We are particularly interested in the ways that speakers and writers adapt their messages and language in different situations and among various voters. We call this concept rhetorical adaptivity. </p>
<p>Our research shows that women presidential candidates, more than the men they run against, often speak differently to different audiences in pursuit of moderation and common ground. They also tend to shift their strategies and messages in response to criticism. And they often pay a price for it.</p>
<h2>Rhetoric and presidential campaigns</h2>
<p>Politicians changing their words and messages to appeal to different audiences is the subject of a book we co-authored in 2023, <a href="https://msupress.org/9781611864663/hillary-clintons-career-in-speeches/#:%7E:text=Hillary%20Clinton's%20Career%20in%20Speeches%20combines%20statistical%20text%2Dmining%20methods,political%20women%20in%20U.S.%20history">“Hillary Clinton’s Career in Speeches</a>: The Promises and Perils of Women’s Rhetorical Adaptivity.”</p>
<p>This project examined how Clinton, her presidential opponents in 2008 and 2016, and the <a href="https://cawp.rutgers.edu/election-watch/presidential-watch-2020">Democratic women</a> who ran for president in 2020 campaigned differently. We found that women more commonly adjusted their language and reshaped their positions to appeal to more voters and to manage the controversies they faced.</p>
<p>In 2016, for example, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/hillary-clinton-abortion/494723/">Hillary Clinton tried to find more of a middle ground</a> on abortion by referring to the “fetus” as an “unborn person” and talking about restrictions on “late-term abortions” – even as she defended a “pro-choice” position. </p>
<p>Both Clinton and Haley opponents have questioned their authenticity, citing the politicians’ shifting language and positions. Such challenges aimed to undermine their candidacies by suggesting they lacked the character to be president.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568069/original/file-20240105-29-hul4co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hillary Clinton wears a red pantsuit and gestures while standing at a podium, in front of a large crowd of people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568069/original/file-20240105-29-hul4co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568069/original/file-20240105-29-hul4co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568069/original/file-20240105-29-hul4co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568069/original/file-20240105-29-hul4co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568069/original/file-20240105-29-hul4co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568069/original/file-20240105-29-hul4co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568069/original/file-20240105-29-hul4co.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Hilary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president in 2016, speaks to a crowd in North Carolina shortly before Election Day on Nov. 8.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/democratic-presidential-nominee-former-secretary-of-state-news-photo/621754706?adppopup=true">Zach Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Haley’s rhetorical maneuvers</h2>
<p>Haley’s critics also cite her shifting positions, including on issues such as abortion, Palestinians in Gaza and Donald Trump to argue she lacks a political core. </p>
<p>Former Vice President Mike Pence, for example, was quick to condemn Haley’s “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/23/us/abortion-pence-haley-debate.html">compromising stance</a>” on abortion during the August 2023 Republican debate. </p>
<p>Haley’s opponents have also challenged her changing positions on the Israel-Hamas war. As the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Haley supported Israel and disparaged the U.N.’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/15/us/politics/nikki-haley-israel-trump.html">Palestinian refugee agency</a> for “using American money to feed Palestinian hatred of the Jewish state.”</p>
<p>Yet, in the early days of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/15/us/politics/desantis-haley-gaza-refugees-israel.html#:%7E:text=%2C%E2%80%9D%20he%20said.-,Ms.,a%20longstanding%20relationship%20with%20Hamas.">Haley showed more sympathy for the Palestinians</a>. </p>
<p>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ridiculed Haley’s compassion as being “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/16/desantis-haley-gaza-israel-hamas-war-00121869">politically correct</a>.” Haley reaffirmed her pro-Israel priorities in response during a <a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/10/20/nikki-haley-says-she-would-support-israel-strengthen-u-s-military-as-president/">speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa</a>, in mid-October 2023. Haley said she supported Israel and called for the elimination of Hamas. Concern for the Palestinians slipped down the ladder of her priorities.</p>
<p>As a U.N. ambassador, meanwhile, Haley was unwavering in her support for Trump. In her 2019 book, “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250266552/withallduerespect">With All Due Respect</a>,” Haley concluded: “In every instance I dealt with Trump, he was truthful, he listened and he was great to work with.”</p>
<p>Since then, Haley has carved a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/nikki-haley-embraces-trump-in-her-vision-of-gop-future-11633424400">middle ground</a> approach to Trump. She has argued, “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/timeline-nikki-haleys-trump-statements-rcna70456">We need him in the Republican Party</a>. I don’t want us to go back to the days before Trump.” </p>
<p>Yet, in other contexts, she <a href="https://apnews.com/article/jewish-republicans-trump-desantis-2024-45ee4b88592754dfd6ed5332612373b6">disparages Trump</a> for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/nikki-haley-embraces-trump-in-her-vision-of-gop-future-11633424400">sowing “chaos, vendettas and drama</a>.” </p>
<p><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/abc-nikki-haley-opens-trump-israel/story?id=105523630">Trump called her out</a> on this discrepancy in the fall of 2023. “She criticizes me one minute, and 15 minutes later, she un-criticizes me.” </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568068/original/file-20240105-24-l84j8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Nikki Haley wears a white jacket and stands in front of a group of seated people, with the backdrop of the American flag. She holds a microphone and points her finger towards the crowd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568068/original/file-20240105-24-l84j8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568068/original/file-20240105-24-l84j8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568068/original/file-20240105-24-l84j8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568068/original/file-20240105-24-l84j8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568068/original/file-20240105-24-l84j8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568068/original/file-20240105-24-l84j8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568068/original/file-20240105-24-l84j8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign town hall event in Rye, N.H., on Jan. 2, 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/former-un-ambassador-and-2024-republican-presidential-news-photo/1895740236?adppopup=true">Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Haley’s character woes</h2>
<p>Other critics frame Haley’s positions as “flip-flopping.” They don’t interpret what she is doing as moderating her positions or using the language of compromise to build consensus. </p>
<p>Time magazine ran a headline in February 2023 that read: “A Brief History of <a href="https://time.com/6252040/nikki-haley-donald-trump-relationship-history/">Nikki Haley’s Biggest Flip Flops on Trump</a>.” In March 2023, The New York Times featured an opinion piece titled, “The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/nikki-haley-president.html">Serene Hypocrisy of Nikki Haley</a>.” </p>
<p>Challenging the authenticity of presidential candidates is commonplace, but it is especially piercing when the challenge is directed against women candidates. In presidential politics, research shows that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2014/02/03/the-most-undervalued-leadership-traits-of-women/?sh=3b7e486338a1">women are conditioned</a> to be uniters, consensus-builders and mitigators of any negativity they face. </p>
<p>Yet, efforts to do this and still “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/12/31/desantis-christie-haley-slavery-comments-acostanr-brownstein-vpx.cnn">be all things to all people</a>” often result in women candidates falling into gaffe traps. </p>
<p>Haley’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/12/30/1222272908/week-in-politics-haleys-gaffe-trump-on-primary-ballots-biden-and-southern-border">initial refusal to associate “slavery” with the Civil War</a> in December 2023 reinforced a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/us/politics/nikki-haley-civil-war-slavery.html">southern trope</a> that some Republicans of color called a “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/28/republicans-of-color-nikki-haley-civil-war-00133286">tactical blunder</a>.”</p>
<h2>Women’s election challenges</h2>
<p>More leadership experts are recognizing the benefits of political candidates integrating multiple perspectives into their thinking and speech. The <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/09/20/2-views-on-leadership-traits-and-competencies-and-how-they-intersect-with-gender/">Pew Research Center</a> found in 2018 that in politics as well as business, women are perceived to be more “compassionate” and “empathic” and are more likely to work out “compromises” than men. </p>
<p>Yet, in presidential campaigns, and especially primaries, compromise, adaptivity and problem-solving are exchanged for hubris, rigidity and ideological purity. Playing to the political middle is treated as politically evasive and opportunistic. </p>
<p>Eventually, women playing to the middle become more gaffe-prone as the campaign unfolds. Women, more than the men they run against, are granted minimal room by opponents and pundits for unforced errors before they are quickly dismissed as “<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2112616119">unelectable</a>.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nikki Haley is the latest American female politician to shift her language, depending on whom she is talking to and where. But this tactic has a flip side, prompting criticism of her as inconsistent.Shawn J. Parry-Giles, Professor of Communication, University of MarylandDavid Kaufer, Professor Emeritus of English, Carnegie Mellon UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2107402023-09-19T12:19:35Z2023-09-19T12:19:35ZMoms for Liberty: ‘Joyful warriors’ or anti-government conspiracists? The 2-year-old group could have a serious impact on the presidential race<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544384/original/file-20230823-25-wxsuco.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C2964%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Signs in the hallway during the inaugural Moms For Liberty Summit on July 15, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-reading-we-do-not-co-parent-with-the-government-is-news-photo/1241918008?adppopup=true">Octavio Jones/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Motherhood language and <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/families/2020/08/suffrage-movement/#:%7E:text=The%20theme%20of%20motherhood%20in,have%20the%20right%20to%20vote.">symbolism</a> have been <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Political-Uses-of-Motherhood-in-America/Stavrianos/p/book/9781138777354">part of every U.S. social movement</a>, from <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/republican-motherhood#:%7E:text=This%20ideology%20became%20known%20as,citizens%20of%20the%20new%20republic.">the American Revolution</a> to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/05/09/mothers-have-long-used-their-identities-push-social-change/">Prohibition</a> and the <a href="https://madd.org/about-madd/">fight against drunk drivers</a>. Half of Americans are women, most become <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/01/18/theyre-waiting-longer-but-u-s-women-today-more-likely-to-have-children-than-a-decade-ago/">mothers</a>, and <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/388988/political-ideology-steady-conservatives-moderates-tie.aspx">many are conservative</a>. </p>
<p>The U.S. is also a nation of organizing, so conservative moms – like all moms – often band together.</p>
<p>Lately, the mothers group dominating media attention is <a href="https://www.momsforliberty.org/about/">Moms for Liberty</a>, self-described “<a href="https://www.momsforliberty.org/about/">joyful warriors</a> … stok[ing] the fires of liberty” with the slogan “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/moms-for-liberty-parents-rights/2021/10/14/bf3d9ccc-286a-11ec-8831-a31e7b3de188_story.html">We Don’t Co-Parent with the Government</a>.” </p>
<p>Others see them as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/books/book-bans-libraries.html">well-organized</a>, publicity-savvy <a href="https://www.advocate.com/news/moms-for-liberty-agenda-pac">anti-government conspiracists</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.momsforliberty.org/">The rambunctious two-year-old group</a> was founded in Brevard County, Florida, to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mama-bears-2024-races-soccer-moms-gop-seeks-101586806">resist COVID-19 mask mandates</a>. It quickly expanded into the Southeast, now <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/moms-for-liberty-rises-as-power-player-in-gop-politics-after-attacking-schools-over-gender-race">claiming 120,000 members in 285 chapters</a> nationwide. Their <a href="https://www.momsforliberty.org/about/">mission</a> is to “figh[t] for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.” </p>
<p>By “parental rights” they mean limiting certain content in schools and having local councils and boards run only by “<a href="https://www.momsforliberty.org/about/">liberty-minded individuals</a>” – which sounds like rhetoric from the American Revolution. </p>
<p>There’s historical precedent in this. Change the clothes and hairdos and these ladies could look like the conservative white women who <a href="https://bostonresearchcenter.org/projects_files/eob/single-entry-busing.html">opposed busing in 1970s Boston</a>, <a href="https://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/1830-wives-mothers-and-the-red-menace">supported McCarthy anti-communism</a> or <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/10/02/140953088/elizabeth-and-hazel-the-legacy-of-little-rock">blocked integration in Southern schools</a>. Those women also formed mom-based groups to protest what they saw as government overreach into their families’ way of life.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jnBSYuwAAAAJ&hl=en">a scholar of American politics</a> with a focus on gender and race, I also see differences. </p>
<h2>21st century conservatism</h2>
<p>Moms for Liberty skillfully leverages social media, drawing on a population activated by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tea-Party-movement">2009-2010 rise of the Tea Party</a> followed by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/MAGA-movement">Trumpian MAGA movement</a>. Mask mandates were the trigger for the group’s formation, but <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/moms-for-liberty-philadelphia-transgender-rhetoric-protests-lgbt-20230701.html">opposition to gender fluidity and queerness</a> has become its bread and butter – more 21st century than 20th. </p>
<p>How racial equality is talked about animates its work also, in a distinctly new way. The conservative position on race and government’s role in the past century has pivoted from enforcement of segregation and hierarchy to a kind of social “<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/laissezfaire.asp#toc-history-of-laissez-faire">laissez-faire</a>” – hands off – position to match the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/reaganomics.asp">Reaganite</a> view that government is bad. </p>
<p>The extreme, hyper-male form of this anti-government, pro-traditional gender-roles ideology took shape as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54352635">Proud Boys</a>, a number of whose leaders are now <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/jury-convicts-four-leaders-proud-boys-seditious-conspiracy-related-us-capitol-breach">under indictment and sentence</a> for their part in the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks. Moms for Liberty, while not going this far, shares similar beliefs and apparently has ties to the <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d93qd/moms-for-liberty-proud-boys">Proud Boys organization and leaders</a>. They don’t march with guns, but their actions undermine and impede local government.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘One minute you’re making peanut butter and jelly, and the next minute the FBI is calling you,’ said Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice, testifying in the U.S. House of Representatives about government investigation of her group.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>New kids in town making themselves heard</h2>
<p>The group’s roots stretch back to a heated 2020 school board election in Brevard County. Incumbent school board member Tina Descovich, <a href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/life/family/2015/05/27/indialantic-mom-puts-family-community-first/28006345/">a local conservative activist mom</a>, was challenged by progressive newcomer Jenifer Jenkins. When Jenkins <a href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2020/08/18/election-2020-jenkins-set-defeat-descovich-school-board/3288519001/">won</a>, the conservative board majority ended.</p>
<p>Having lost electorally, Descovich – and the corps of like-minded moms she now represents – began to shift the conversation from the outside. They joined with moms in many red states angered by what seemed <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/67/the-new-new-social-conservatives/">fast-moving changes</a> involving <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html">race,</a> <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/06/28/americans-complex-views-on-gender-identity-and-transgender-issues/">gender and sexuality</a>, like the increasing numbers of people identifying as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/science/transgender-teenagers-national-survey.html">trans, queer or nonbinary, even at young ages</a>, the vast <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/11/15/about-six-in-ten-americans-say-legalization-of-same-sex-marriage-is-good-for-society/">changes in marital laws</a> and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/12/12/u-s-children-more-likely-than-children-in-other-countries-to-live-with-just-one-parent/">family structure</a>, and changing ideas about <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/25/americans-are-divided-on-whether-society-overlooks-racial-discrimination-or-sees-it-where-it-doesnt-exist/">whiteness, inclusion and equity</a>. </p>
<p>Moms for Liberty soon found success with disruptive tactics a VICE News investigation called a “<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy3gnq/what-is-moms-for-liberty">pattern of harassment” of opponents</a> that include online and in-person targeting of school board members, parents or even students who disagree with the group. </p>
<p>Members in many chapters generate ill will by turning up to school board and other <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy3gnq/what-is-moms-for-liberty">meetings</a> – sometimes to the homes of public officials or teachers – yelling insults like “<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy3gnq/what-is-moms-for-liberty">pedophile</a>” and “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/moms-liberty/moms-liberty-members-have-been-linked-incidents-harassment-and-threats-around-country">groomer</a>” at opponents.</p>
<p>For a newcomer, Moms for Liberty has had real victories. It has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/29/school-board-meetings-used-be-boring-why-have-they-become-war-zones/">disrupted countless meetings</a>, forcing local governance bodies to focus on topics important to the group such as lifting mask mandates and, more recently, removing curricular content that they deem controversial, such as texts on gender identity and racial oppression. </p>
<p>The group’s success in getting talked about is perhaps its greatest strength so far, moving it from outside disruptor to political player, at least locally. It has successfully supported many local candidates and <a href="https://theweek.com/education/1023631/how-moms-for-liberty-is-changing-the-education-debate">book bans</a>. </p>
<p>Specific examples of banned books include “<a href="https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/education/2023-07-12/florida-school-district-removed-5-books-after-moms-for-liberty-raised-concern-more-could-follow">Push</a>,” which inspired the award-winning movie “Precious,” and “<a href="https://www.marshall.edu/library/bannedbooks/me-and-earl-and-the-dying-girl/">Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl</a>,” also made into a movie. </p>
<h2>Disciplining members</h2>
<p>Despite its many chapters, Moms for Liberty is untried nationally, its total membership is still relatively small, and Federal Election Commission filings show it raising and spending <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2022?cmte=C00791848">little money</a>. The group lacks control over members, who have publicly embarrassed it. In one case, the Hamilton County, Indiana, chapter <a href="https://apnews.com/article/moms-for-liberty-adolf-hitler-newsletter-quote-bcce698e901b9e782970030ccd710512">quoted Hitler in a newsletter</a> – later apologizing. </p>
<p>At another point, an Arkansas member avoided criminal charges for saying, <a href="https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2022/06/22/moms-for-liberty-member-avoids-criminal-charges-over-comment-about-gunning-down-a-school-librarian">in a discussion about a librarian</a>, “I’m telling you, if I had any mental issues, they would all be plowed down by a freaking gun right now.” </p>
<p>These incidents mark the group not only as green, but also as part of the new right wing. Republican-leaning groups used to take a top-down approach to setting agendas and managing people, while Democratic organizations historically <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo5977742.html">cited democracy and equality</a> as both tools and goals, even if it meant <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo5977742.html">disorganization and failure</a>. </p>
<p>In the traditional top-down Republican party of yesteryear, Moms for Liberty would likely be marginal. In today’s disorganized, divided, <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1159027787">hyperpolarized GOP</a>, it may do quite well – which is not good news for democracy. </p>
<h2>Out of step, but useful</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544386/original/file-20230823-15-8pys36.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A poster encouraging people to run for school board." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544386/original/file-20230823-15-8pys36.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544386/original/file-20230823-15-8pys36.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544386/original/file-20230823-15-8pys36.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544386/original/file-20230823-15-8pys36.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544386/original/file-20230823-15-8pys36.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544386/original/file-20230823-15-8pys36.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544386/original/file-20230823-15-8pys36.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A poster helping those who want to run for a school board position is seen in the hallway during the inaugural Moms For Liberty Summit on July 15, 2022, in Tampa, Fla.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/poster-helping-those-who-want-to-run-for-a-school-board-news-photo/1241918219?adppopup=true">Octavio Jones/Getty Images)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pro-mom language is sometimes, in the old idiom, the velvet glove hiding the iron fist.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/">Southern Poverty Law Center</a>, which tracks organized hate activity, labeled Moms for Liberty “<a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/moms-liberty">extremist</a>.” Its empirical evaluation concluded <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/moms-liberty">that the group’s</a> chapters “reflect views and actions that are antigovernment and conspiracy propagandist.”</p>
<p>Moms for Liberty is ideologically out of step with the country and more anti-government than most Republicans. The majority of Americans are not in support of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-health-education-coronavirus-pandemic-only-on-ap-0440d83602da918c571d506a3de9f44b">lifting mask mandates</a> in the middle of a pandemic or <a href="https://www.everylibraryinstitute.org/review_recent_book_ban_polls">banning books</a>. </p>
<p>Among Republicans, there is disagreement over the teaching of controversial topics like racial justice, but book bans find <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-dont-want-books-banned-but-theyre-divided-over-what-schools-teach">low support</a>. Despite the current bitter political climate, most in the U.S. <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/404750/public-opinion-role-government.aspx">appreciate government and want it to work</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/-moms-for-liberty-becomes-major-political-player-in-republican-party-186196037701">media</a> refer to Moms for Liberty as a “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/30/politics/moms-for-liberty-2024/index.html">power player</a>” – and no wonder, when Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/30/trump-desantis-white-house-hopefuls-court-maga-moms-at-moms-for-liberty-bash-00104474">show up to court the group</a>. Moms for Liberty may be fringe, but its members could be of use to presidential hopefuls. </p>
<p>Why? The answer lies in some distinctly post-2010 electoral math. These days, only <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/03/14/political-independents-who-they-are-what-they-think/">a quarter to a third of voters align with each major party</a>, and less than <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/chart3-11.png?w=1424">a third of registered partisans turn out for primaries</a>. </p>
<p>So a sixth of each party – a small fraction of the overall population – now selects the nominees. And that sixth is <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/political-polarization-and-voters-in-the-2018-congressional-primaries/">not representative</a> – it is far more opinionated and angry. Moms for Liberty, having organized small, ideological voting armies in swing states, is in the envious position of representing a concentrated and potentially decisive voting bloc. </p>
<p>The mom rhetoric may be real, but as a political scientist, I can say confidently that the framers of the Constitution would not endorse this brand of liberty. Book bans are weapons of autocrats, and democracy ends where political figures call each other “pedophiles” in public.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shauna Shames does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Moms for Liberty, founded in 2021 and now boasting 120,000 members, could ride its conservative, limited-government message to a position of strong influence in the GOP.Shauna Shames, Associate Professor of Political Science, Rutgers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113812023-08-29T10:53:45Z2023-08-29T10:53:45ZDon’t look there: how politicians divert our attention from climate protesters’ claims<p>The right to protest is a distinctive feature of democratic, liberal societies. Yet the way in which many leading British politicians are currently talking about Just Stop Oil might make you think otherwise. Far from engaging with the issues at stake in these protests, politicians appear to be encouraging the wider public to ignore them or even oppose them. </p>
<p>Having seen their initial protests largely ignored, Just Stop Oil members have been making more disruptive (but non-violent) protests lately. They’ve been present at high-profile sports events like Wimbledon and the World Snooker Championships. </p>
<p>Policing minister Chris Philp dismissed the temporary delays caused to such events as “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/06/wimbledon-spectators-reasonably-intervene-just-stop-oil/">completely unacceptable</a>”. He argued that “the vast majority of the public are appalled by this very, very small, very selfish minority” and called on those not protesting to intervene.</p>
<p>With the UK government announcing new licences for oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, it’s clear that collective action that allows people to demonstrate their disagreement in peaceful ways is needed. In apparent contradiction to warnings about the climate crisis, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s commitment to the green agenda is wavering.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, has cancelled a plan to fund the transition from fossil fuels to green industries from the first day of government, should he win power. His response to criticism on this change was to turn on protesters. </p>
<p>He <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/just-stop-oil-north-sea-drilling-demands-contemptible-says-sir-keir-starmer-m3htrc052">said</a>: “The likes of Just Stop Oil want us to simply turn off the taps in the North Sea, creating the same chaos for working people that they do on our roads. It’s contemptible.”</p>
<h2>Diverting the conversation</h2>
<p>Referring to people defending the environment as a “minority” that acts against other citizens polarises society and marginalises protesters’ claims. It depicts people’s demands as somehow niche rather than amounting to a highly pressing threat to the majority.</p>
<p>One of the features of language is that when we talk, we only focus on one or, at most, a few aspects of a particular object or event. A lot will inevitably remain unsaid. </p>
<p>Still, when what remains unsaid is one of the most obvious elements of any given topic, what is missing becomes as informative as what was said. In this case, the focus on tactics instead of the substance of the protest betrays an unwillingness to engage with the climate crisis.</p>
<p>The government has put forward the home secretary Suella Braverman rather than the environment secretary to respond to the Just Stop Oil protests (itself a signal that they are seen as a public order issue more than anything else). </p>
<p>Braverman has referred to people protesting for environmental reasons as causing “<a href="https://dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-12183767/SUELLA-BRAVERMAN-protesters-selfish-public-sick-them.html">havoc and misery</a>”. Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to have made any public statements regarding the matter.</p>
<p>To say that people are protesting and not mentioning the reason for the protest leaves the story incomplete. That’s something that rarely happens when UK politicians talk about protests in other countries. </p>
<p>Last year, Sunak referred to women protesting in Iran as displaying “<a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/11/28/rishi-sunak-praises-iranian-women-and-footballers-in-foreign-policy-speech/">the most humbling and breathtaking courage</a>” in sending “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/12/20/rishi-sunak-increasingly-concerned-irans-behaviour-lists-foreign/">a very clear message that the Iranian people aren’t satisfied with the path that the government has taken</a>”. Here the focus of the conversation is placed on protesters’ claims. </p>
<p>But when talking about protests held in the UK, the debate looms over the disruption caused, as if the core message were secondary or even dispensable. It is only when the core message is ignored that politicians can refer to those acting in defence of human and nonhuman lives as “selfish”.</p>
<p>In the absence of meaningful political engagement, conversations about Just Stop Oil protests in the UK have strayed mainly into tactics and disruption at expense of their core message. However, politicians in democratic nations have a responsibility towards the electorate to engage properly with what citizens demand, not just with the way they make their claims heard. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 20,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211381/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Garcia-Jaramillo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By focusing on the disruption caused by Just Stop Oil, politicians avoid having to talk about the substance of their argument.Daniel Garcia-Jaramillo, PhD researcher, Centre for Behavioural Science and Applied Psychology, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2051002023-05-15T15:43:20Z2023-05-15T15:43:20ZA political mountain to climb: why the Alps are such a commonly used metaphor in European thought<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525702/original/file-20230511-37636-r2hri4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C47%2C3926%2C2187&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sacra-di-san-michele-unusual-views-1617051133">Shutterstock/Federico Cappone</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p><em>È qui, su queste montagne, in queste valli … che la Repubblica celebra oggi le sue radici con la festa della Liberazione</em>.</p>
<p>It is here on these mountains, in these valleys, that the Republic today celebrates the day of its Liberation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>With <a href="https://www.repubblica.it/editoriali/2023/04/26/news/25_aprile_festa_della_liberazione-397603402/?ref=RHLF-BG-I397631762-P2-S1-T1">these words</a> and evocative references, Italian president Sergio Mattarella recently marked the 78th anniversary of the end of the fascist dictatorship in Italy. He was speaking during a visit to <a href="https://www.ideawebtv.it/2023/04/25/mattarella-e-qui-che-la-repubblica-celebra-oggi-le-sue-radici-celebra-la-festa-della-liberazionea-video/">Cuneo</a>, in the north of the country. </p>
<p>This was the first time Italy has celebrated the date under the leadership of prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Fratelli d’Italia, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/23/the-guardian-view-on-giorgia-meloni-normalising-the-radical-right">party</a> that finds its <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/06/why-giorgia-meloni-wont-distance-herself-from-italys-fascist-past/">roots in Mussolini’s fascism</a> and <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/04/25/in-italy-the-memory-of-anti-fascism-is-being-abused_6024177_4.html">often flirts with its ideas today</a>. Mattarella used his status as a <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/sergio-mattarella-italy-captive-president/">unity figure</a> to elevate anti-fascism above party politics and to uphold it as a constitutive element of a democratic state.</p>
<p>He quoted eminent Italian legal expert and a founding father of the Italian constitution, Piero Calamandrei:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you want to go on pilgrimage to the place where our constitution was born, go to the mountains where partisans fell.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The location of Mattarella’s speech was evidently significant even before he uttered these words. As early as <a href="http://cuneo.anpi.it/cuneo">1947</a>, the Piedmontese province of Cuneo was recognised as one of the most symbolic sites of the Italian resistance against the Italian fascist and the German Nazi regimes.</p>
<p>And Mattarella’s decision to specifically mention mountains is no coincidence. He was following a long tradition of using such imagery to make a political point. During my research for an <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-emotions-of-internationalism-9780198848325?cc=gb&lang=en&">academic monograph</a> on this topic, I found that communists, Catholics and fascists alike have deployed images of mountains – and particularly the Alps – in their rhetoric, each ascribing them with their own meaning.</p>
<p>In Italy, for instance, communist workers’ groups such as the Club Alpino Operaio and the Unione Operaia Escursionisti Italiani organised mountain stays for workers they wished to keep away from drinking and other vices. In an alpine setting, they thought it would be easier to instil solidarity among proletarians across borders. </p>
<p>Fascists used the Alps as grounds on which to improve the health of the nation. Like the Nazis in Germany, they opened <a href="http://www.lecolonie.com/Colonia_montana_PNF_Genova_Rovegno_en.htm">summer camps and colonies for children</a> to increase their physical strength and to boost their fascist education. </p>
<p>Catholics also organised hiking trips and camping stays for young people, stressing that class differences could be erased and moral and religious values be upheld more easily in an alpine environment.</p>
<h2>Literary trope</h2>
<p>From the 19th century, books such as Johanna Spyri’s Heidi depicted mountains as healthy and conducive to friendship. But after the first world war, the Alps came to represent the <a href="https://www.histecon.magd.cam.ac.uk/frontiers/landscape_memory.html">violent fighting that took place on them</a>. Indeed, as global warming melts the ice, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/141017-white-war-first-world-war-italy-austro-hungarian-mountains-history">some relics</a> of the carnage that unfolded there continue to emerge. </p>
<p>More than other geographical features such as seas or lakes, mountains came to represent higher political ideals. As famously noted by German critic <a href="https://archive.org/details/fromcaligaritohi00krac">Sigfried Kracauer</a>, Bergfilm (or “mountain films”) by directors such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0266691/">Arnold Fanck</a> and his mentee <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/leni-riefenstahl">Leni Riefenstahl</a> pitted individuals against nature and immortalised the Alps as the embodiment of national “purity”. That aesthetic would go on to be appropriated by the Nazi regime. </p>
<p>For other movements, the Alps expressed the imperative of avoiding another conflict after the first world war and ensuring permanent peace. The “Alpinist” Pope Achille Ratti (1857–1939), who reigned as Pope Pius XI from 1922 to 1939, in 1923 proclaimed Bernard of Menthon the patron saint of the mountains, and <a href="https://archive.org/details/scrittialpinisti00pius/page/n11/mode/2up">wrote</a> about the Alps as a preferred place for peaceful interaction among people.</p>
<p>The League of Nations, whose main site was in Geneva, often emphasised its proximity to the mountains. In its publicity, it often used alpine imagery to present itself as strong, clean and noble.</p>
<h2>Political metaphor</h2>
<p>Such references and associations are not simply decorative. Indeed, as my research shows, historically they proved quite powerful. The League’s choice of alpine imagery and overall “emotional style” proved long-lasting, though in the late 1930s it backfired as it allowed the institution to be stereotyped as distant and ill-equipped to deal with a gritty, real world.</p>
<p>In modern times, localist movements like the Italian political party the Lega Nord, or Northern League, have appropriated mountain foods such as <a href="http://www.iitaly.org/magazine/dining-in-out/articles-reviews/article/polenta-vs-cous-cous-legally-banning-ethnic-food">polenta</a> as a means to question both national and European institutions. In their rhetoric, this quintessentially alpine dish serves as a marker of local identity and the embodiment of natural and artisan production. It is the opposite of the artificial, industrial, cosmopolitan goods coming in via global trade.</p>
<p>Meloni’s own Fratelli d’Italia organised a large gathering <a href="https://www.fratelliditaliasenato.it/stati-generali-della-montagna/">in the Italian Apennines</a> in 2020, a kind of general assembly aimed at developing specific measures to protect and support the mountain regions, including their “traditions” and “identity”.</p>
<p>The party later <a href="https://www.fratelli-italia.it/2021/02/17/giorgia-meloni-la-montagna-merita-rispetto-non-speranza-video/">campaigned against closing</a> Italy’s ski resorts during the pandemic, <a href="https://www.fratelli-italia.it/2021/02/17/giorgia-meloni-la-montagna-merita-rispetto-non-speranza-video/">arguing</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>La montagna è parte fondamentale dell’identità italiana e non può essere umiliata.</em></p>
<p>Mountains are a fundamental part of Italian identity and cannot be humiliated.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The use of the term “humiliated” is reminiscent of fascist rhetoric and slogans that often equated compromise with humiliation and often glorified pride – or <a href="https://www.thelocal.it/20160229/trump-causes-storm-by-tweeting-quote-from-italys-mussolini">“living a day as a lion”</a> – as a marker of moral fortitude and strength. “Italian identity” refers to the fascist use of mountains as natural borders, as well as to the policies of forced <a href="https://www.eurac.edu/en/blogs/eureka/when-conflict-is-written-in-stone">Italianisation of the populations living within them</a>.</p>
<p>Seen against this backdrop, Mattarella’s choice to point out the symbolic value of mountains and to reclaim their significance in the history of Italian anti-fascism thus acquire new significance. By adopting a strong emotional style, the Italian president put forth an alternative version of pride and a bold response to growing far-right movements. </p>
<p>As in the <a href="https://www.doppiozero.com/beppe-fenoglio-montagna">writings by Beppe Fenoglio</a>, one of Cuneo’s landmark resistance fighters and writers, mountains in Mattarella’s narrative serve as a space to uphold the country’s moral fabric and a vantage point from which to ponder how to save the world in trouble down below.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205100/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ilaria Scaglia received funding for part of this research through a Volkswagen–Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research in Germany (2016–2017). She sits on the board of the Coordinating Council for Women in History (CCWH).</span></em></p>For the Italian president, the region is where his nation’s constitution was born.Ilaria Scaglia, Senior Lecturer in History, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1999092023-03-30T10:33:30Z2023-03-30T10:33:30ZUkraine: Kremlin warning of ‘forever war’ reflects shifting Russian rhetoric about ‘special military operation’<p>Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, warned Russians that they must <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/28/putin-prepares-russia-for-forever-war-with-west-as-ukraine-invasion-stalls">prepare for a “forever war”</a>. “Things will get much harder,” Peskov told a gathering of the country’s political elite. “This will take a very, very long time.”</p>
<p>It’s a far cry from Vladimir Putin’s “<a href="https://stories.state.gov/what-is-a-special-military-operation/">special military operation</a>”. This was supposed to sweep into Kyiv in a matter of days, weeks at the most. Once there, Russia would be able to free Ukrainians from the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/its-not-rational-putins-bizarre-speech-wrecks-his-once-pragmatic-image">gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis</a>” who were preventing Ukraine from assuming its natural role as a part of the motherland. </p>
<p>A war which was going to take days or weeks could now take many years. And far from rescuing Ukraine from fascists, the conflict is now a bitter struggle for Russia’s continued existence. As Putin <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/28/putin-prepares-russia-for-forever-war-with-west-as-ukraine-invasion-stalls">told workers at an aviation factory</a> recently: “For us, this is not a geopolitical task, but a task of the survival of Russian statehood, creating conditions for the future development of the country and our children.”</p>
<p>But then Kremlin narratives have been notably flexible and self-serving over the years. This was brilliantly highlighted in the recent BBC documentary <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dlz7gc">Putin versus the West</a>, which took a close look at shifts in Russian political rhetoric over the past decade.</p>
<p>This is the period we might accurately refer to as “Putin II”. In 2012, Putin resumed the presidency after getting around the constitutional ban on serving three consecutive terms by making his prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, president for one and then resuming the top job. Since then he has ramped up the historical nationalism somewhat. </p>
<p>But even as far back as 2008, in a meeting with then US president, George W. Bush, Putin was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/19/ukraines-not-a-country-putin-told-bush-whatd-he-tell-trump-about-montenegro/">questioning Ukrainian sovereignty</a>: “You have to understand, George. Ukraine is not even a country.” </p>
<p>Shortly after his troops entered Crimea, leading to its annexation in March 2014, he doubled down on this theme, insisting that it was the Bolsheviks (“may god judge them”) who <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/20603">gave much of south-east Russia to Kyiv</a>. In the same speech he said Nikita Khrushchev, a former leader of the USSR, may have added Crimea to Ukraine to atone for the famine of the 1930s – but that this was something “for historians to figure out”.</p>
<p>This message of Ukraine as a historical aberration has been a common and fairly unwavering element of Putin’s discourse since 2012. </p>
<h2>‘Firehose of falsehood’</h2>
<p>In 2016, the Rand Corporation, a US thinktank, developed a model for Russian propaganda it called the “<a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html">firehose of falsehood</a>”. The Kremlin uses all the machinery of state (including a tame media) to embellish and perpetuate its lies with the purpose of confusing the widest possible audience. There have been several constant mantras emerging from the Kremlin over the war and in its build-up. One is that Ukraine’s pro-Russian former president Viktor Yanukovych had been <a href="https://voxukraine.org/en/the-maidan-in-2014-is-a-coup-d-etat-a-review-of-italian-and-german-pro-russian-media/">ousted in a coup</a>, meaning that all subsequent Ukrainians governments have been illegitimate. </p>
<p>The Kremlin logic trail then continues that, as a result, Ukraine is not a democracy. Of course, the fact that after the invasion began, the Zelensky government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/13/viktor-medvedchuk-arrest-matter-to-kremlin">cracked down on pro-Russian agents</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/20/ukraine-suspends-11-political-parties-with-links-to-russia">banned pro-Russia political parties</a> is taken as further proof of Kyiv’s lack of commitment to democracy.</p>
<p>So, if not a democracy, Ukraine must be a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13518046.2022.2058179">fascist state</a>. This old chestnut goes back to the aftermath of the second world war and was used to quell any pro-independence sentiment in Ukraine and Byelorussia (Belarus). As a British journalist in Russia at the time, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Winterton">Paul Winterton</a> wrote of Stalin’s rhetoric in his memoir Report on Russia: “if anyone attacks us or offends us or effectively disagrees with us, we will call him a fascist. Some people are bound to take up the cry.” Putin clearly learned much from his predecessor.</p>
<p>He has learned from the Nazi playbook, too, insisting he sent his troops into Ukraine to <a href="https://theconversation.com/putins-claims-that-ukraine-is-committing-genocide-are-baseless-but-not-unprecedented-177511">prevent genocide</a> of the Russian-speaking population (Hitler insisted that German-speaking Poles were being threatened in the Danzig corridor and the ethnic German population of the Sudetenland needed his protection). </p>
<p>Perhaps his cheekiest <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/02/ukraine-debunking-russias-legal-justifications">claim was that</a> the invasion was legal under the UN charter. Having ratified the existence of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic and signed treaties of friendship and mutual assistance, <a href="https://theprint.in/world/full-text-of-vladimir-putins-speech-announcing-special-military-operation-in-ukraine/845714/">Putin said</a>: “I made a decision to carry out a special military operation. Its goal is the protection of people who, during eight years, suffer from abuse and genocide from the Kyiv regime.”</p>
<p>In other words, he was legally bound to invade Ukraine. </p>
<h2>Ignoring the signs</h2>
<p>It must have been obvious for years that something was bound to happen. But, on the whole, the west preferred to ignore the signs. Poland may have clearly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/10/poland-warning-europe-russia-aggression-ukraine-smolensk-plane-crash">sounded the alarm</a> about Russian aggression as early as 2015, but other European countries preferred not to hear it. Germany wanted cheap gas and still believed economic integration with Russia would bring <a href="https://www.thetrumpet.com/26877-germany-pursues-a-hidden-agenda-with-russia">peace</a>. </p>
<p>In Britain, the ruling Conservative party – including Boris Johnson – had enjoyed cordial relations with (and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/23/oligarchs-funding-tories">received millions in donations</a> from) the Russian establishment. </p>
<p>In Hungary, the prime minister Viktor Orban had largely modelled his illiberal democracy on Putin’s Russia, and has maintained <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/03/hungary-orban-russia-conservative-politics/">tacit support</a> for Russia even since the invasion. There are also <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/italian-politicians-and-big-business-bought-into-russian-occupation-of-crimea">close ties</a> between members of the Italian government and Russia – although Giorgia Meloni defied political pressure to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italys-meloni-ready-risk-unpopularity-over-support-ukraine-2023-03-21/">declare support for Kyiv</a>.</p>
<p>But, for years, Putin’s messaging had been there for all to see. But much of the world was unable – or unwilling – to see Putin’s rhetoric for what it was: paving the way for an aggressive invasion aimed at conquest.</p>
<p>So far it appears that most Russians <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/having-it-both-ways-russians-both-support-and-oppose-war">continue to back Putin and his invasion</a>. But now that it looks set to become a “forever war”, it’ll be instructive to see whether – and how quickly – that might change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Hall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What started as a short military operation will now take years and years. Changing its tune is all in a day’s work for the Kremlin.Stephen Hall, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Russian and Post-Soviet Politics, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989022023-02-28T13:57:40Z2023-02-28T13:57:40ZGod and politics in South Africa: the ruling ANC’s winning strategy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510292/original/file-20230215-18-eroxa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pastors pray for former South African president and ANC leader Jacob Zuma.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Religion shapes some of the most controversial decisions that governments need to make: access to abortion, same-sex marriage, the death penalty and the legal status of sex work. Indeed, it is likely that most voters across the world consider religion to be essential to their lives. </p>
<p>Yet research on religion and political parties remains surprisingly inexact. </p>
<p>Much of the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09637494.2022.2048489?journalCode=crss20">research</a> to date has been waylaid by the wrong question: is a political party fundamentally religious or secular? Yet the “essence” of a party resists definition. Is it its manifesto, rhetoric, membership or leadership? What if these contradict each other? What would it mean if religion was integral to officially secular parties?</p>
<p>The difficulty of this approach is clear when considering a party like the <a href="https://www.anc1912.org.za/">African National Congress (ANC)</a>, which has governed South Africa since 1994. From one angle, it is obviously not a religious party: it remains committed to a secular state and many of its policies (such as those on <a href="https://www.politicsweb.co.za/documents/the-ancs-approach-to-abortion--bathabile-dlamini">abortion</a> and <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2006-11-14-samesex-bill-gets-parliament-goahead/">civil unions</a>) have been <a href="https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/27434/">criticised</a> by religious groups.</p>
<p>Yet the ANC is also religious in important senses. In most of the country, you would struggle to find an ANC meeting that did not start and end with a prayer. Nearly all leaders in the past century have been devout. For many supporters, religion is the water in which the ANC swims. </p>
<p>Rather than asking whether a party is religious, we should look at how it engages with religion. I examined the issue in a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057070.2022.2136820">recent article</a>. I sought to describe how contemporary parliamentary parties in South Africa had engaged with religion throughout their history, and how academics had analysed this.</p>
<p>It’s possible to learn a great deal about a political party by looking at how it uses religion. My study identified a consistent political strategy: the mix of religious rhetoric and a secular policy agenda by the ANC over the past century.</p>
<p>This strategy has been popular with the party, which has won every national election with a margin of at least <a href="https://results.elections.org.za/dashboards/npe/app/dashboard.html">34 percentage points</a> ahead of the second-largest party. It’s a strategy that works in countries that have the unusual combination of religious electorates and secular governments, such as <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/religious-authority-and-state-africa">Kenya and Senegal</a>.</p>
<p>Rather than being a <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-07-06-south-africas-creeping-christian-conservatism/">threat to secular democracy</a>, religious rhetoric may be important for ensuring a largely religious electorate feels politically at home in a secular state. </p>
<h2>Religion and political parties in South Africa</h2>
<p>My review of academic publications on religion and political parties in South Africa looked at three sets of rules governing party members: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>informal rules (such as what you can say at public events) </p></li>
<li><p>party rules (such as disciplinary codes and who makes decisions) </p></li>
<li><p>the kind of laws proposed by the party. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>I distinguished between the religious or secular emphasis in each of these, and noted whether this emphasis was inclusive of other beliefs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-south-africans-are-prone-to-falling-for-charlatans-in-the-church-112879">Why South Africans are prone to falling for charlatans in the church</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The framework offered three key insights. </p>
<p>First, political parties engage with religion with nuance and ambiguity. This applies elsewhere in the world too: <a href="https://www.akparti.org.tr/en">Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi</a> in Turkey, for example, relies on a religious electorate for support. Yet it must navigate an officially and sometimes militantly secular state. However, in contrast to South Africa’s major political parties, it <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230106703_9">manages this tension</a> by insisting that it is an inclusive and non-religious party in its rhetoric, while simultaneously pursuing laws that privilege Sunni Islam.</p>
<p>Second, the ANC sometimes uses religious rhetoric while pursuing secular laws and party rules – a combination it has used for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rise-African-Nationalism-South-Africa/dp/0520018109">most of its history</a>. </p>
<p>Third, this nuance might be important to voters in South Africa. Parties that pursue policies underpinned by religion do very poorly in elections. An example of this is the <a href="https://www.acdp.org.za/">African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)</a>, which claims to offer policies based on the Bible.</p>
<p>About 78% of South Africans identified as Christian <a href="https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog/611">in 2016</a>. While estimates vary significantly, between <a href="https://theotherfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ProgPrudes_Report_d5.pdf">45%</a> and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2010/04/15/executive-summary-islam-and-christianity-in-sub-saharan-africa/">74%</a> report being “very” or “highly religious”, and 76% <a href="https://theotherfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ProgPrudes_Report_d5.pdf">agree that</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>God’s laws about abortion, pornography and marriage must be strictly followed before it is too late.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The ANC and religion</h2>
<p>Christianity has been important to the ANC’s values and practices since the party’s <a href="https://jacana.co.za/product/the-founders-the-origins-of-the-african-national-congress-and-the-struggle-for-democracy/">beginning in 1912</a>. In 1949, for example, it called for an annual <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rise-African-Nationalism-South-Africa/dp/0520018109">day of prayer</a> to remember</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Christ who is the Champion of Freedom.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many regions in the country that participated most actively in the 1952 <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/defiance-campaign-1952">Defiance Campaign</a>, a large non-violent campaign of civil disobedience against apartheid, were led by <a href="https://jacana.co.za/product/from-protest-to-challenge-volume-2-hope-and-challenge-1935-1952/">local churches</a>. ANC president Albert Luthuli, who led the organisation from 1952 to 1967, was <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10282580902876514">famously vocal</a> about his religious convictions. This was also true of most presidents of the ANC before him, including <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/823310">Reverend John Langalibalele Dube</a> and <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.4102/hts.v74i1.4844">Reverend Zaccheus Richard Mahabane</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-the-anc-survive-the-end-of-south-africas-heroic-epoch-57256">Can the ANC survive the end of South Africa's heroic epoch?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Yet the ANC has also always been an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-anc-insists-its-still-a-political-vanguard-this-is-what-ails-democracy-in-south-africa-141938">ideologically diverse organisation</a>. It has included followers of other religions, communists, traditionalists and <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/502.html">Garveyites</a> who advocated transnational black nationalism. </p>
<p>In the 1960s the religious rhetoric of the ANC became more ambivalent. Within the context of the Cold War, the organisation worked more closely with the South African Communist Party and increasingly <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253332318/from-protest-to-challenge-volume-5/">espoused</a> a Marxist-Leninist ideology.</p>
<p>Yet even so, ANC president <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-anc-is-celebrating-the-year-of-or-tambo-who-was-he-85838">Oliver Tambo</a>, who led the ANC in exile <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/national-orders/recipient/oliver-reginald-kaizana-%E2%80%9Cor%E2%80%9D-tambo-posthumous">from 1967 to 1991</a>, continued to publicly espouse the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/we-must-take-sides">unbroken link</a> between the ANC and the church. </p>
<p>The ANC would call for days of prayer, establish a department of religion, publicly affirm liberation theology and issue joint communiqués with churches.
In the early 1990s, the ANC <a href="https://www.amazon.com/State-Secularism-Religion-Tradition-Democracy/dp/1776140575">advocated a secular state</a> in constitutional negotiations with the ruling <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Party-political-party-South-Africa">National Party</a>. Yet even in the 1994 election, the message was mixed. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520273085/wild-religion">ANC advertisements featured religious leaders</a> who argued that the manifesto that best represented “gospel values” was that of the ANC. Conversely, the ANC also promised improved access to abortion: a policy criticised by religious leaders. </p>
<p>This mix of secular laws and religious rhetoric extended into the post-apartheid era. Former ANC president Jacob Zuma’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15570274.2020.1753992">frequent references to religion</a>, for example, invited concern about the ANC’s “<a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-07-06-south-africas-creeping-christian-conservatism/">creeping Christian conservatism</a>”, while the party began exploring <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/650537/new-laws-to-decriminalise-sex-work-in-south-africa/">decriminalising sex work</a>. </p>
<h2>Religion and politics</h2>
<p>Perhaps the combination of religious rhetoric and secular laws is a winning electoral strategy. After all, parties that advocate religious laws have surprisingly little support from voters: the <a href="https://www.acdp.org.za/">ACDP</a> and <a href="https://www.aljama.co.za/">Al Jama-Ah</a>, a Muslim political party, have at most won <a href="https://www.eisa.org/wep/souresults2004.htm">1.6% (in 2004)</a> and <a href="https://results.elections.org.za/dashboards/npe/app/dashboard.html">0.18% (in 2019)</a> of the national vote, respectively. At their best, the ACDP has been the seventh-largest party and Al Jama-Ah the 14th. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christians-in-nigeria-feel-under-attack-why-its-a-complicated-story-186853">Christians in Nigeria feel under attack: why it's a complicated story</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Conversely, parties that advocate secular laws but shy away from religious rhetoric, such as the main opposition Democratic Alliance, have also failed to win popular support, especially in rural areas. Of course, many other reasons contribute to this too. </p>
<p>In short, we can learn much about a political party by looking at how it uses religion. The ANC may have a winning strategy in its combination of religious rhetoric and a secular policy agenda.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Jeffery-Schwikkard receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the United Kingdom through the London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Programme. He is a member of the African National Congress but he does not receive any funding or renumeration from the ANC or represent the ANC in any capacity. </span></em></p>Perhaps the combination of religious rhetoric and secular laws is a winning electoral strategy.David Jeffery-Schwikkard, PhD Candidate (Theology and Religious Studies), King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1961892023-01-11T13:26:22Z2023-01-11T13:26:22Z5 types of threat – how those who want to divide us use language to stoke violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503722/original/file-20230110-26-kfck7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Military police clash with supporters of Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro after an invasion to Planalto Presidential Palace in Brasilia on January 8, 2023. Sergio Lima/AFP via Getty Images
</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Events like the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/08/bolsonaro-rhetoric-supporters-storm-brazil-congress/">riots in Brazil</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/07/trump-incitement-inflammatory-rhetoric-capitol-riot">Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection</a> two years before it and the mass shooting at the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/club-q-survivors-blame-hateful-rhetoric-colorado-springs-shooting-rcna61720">Colorado LGBTQ nightclub</a> each occurred after certain groups repeatedly directed dangerous rhetoric against others. It’s the reason <a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2022/12/15/colorado-springs-club-q-shooting-lgbtq-rhetoric-congress/">elected officials in the U.S.</a> have begun examining the role language plays in provoking violence.</p>
<p>As a social psychologist who <a href="https://www.academia.edu/94466242/Examining_Online_Extremism_and_Dangerous_Speech">studies dangerous speech</a> and disinformation, I think it’s important for citizens, legislators and law enforcement alike to understand that language can provoke violence between groups. In fact, there are different types of threat in rhetoric that in-groups – people we identify as “us” – use to trigger violence, against out-groups – people we perceive as “them.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three men dressed in suits and ties and seated at a long conference table raise their right hands as they are sworn in during a House Oversight Committee hearing. On the wall behind them hangs a portrait of the late U.S. Rep Elijah Cummings, chair of the House Oversight Committee." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502460/original/file-20221221-20-7g5n7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502460/original/file-20221221-20-7g5n7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502460/original/file-20221221-20-7g5n7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502460/original/file-20221221-20-7g5n7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502460/original/file-20221221-20-7g5n7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502460/original/file-20221221-20-7g5n7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502460/original/file-20221221-20-7g5n7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Club Q shooting survivor Michael Anderson, club owner Matthew Haynes and shooting survivor James Slaugh are sworn in during a House Oversight Committee hearing, Dec. 14, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images News via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my research, I call dangerous speech that paints outsiders as threats “threatoric.” Using this type of dangerous speech allows <a href="https://effectiviology.com/ingroup-outgroup/">in-groups</a> to justify violence as a defense against out-groups. For instance, <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/competing-visions-of-america-an-evolving-identity-or-a-culture-under-attack/">recent polls indicate</a> that 40% of people who primarily consume far-right news sources believe that “true patriots” may have to resort to violence to “save” the country. Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens parroted this sentiment <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/22/1106863281/eric-greitens-says-his-rino-hunting-ad-was-meant-in-humor-how-will-voters-see-it">in a campaign ad</a> while he was seeking the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat. In the ad, Greitens called for allies to “Get a RINO (Republican in Name Only) hunting permit. There’s no bagging limit. No tagging limit. And it doesn’t expire – until we save our country.”</p>
<p>Drawing on an array of scientific theories that recognize <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.01.020">the key ingredients driving conflict between groups</a>, I have identified five basic types of threatoric. </p>
<h2>1. Physical threats – They are going to harm us</h2>
<p>Threatoric that paints the out-group as likely to physically harm or kill members of the in-group falls into this category. For example, in-groups sometimes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azac015">use disease to paint</a> the out-group as a threat to the in-group’s physical well-being. The accusations people lodged against Asian Americans and immigrants throughout the COVID-19 pandemic are examples.</p>
<p>In-groups also cast out-groups as physically aggressive or violent criminals for the same reason. Masters of threatoric are particularly fond of portraying out-groups as predators of our society’s protected or vulnerable – groups like women, children and the elderly. Such characterizations make the out-group seem deplorable and action to “protect” the vulnerable seem noble.</p>
<p>Periodically, from as far back as the Middle Ages, different in-groups have leveled so-called “<a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/blood-libel">blood libels</a>” against Jews, alleging the murder of Christian children as a part of a ritual. Today, we see echoes of this in QAnon conspiracy theories that accuse liberals of trafficking children. As a consequence, QAnon believers want to “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/09/28/qanon-pedophile-claims-biden-trump-save-the-children-facebook-instagram/3522626001/">save the children</a>” and are <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/anatomy-of-a-fake-news-scandal-125877/">willing to use violence</a> to deal with the alleged threat.</p>
<h2>2. Moral threats – They are degrading our society</h2>
<p>Someone in an in-group who perceives the out-group as degrading society’s cultural, political or religious values casts the out-group as a moral threat.</p>
<p>For example, people frequently target members of the LGBTQ community with this sort of threatoric. Some believe homosexuality <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/25/how-lgbt-adults-see-society-and-how-the-public-sees-them/">is morally wrong</a>. And there are people who argue same-sex marriage poses a danger to marriage itself. During the previous Congress, a Republican <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/missouri-gop-representative-vicky-hartzler-sobs-while-begging-colleagues-to-vote-down-same-sex-marriage-bill">congresswoman crying</a> on the House floor before the chamber signed the Respect for Marriage Act is one case in point. People have <a href="https://www.advocate.com/politics/2012/10/31/10-disasters-gays-were-blamed-causing?pg=full">blamed the alleged immorality of the LGBTQ community</a> for everything from natural disasters to terror attacks. And accusations that LGBTQ people are indoctrinating and grooming children are <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/groomer-pedophile-old-tropes-find-new-life-anti-lgbtq-movement-rcna23931">mainstays of political threatoric</a> increasingly peddled today. </p>
<p>Florida’s new <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/28/1089221657/dont-say-gay-florida-desantis">Parental Rights in Education bill</a>, controversially called the Don’t Say Gay bill by some opponents and the<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/politics/florida-dont-say-gay-bill-what-matters/index.html"> Anti-Grooming bill</a> by some proponents, prohibits teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in certain classrooms. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nuid0WvxR-I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Former U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri cries on the House floor in December 2022, begging her colleagues to vote against a same-sex marriage bill.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Resource threats – They are taking from us</h2>
<p>Sometimes, members of the in-group portray the out-group as a competitor for valued goods. We see this in the classic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KU5u75J8VU&t=94s">Robber’s Cave Experiment</a>, in which boys attending a summer camp were arbitrarily divided into two groups – Rattlers and Eagles – and made to compete for valued resources. Animosity and conflict between the groups grew quickly.</p>
<p>To amplify perceptions of resource threats, people often play up the perception that access to resources is a <a href="https://partably.com/zero-sum-thinking/">zero-sum game</a>. If the out-group gets access to the desired resource, it will mean little to nothing is left for the in-group. The most common example in this type of threatoric is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcac006">the accusation that immigrants</a> are “<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-fact-check-trump-plays-on-immigration-myths">stealing our jobs</a>.” This threat can be extended to casting the out-group as receiving an unfair share of other resources, like education, scholarships, health care or social services.</p>
<h2>4. Social threats – They are obstacles to us</h2>
<p>When members of the in-group blame the out-group for costing the in-group <a href="https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/11/14/loss-fear-and-rage-are-white-men-rebelling-against-democracy/">social status</a> or access to important relationships, they are employing social threats. This can be triggered by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/16/1099034094/what-is-the-great-replacement-theory">demographic shifts in population</a>. Alternatively, when in-group members view their status as undesirable, they can look to an out-group to blame. There are often themes of entitlement in this rhetoric, in which the speaker feels he is owed a certain social standing or relationship. For instance, among the Incel movement, a subculture of involuntarily celibate people – mostly men – <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-rage-of-the-incels">rage against women</a> for denying them sexual relationships is common. This rage can have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/16/involuntary-celibates-incels-threat-us-secret-service">lethal consequences</a>, as in the <a href="https://www.secretservice.gov/newsroom/releases/2022/03/secret-services-latest-research-highlights-mass-violence-motived-misogyny">2018 shooting during</a> a yoga class in Tallahassee, Florida. A man killed two women and injured six others.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="In the middle of a crowd of opposing protesters, two men stand face to face, yelling at each other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503519/original/file-20230108-6795-sroozm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503519/original/file-20230108-6795-sroozm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503519/original/file-20230108-6795-sroozm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503519/original/file-20230108-6795-sroozm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503519/original/file-20230108-6795-sroozm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503519/original/file-20230108-6795-sroozm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503519/original/file-20230108-6795-sroozm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of Antifa clash with counterprotesters during the Unite the Right 2 rally in Washington, D.C., in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/antifa-and-counter-protestors-to-a-far-right-rally-argue-news-photo/1015806444?adppopup=true">Zach Gibson/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Self threats – They make us feel bad</h2>
<p>Lastly, the in-group sometimes feels as if its collective self-esteem is threatened by the out-group, such as when they perceive that the out-group is dehumanizing them. This can lead to thinking along the lines of “they hate us, so we hate them.” Just search for “libtard” or “repugnican” on Twitter for examples. But in this case, the level at which the out-group is perceived as engaging in this derogation is <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/asap.12253">exaggerated</a> and ignores similar behavior by the in-group. The insults hurled by the other group are always cast as worse than any used by the in-group. This threatoric is particularly evident among <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221099146">political partisans</a>.</p>
<p>In some cases, particularly when there has been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/05/16/997259390/the-history-behind-tensions-between-israel-palestine">historic conflict</a> between groups, there is past evidence of a group actually representing a threat. But threatoric minimizes transgressions by the in-group and paints the out-group as essentially <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.9.1.1277">toxic</a> to the in-group, threatening anything from their self-image to the lives of those they care about. The greater the perceived threat, the more justified extreme action appears. It becomes an “us or them” narrative. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12743">Numerous studies</a> over <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5969529/">decades of research</a> on intergroup conflict have supported this link between perceived threat and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.06.005">hostility and conflict</a>. Even now, we see this playing out in our streets as, for the first time in history, half of all extremist attacks have been occurring during <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/pushed-extremes-domestic-terrorism-amid-polarization-and-protest">politically polarized demonstrations</a>. We see it in the manifestos of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/03/us/patrick-crusius-el-paso-shooter-manifesto.html">known killers</a>. </p>
<p>In America, we are fond of the idiom, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, we fail to acknowledge that <a href="https://www.katc.com/news/national/how-to-stand-up-to-hate-speech-and-why-its-important">no one throws those sticks and stones without reason</a>. Threatoric gives us that reason.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196189/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>H. Colleen Sinclair receives funding from Department of Defense & the National Institute of Justice.</span></em></p>Language can provoke violence between groups especially when people paint others as threats.H. Colleen Sinclair, Associate Research Professor of Social Psychology, Louisiana State University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1904032022-10-26T12:29:03Z2022-10-26T12:29:03ZWhy campaigns have a love-hate relationship with their signs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490942/original/file-20221020-19-h9c3xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C431%2C5344%2C3556&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Arizona's cities and towns have been flooded with signage during the heavily contested 2022 elections.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pedestrians-walk-by-political-campaign-signs-that-are-news-photo/1411737858?phrase=arizona political signs&adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every election cycle, I’m accustomed to seeing campaign signs. But this past summer, I was struck by the sheer number of them in Scottsdale, Arizona, near where I live. I counted 18 on just one corner of a major intersection. </p>
<p>As a linguist who studies political advertising, I’ve <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/the-popularity-and-irrelevance-of-our-lawn-sign-wars/264488/">read the research</a> arguing that signs don’t make much of a difference. </p>
<p>Clearly, Arizonans think otherwise.</p>
<p>The deluge of signs during primary season reflected the state’s <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Arizona_elections,_2022">heavily contested races</a> for a U.S. Senate seat, U.S. House seats and statewide offices for governor, secretary of state and attorney general.</p>
<p>Why are there so many signs when <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2015.12.002">studies point</a> to their minimal influence on election outcomes? Where might their value lie?</p>
<h2>The history of the political sign</h2>
<p>Claiming street corners and front yards for political advertising is not new. </p>
<p>Some type of street signage in U.S. elections <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/jqadams/campaigns-and-elections">has been around for at least 200 years</a>.</p>
<p>The 1828 presidential race between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson was the first to employ political paraphernalia like buttons, medallions, mugs and posters that bore the candidates’ images and slogans. The candidates relied on their supporters to flaunt this swag to help get out the vote. </p>
<p>In his 2020 book “Political Sign,” <a href="https://tobiascarroll.com/books/political-sign/">Tobias Carroll</a> outlines the gradual development of the political sign to the styles that are familiar today.</p>
<p>Political posters and signs in the mid-1800s were more verbose and could even contain <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/scsm000501/">song lyrics</a>. Then, beginning in the 1920s, ad agencies professionalized the style of these signs, leading to formats that are now commonplace: 18-by-24-inch placards in yards prominently featuring the candidate’s name and office, along with larger ones on public thoroughfares. </p>
<p>Such signage is not a distinctly American phenomenon. <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/05/11/ontario-election-2022-signs-ads-billboards-brochures-campaign/">Canada</a> and the U.S. share a reliance on corrugated plastic signs in yards and thoroughfares. Signs on poles and posters on walls <a href="https://yello.substack.com/p/what-political-design-looks-like">are popular in the U.K.</a>, where political ads on TV are banned. Candidates will advertise in most any country with open elections, and their government will likely make <a href="https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1556492/comelec-warns-private-property-owners-vs-displaying-big-campaign-posters">rules on the size of signs</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A husband and wife pose next to signs on poles representing competing candidates." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490950/original/file-20221020-26-4y58dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490950/original/file-20221020-26-4y58dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490950/original/file-20221020-26-4y58dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490950/original/file-20221020-26-4y58dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490950/original/file-20221020-26-4y58dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490950/original/file-20221020-26-4y58dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490950/original/file-20221020-26-4y58dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Political signs affixed to poles are popular in the U.K.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/togetherness-ends-at-the-ballot-box-for-ann-and-derek-news-photo/90769697?phrase=political%20lawn%20signs&adppopup=true">Manchester Daily Express/SSPL via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Signs don’t vote</h2>
<p>As popular as signs seem to be, political operatives often dismiss them as a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/the-popularity-and-irrelevance-of-our-lawn-sign-wars/264488/">superfluous hassle</a>. </p>
<p>Campaign managers I’ve spoken to tell me that yard signs matter mostly in hyperlocal elections; while they’re relatively cheap, they still eat into tight budgets. Others complain of signs getting <a href="https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/kari-lakes-signs-in-phoenix-keep-getting-vandalized-13831568">damaged</a> and <a href="https://www.kwch.com/2022/07/28/thefts-drive-e-wichita-homeowners-put-electric-fence-around-vote-yes-sign/">stolen</a>. They’re awkward to transport, and fines loom if they’re wrongly placed or missing required information. <a href="https://nevalleynews.org/16571/news/campaign-signs-election-cyle-scottsdale-public-safety/">All governmental jurisdictions have regulations</a> about when and where they can be placed on public right of ways. </p>
<p>And, as many politicos point out, if you’re going up against a popular candidate, no matter how many signs you put up, it won’t win you the election – <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/03/10/148351027/how-powerful-is-a-political-yard-sign">signs, after all, don’t vote</a>. One campaign manager did assure me, however, that all candidates need professionally produced signs in order to be considered serious and viable. </p>
<h2>Pinpointing their effect</h2>
<p>Political scientists have long worked to learn what makes advertising strategies effective. Candidates and their campaign managers are eager to learn more about this impact, too.</p>
<p>But studies about campaign signage are complicated by the fact that no two campaigns or election cycles are alike. As a social science researcher, I know that controlling for the effect of signs is tricky when numerous factors influence an election’s outcome, sometimes even after the polls close. </p>
<p>A yard sign is certainly an indicator of an individual voter’s enthusiasm, but determining if it will get their <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-life-election-campaign-signs-20181018-story.html">neighbors to vote – and vote for the same candidate</a> – is another issue.</p>
<p>Some studies only look at <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/yard-sign-displays-and-the-enthusiasm-gap-in-the-2008-and-2010-elections/7B08A9A572E5A503B7FF4E915DB6012C">typical yard signs</a>, and while less standardized signs on public property share some similarities, the two are distinct.</p>
<p>Campaign signs at corners of major thoroughfares and mass transit stops, I believe, can also be an indication of enthusiasm. Candidates’ campaigns may pay the sign company to place them, but others rely heavily on volunteers to help. Few people, however, see those volunteers, and most likely don’t know how those signs came to be there.</p>
<p>In 2013, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12034">political scientists Cindy Kam and Elizabeth Zechmeister</a> found that name recognition alone can affect perceptions of a candidate’s viability. Extensive signage may help with that and boost potential viability. But factors such as being an incumbent can change that – and, perhaps, obviate the need for signs as a way to boost name recognition.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A lawn lined with signs of U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491417/original/file-20221024-25-xrhr97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491417/original/file-20221024-25-xrhr97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491417/original/file-20221024-25-xrhr97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491417/original/file-20221024-25-xrhr97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491417/original/file-20221024-25-xrhr97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491417/original/file-20221024-25-xrhr97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491417/original/file-20221024-25-xrhr97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a tight race, signs certainly don’t hurt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/campaign-signs-are-seen-outside-early-voting-locations-in-news-photo/1244180085?phrase=campaign%20signs&adppopup=true">Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2015.12.002">A 2016 study led by political scientist Donald Green</a> notes that lawn signs can have a small effect of “just over one percentage point” and, like other low-tech strategies such as mailers, can play a role when only a few points separate candidates. Even <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/167939/do-political-ads-even-work">high-budget TV ads</a> are largely found to make little difference outside of very close races. In purple Arizona, where the count tally often is tight, it’s possible to argue that signs – and whatever else the budget will allow – could make a difference. </p>
<h2>A simple and easy way to engage</h2>
<p>Campaign signs, like TV ads, are forms of advertising that reach people who may not be plugged into politics. </p>
<p>Yard signs are seen by the neighborhood and may make a difference with residents. Larger numbers of potential voters see signs at major intersections in a metropolitan area like Phoenix and surrounding towns. For example, on a single midweek day, <a href="https://www.tempe.gov/government/engineering-and-transportation/transportation/streets-signals-traffic/traffic-counts">March 3, 2022</a>, a one-mile stretch of road running north and south and sporting several signs on corners saw 32,280 vehicles, according to the city of Tempe, Arizona, where I live.</p>
<p>In hotly contested primary races, numerous candidates are likely new to voters. Public thoroughfare signs mean <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2015.12.002">voters needing more information</a> have a real chance of getting it during a routine car ride. </p>
<p>And a candidate needing more name recognition has a real chance of getting that from regular commuters through some savvy sign placement. Signs including <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/asuenglish/28iRTeH423">endorsements</a> or <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/asuenglish/z5aPr47098">campaign pledges</a> can transmit additional information over the course of a few seconds at a stoplight. </p>
<p>Signs convey a real diversity of candidates and their beliefs. Even poorly funded candidates can express themselves through signs. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/us/politics/us-democracy.html">Despite reports of democratic backsliding</a> in the U.S., the intersection in Scottsdale with 18 signs tells me that the democratic process is, in some ways, still thriving.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190403/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Adams is affiliated with the Democratic Party through donations. I do not volunteer for the party or a particular candidate. </span></em></p>Supporters and volunteers love them. But it’s difficult for political scientists to determine whether they even influence the outcome of elections, since no two campaigns or election cycles are alike.Karen Adams, Professor of English, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1893572022-08-31T11:49:56Z2022-08-31T11:49:56ZFive quotes that define Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481806/original/file-20220830-33371-gwf5rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C35%2C5937%2C4455&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-24-july-2019-boris-1628814973">Lingtren.com / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister comes to an end next week, giving us all a chance to consider what his legacy will be. More than his predecessors, Johnson owed his premiership to his reputed ability to <a href="https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/tory-mps-believe-boris-johnson-uniquely-appeals-to-voters-are-they-right">persuade audiences other Conservatives couldn’t</a>, through his charisma, unpredictability and energetic campaigning.</p>
<p>His rhetorical flair continued once he was in Number 10, though frequent fumbles may last longer in collective memory. Here are five quotes that define Johnson’s time as PM.</p>
<hr>
<h2>The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters – they are going to get it wrong again. The people who bet against Britain are going to lose their shirts.</h2>
<hr>
<p>This quote, from his <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/boris-johnsons-first-speech-as-prime-minister-24-july-2019">first speech as PM</a> shows Johnson’s main strategy during his early premiership, which was to attack his opponents’ character. Instead of disproving arguments about Brexit directly, he urged audiences to view warnings as evidence of doubters’ negative attitudes, not evenhanded assessments.</p>
<p>Johnson framed politics as a choice between those who backed Britain, and those who bet against it. This was his version of a traditional <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367549420985851">right-wing populist framing</a>, which divides patriotic supporters from treacherous opponents. His characteristic move was to keep this aggressive division, but soften its terminology.</p>
<hr>
<h2>The weeks ahead will be the hardest yet but I really do believe that we are entering the last phase of the struggle. Because with every jab that goes into our arms, we are tilting the odds against COVID and in favour of the British people.</h2>
<h2>Thanks to the miracle of science, not only is the end in sight and we know exactly how we will get there. But for now, I am afraid, you must once again stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.</h2>
<hr>
<p>Emerging just months after his election victory, coronavirus dominated Johnson’s premiership. This quote, from the end of a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/prime-ministers-address-to-the-nation-4-january-2021">January 2021 broadcast</a> announcing a third national lockdown, shows Johnson’s typical approach to the pandemic. </p>
<p>It carefully balances warnings about the seriousness of the immediate situation with optimistic predictions for the future. The opening line shows traces of the wartime metaphors from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coronavirus-23-march-2020">earlier speeches</a>, and the final line returns to the most effective example of his instruction-giving rhetoric.</p>
<p>However, it also reveals Johnson’s key challenge: fending off simultaneous criticisms that he was too slow or too quick to impose restrictions. The complexities of transmission rates forced Johnson to address this criticism using a more evidence-led style that acknowledged uncertainty. </p>
<p>His speeches had to explain why the statistical evidence supported one course of action over another. This didn’t play to his strengths, but vaccination rates (once available) became a simpler measure of progress and enabled him to return to a more confident style.</p>
<hr>
<h2>We have one of the most imbalanced societies and lopsided economies of all the richer countries … What monkey glands are they applying in Ribble Valley, what royal jelly are they eating, that they live seven years longer than the people of Blackpool only 33 miles away?</h2>
<hr>
<p>Johnson had difficulty explaining what his “defining mission” of “levelling up” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2021/jul/15/boris-johnsons-speech-on-levelling-up-decried-for-lack-of-substance">meant in practice</a>. This quote from his <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/news/2021/boris-johnson-s-keynote-speech---we-re-getting-on-with-the-job">2021 party conference speech</a> was one attempt to do so in keeping with his personal style. </p>
<p>Establishing himself as a teller of uncomfortable truths through the first line, he argues that disparities within regions showed the problem is not simply a north-south divide. Here, half-comic references to age-prolonging remedies overwhelmed the life expectancy statistic used to illustrate these disparities. </p>
<p>The references chosen maintained his persona as an eccentric but authentic politician. Eccentric because they suggest the kind of worldly knowledge that might come easily to an imperial, gentleman explorer, but authentic because they are just beyond what the audience imagines he’s advised to say.</p>
<p>At conference, the line worked well enough. But in longer speeches, lines like this obscured his point and his eagerness to get to them made him seem <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/email-me-says-boris-johnson-as-he-calls-for-ideas-for-his-levelling-up-plan-as-critics-attack-vapid-slogan-12356433">unprepared and rambling</a>.</p>
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<h2>Nobody told me that what we were doing was – as you say – against the rules, that the event in question was something, that we were going to do something that wasn’t a work event, and as I said in the House of Commons when I went out into that garden I thought I was attending a work event.</h2>
<hr>
<p>Interviews were always Johnson’s weakness. <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/01/18/boris-johnson-breaks-cover-to-insist-he-thought-no-10-party-was-work-event-15938651/">This example</a> followed accusations that he had been present at a “bring your own booze” Downing Street party in May 2020 in spite of coronavirus restrictions. </p>
<p>Asked whether he had lied to Parliament about having prior knowledge of the event, his answer shows a moment when Johnson’s ability to identify and use the public’s sense of everyday reasoning failed him. Whatever he believed, his defence did not align with the common belief that someone who sets rules should know the rules – and that most people know what kind of event they are at.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/downing-street-party-what-the-law-actually-said-about-work-gatherings-in-may-2020-174857">Downing Street party: what the law actually said about work gatherings in May 2020</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>As we’ve seen at Westminster, the herd is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves. And my friends, in politics, no one is remotely indispensable.</h2>
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<p>Johnson’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/prime-minister-boris-johnsons-statement-in-downing-street-7-july-2022">resignation speech</a> drew a contrast between Westminster politicians and the public, and allowed him to frame events to his advantage. Explaining his fall as the result of an irrational move on the part of his MPs minimised his own role in losing the confidence of his cabinet.</p>
<p>The fatalism in this final quote provides a neat counterpoint to his early talk of doomsters and gloomsters. Johnson launched his premiership by projecting absolute certainty about his ability to lead where others could not. He ended it with an attempt to make his exit seem more dignified, casting himself as a leader who accepts the certainty of a fate at the hands of others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189357/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Freeman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As he exits Number 10, an expert on political rhetoric looks back on the quotes that best illustrate Johnson’s premiership.James Freeman, Senior Lecturer in Political History and Digital Humanities, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1885732022-08-12T12:17:16Z2022-08-12T12:17:16ZWhat’s a banana republic? A political scientist explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478789/original/file-20220811-14242-18oqco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=299%2C59%2C3689%2C2697&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. banana growers heavily influenced several Central American governments in the early 20th century.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/undated-b-w-photo-shows-man-harvesting-bananas-underwood-news-photo/530848788?adppopup=true">George Rinhart/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When someone mentions a “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/banana-republic-definition-4776041">banana republic</a>,” they’re referring to a small, poor, politically unstable country that is weak because of an excessive reliance on one crop and foreign funding. </p>
<p>The term originated as a way to describe the <a href="https://visualizingtheamericas.utm.utoronto.ca/key-moments/banana-republics/">experiences of many countries in Central America</a>, whose economies and politics were dominated by <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/where-we-got-term-banana-republic-180961813/">U.S.-based banana exporters at the turn of the 20th century</a>.</p>
<p>After the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/us/politics/fbi-search-trump.html">FBI’s August 2022 search of the residence of former President Donald Trump</a>, some Republicans <a href="https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1556788388828684295">compared the U.S. to a banana republic</a>. And in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, <a href="https://www.trendsmap.com/historical?q=bananarepublic">a surge of tweets</a> did the same.</p>
<p>Political instability within the U.S. has little to do with fruit. So why is the term being used?</p>
<h2>Subverting democracy to keep the cash flowing</h2>
<p>In the 1880s, the Boston Fruit Company, which later became the United Fruit Company and then Chiquita, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11320900/banana-rise">began importing bananas from Jamaica</a> and launched a successful campaign to popularize them in the U.S. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pixelated portrait of man wearing a hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Cuyamel Fruit Company hired mercenary Lee Christmas to overthrow the government of Honduras and install one friendlier to foreign business.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Lee_Christmas.jpg">The New York Times via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>As demand for bananas grew, large companies made deals with governments across Central America to fund infrastructure projects in exchange for land and policies that would allow them to expand production. </p>
<p>The growers often depended on authoritarian rule to protect land concessions and quell labor unrest that might shrink their profits. Sometimes, they would actively subvert democracy to reassert their influence. The Cuyamel Fruit Company, for example, supported a <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250033314/thefishthatatethewhale">coup in Honduras in 1911</a> that replaced its president with someone more aligned with U.S. interests. </p>
<p>Another well-known example is the 1954 <a href="https://hbr.org/podcast/2019/07/the-controversial-history-of-united-fruit">CIA-orchestrated plot</a> on behalf of the United Fruit Company against Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz. That coup ended the first real period of democracy that Guatemala had known. </p>
<p>The tight relationship between banana exporters and repressive and corrupt leaders ultimately undermined development in the region, exacerbated inequality and left Central American countries weak and misgoverned.</p>
<h2>Hyperbolic rhetoric?</h2>
<p>Responding to the events that unfolded leading up to and during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/07/05/gen-russel-honor-coup-attempt-put-us-in-the-banana-republic-club/">current and former government officals</a> commented that they resembled the instability of banana republics that were known for ignoring election results and overturning those results with coups – that’s exactly <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.616.395&rep=rep1&type=pdf">what happened in Costa Rica in 1917</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1346912246291603465"}"></div></p>
<p>When American politicians and political commentators use the term, they’re often trying to conjure up images of corruption, repression and failures to stop executive overreach. They’re equating government officials with the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/tinpot-and-the-totalitarian-an-economic-theory-of-dictatorship/D461528F9B6C51D862ADE67D88A95DBB">tinpot dictators</a> supported by foreign interests who acted with impunity to govern by force and persecute their opponents. </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1557190100353785856">A number</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RonDeSantisFL/status/1556803433939755010">of Republican politicians</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1556795946683580416?s=20&t=4iR9vXDJc9lkzI6LNqGtYw">invoked the term</a> in response to the <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-fbi-raid-maralago-live-updates-today-1732050">FBI’s raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1556795946683580416"}"></div></p>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/trumps-mar-lago-raid-doesnt-make-banana-republic/671082/">comparison isn’t apt</a>. It’s true that outgoing leaders are more likely to be investigated and punished by their political opponents in countries with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920905640">strong executives</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920905640">weak judiciaries</a>.</p>
<p>However, holding elected officials accountable for their actions and not allowing anyone to be above the law is actually <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/09/global-investigating-former-leaders-trump-sarkozy/">characteristic of a healthy democracy</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Wilson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US grows hardly any tropical fruit. So why are politicians and political commentators saying the country is at risk of devolving into a banana republic?Matthew Wilson, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822162022-06-16T17:24:58Z2022-06-16T17:24:58ZYour past is my present – how Volodymyr Zelenskyy uses history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467252/original/file-20220606-20-pr3x7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5963%2C3963&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the U.S. Congress on March 16, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/RussiaUkraineWarCryptocurrencyDonations/3b2b9f7943c94d3498a8775c31a65ebe/photo">Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since Russia’s war against his country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has directly addressed the elected representatives of multiple countries in his quest for international support. These speeches have made explicit references to parallels between his country’s current plight and the particular historical experiences of these nations. </p>
<p>This strategy is one of many that Zelenskyy has employed to successfully build international support for Ukraine. As scholars of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=RHXgn2sAAAAJ">post-Soviet politics</a> and the use of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LvQBbVcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">historical memory</a>, we think Zelenskyy’s addresses help garner global support in three key ways: He evokes popular empathy for the Ukrainian people, enables foreign governments to assess their people’s interest in supporting Ukraine, and highlights the importance of territorial sovereignty to world peace.</p>
<h2>References to historical parallels</h2>
<p>Each of Zelenskyy’s speeches included historical references deliberately tailored to resonate with the people of the nation he was addressing at the time.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtDifMeMC68&t=1s">his speech to the German Bundestag</a>, for instance, he referred to the German people as standing behind a wall “between freedom and slavery.” That powerfully evoked the Berlin Wall’s division of post-World War II Germany into two countries, one aligned with the democratic West, and the other with the communist East.</p>
<p>He also reached farther back, referring to the “historical responsibility” of the German people, and making repeated references to the suffering endured by millions of Europeans during World War II because of the Nazi regime’s aggressive territorial expansion and genocidal atrocities. These references might have been particularly potent given Zelenskyy’s own Jewish heritage. </p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt_CPMYawQs&t=1s">speaking to the Israeli Knesset</a>, Zelenskyy compared the current suffering and forced migration of his people to the experiences of the European Jewish community in the 1930s and 1940s, including fleeing the Holocaust. Specifically he said the Ukrainian “people are now scattered around the world. They are looking for security. They are looking for a way to stay in peace. As you once searched.” </p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6viGEEi7JjU">addressing the U.S. Congress</a>, Zelenskyy referred to the horrors of unprovoked aggression from hostile foreign forces at Pearl Harbor and on 9/11. He highlighted how these sudden and unanticipated attacks wreaked havoc on the lives of “innocent people.”</p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/zvernennya-prezidenta-ukrayini-volodimira-zelenskogo-do-parl-73441">speaking to the British Parliament</a>, he quoted one of <a href="https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches.html">Winston Churchill’s most memorable speeches</a>, delivered at a time when Britain was threatened by, and successfully resisted, an expansionist power – Nazi Germany. Zelenskyy then added his own twist, saying “<a href="https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches.html">We shall fight in the seas</a>, we shall fight in the air, we shall defend our land, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight in the woods, in the fields, on the beaches, in the cities and villages, in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/zvernennya-prezidenta-ukrayini-volodimira-zelenskogo-do-parl-73441">And I want to add</a>: we shall fight on the spoil tips, on the banks of the Kalmius and the Dnieper! And we shall not surrender!”</p>
<h2>Appeal to emotions</h2>
<p>These historical parallels were intended to appeal to his audiences’ emotions, with the intent of inspiring popular empathy abroad. While <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-25-op-27057-story.html">politicians have long evoked history in their rhetoric</a>, Zelenskyy’s use of history is distinct given its variety and intended audience. His goal was not to rally his own people, but to build an international coalition of support.</p>
<p>His historical references tapped into different sentiments in different countries – trauma in the United States and Israel, shame and guilt in Germany, pride in the United Kingdom. But the underlying goal in each instance was to compel the people of these countries to recall their own pasts so that they could sympathize with the pain and suffering of the Ukrainian people today.</p>
<p>In addition, his appeals prompted broader conversations in the media and among the public, revealing popular sentiment toward the conflict and allowing leaders to gauge reactions to the possibility of their country’s increased involvement. Where people were more receptive to Zelenskyy’s historical parallels, leaders could feel more confident that their policies supporting Ukraine would receive broad popular support. </p>
<p>The appeal of his message in Germany seemed clear when the Bundestag’s <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/zelenskyy-speech-sparks-soul-search-germany/">immediate transition to other matters of state following Zelenskyy’s speech drew public outrage</a>. Since then, Germany has <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-germany-supplying-howitzers-antiaircraft/31837562.html">continued to increase its assistance</a>.</p>
<p>Zelenskyy’s address to the U.S. Congress evoked concern and empathy for the Ukrainian people among both <a href="https://time.com/6157965/zelensky-congress-speech-aid/">elected representatives</a> and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pain-frustration-hope-americans-react-zelenskyy-plea-83488052">the public</a>. Within hours of this speech, <a href="https://time.com/6157965/zelensky-congress-speech-aid/">President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million package of military support for Ukraine</a>.</p>
<p>There was <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/polling-ukraine-support-for-sanctions-and-governments-handling-grows">popular support for Ukraine among the U.K. public even prior to Zelenskyy’s speech</a>. Leading up to the speech, the government <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-03-11/britain-johnson-response-ukraine-war-refugees-sanctions">was criticized for not doing enough to help Ukrainian refugees</a>. Two days after the speech, the U.K. government <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-britain-s-ukraine-response-we-ll-help-but-please-stay-away-1.4823686">announced an overhaul of the visa application process for Ukrainian refugees</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467290/original/file-20220606-20-mhr8qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man on a video screen addresses a room full of people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467290/original/file-20220606-20-mhr8qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467290/original/file-20220606-20-mhr8qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467290/original/file-20220606-20-mhr8qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467290/original/file-20220606-20-mhr8qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467290/original/file-20220606-20-mhr8qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467290/original/file-20220606-20-mhr8qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467290/original/file-20220606-20-mhr8qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the British Parliament on March 8, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky-addresses-mps-in-the-news-photo/1239027760">House of Commons/PA Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, Zelenskyy’s attempts to draw connections between the current situation in Ukraine and the Holocaust <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hjn3nxbf5">drew criticism</a> from <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/zelensky-sparks-indignation-israel-infuriating-holocaust-comparison-1689850">across the political spectrum in Israel</a>. Israel’s support for Ukraine has been relatively <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/israels-support-of-ukraine-alliance-isrisky-but-unavoidable/2022/05/03/759e8378-caaf-11ec-b7ee-74f09d827ca6_story.html">muted and cautious</a>. The poor reception of this historical analogy played into <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/report-russia-middle-east-national-security-challenges-united-states-and-israel-biden">Israel’s reluctance to support Ukraine</a>. </p>
<h2>A key shared ideal</h2>
<p>Perhaps Zelenskyy’s best rhetorical tactic was his appeal to the liberal ideals of the post-World War II order. By threatening Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty, Russia has also threatened a foundational principle of the largely peaceful era since 1945 – a country’s sovereignty. </p>
<p>He used this shared value in different ways. For example, he reminded Americans when their <a href="https://www.nps.gov/perl/index.htm">territorial security was compromised</a> and the British when theirs was <a href="https://worldwar2.org.uk/the-battle-of-britain">preserved through resistance</a>. But the goal was the same – to unite and mobilize international support behind his nation in an otherwise fractured global environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>History brought Ukraine’s plight home to people around the world, and helped mobilize political and military support against the Russian invasion.Anil Menon, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, University of MichiganPauline Jones, Professor of Political Science, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1793492022-03-16T17:01:43Z2022-03-16T17:01:43Z‘I have a need’: How Zelenskyy’s plea to Congress emphasized shared identity with US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452529/original/file-20220316-8416-ew55ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=163%2C128%2C7394%2C4999&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the U.S. Congress.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelenskyy-delivers-a-virtual-news-photo/1385713939?adppopup=true">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Speaking from his nation’s capital of Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-winston-churchill-congress-af1578f966e3e8feda02659740c8fba1">addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress</a> as Russian <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kyiv-struck-by-russian-shelling-ukraine-says-least-two-killed-2022-03-15/">shells continue to bombard the city</a>.</p>
<p>In the historic event on March 16, 2022, Zelenskyy sought to persuade U.S. legislators and the American public of the similarities between U.S. history and Ukraine’s present.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-zelenskyys-selfie-videos-are-helping-ukraine-win-the-pr-war-against-russia-178117">savvy communicator</a>, Zelenskyy understands that before a speaker can argue for policy changes – in this case, stronger action from the U.S. against Russian aggression – they must create a shared identity with the audience. In many ways, every successful political speech is an exercise in community building.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/people/karrin/">political communication scholar</a>, I study what makes political messages persuasive and how strategic communication does more than just argue for policy – it creates individual and group identities. </p>
<p>This principle has been known for decades. Writing in the immediate aftermath of World War II, communication scholar Kenneth Burke challenged the assumption that successful persuasion was premised on constructing sound arguments. Instead, he said the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Rhetoric_of_Motives/y44o7549eC8C?hl=en">key to persuasion is “identification”</a> – convincing the audience that you and they have not only common interests, but a shared identity.</p>
<p>Zelenskyy intuited the importance of identification, beginning his speech with a list of similarities between “brave and freedom loving” Americans and Ukrainians. He compared the Russian invasion of Ukraine to calamities in U.S. history such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. He also invoked symbols like Mount Rushmore and famous U.S. speeches, such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. </p>
<p>Addressing both Congress and the American public, he noted that the words “I have a dream” are “known to each of you” and then echoed King, imploring: “I have a need.” It was a tacit but forceful argument about being on the right side of history.</p>
<h2>‘This is murder’</h2>
<p>Zelenskyy’s speech marked the first time a world leader addressed a joint session of Congress remotely, and he used the digital medium to his advantage, including in his speech a video documenting Russia’s destruction of Ukrainian cities and the violence experienced by Ukraine’s most vulnerable citizens – particularly children. The words “this is murder” flashed on the screen.</p>
<p>When juxtaposed with the murder of children, Zelenskyy’s requests – that the U.S. establish a <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-wants-a-no-fly-zone-what-does-this-mean-and-would-one-make-any-sense-in-this-war-179282">no-fly zone</a> over Ukraine or facilitate the use of fighter jets – seem not only reasonable but imperative. This was not a deliberative message weighing the advantages and risks of potential policy proposals. It was an impassioned plea to act on behalf of shared humanity.</p>
<p>It puts President Joe Biden and members of Congress in a difficult position. They have to weigh the likely outcomes of Zelenskyy’s requests and are operating within a framework that emphasizes policy implications rather than one that focuses primarily on shared identity. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki emphasized on Feb. 28 that a no-fly zone would entail “<a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1498349877620793347">shooting down planes, Russian planes</a>,” and would dangerously escalate the conflict. Critics argue that a direct, military engagement with Russian forces also would <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22967674/russia-ukraine-no-fly-zone-limited-nuclear-war">increase the likelihood of nuclear war</a>.</p>
<p>Because identification is more persuasive than policy arguments, however, Zelenskyy’s speech will <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/15/zelensky-joint-session-congress-biden/">place maximum pressure on Democrats</a>, in particular, since they control Congress and the presidency. He also acknowledged a compromise position in his remarks, saying that if a no-fly zone was “too much to ask, we offer an alternative,” requesting more weapons that would enable Ukrainian forces to shoot down Russian aircraft.</p>
<h2>A speech for a digital age</h2>
<p>Zelenskyy’s message, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2022/03/09/volodymyr-zelensky-social-media-ukraine-todd-dnt-intl-tsr-vpx.cnn">like his communication throughout the conflict</a>, was produced for the social media era, with numerous quotable lines and a video that appeared to be designed to make the rounds on Twitter, Facebook and TikTok. Zelenskyy’s approach aims to provide ordinary citizens with content they can use easily on social media to pressure their political representatives. </p>
<p>Zelenskyy ended his speech with a vision for a community of democratic nations and a governing body he’s calling “U24,” which he defined as a “union of responsible countries” nimble enough to respond to crises within 24 hours.</p>
<p>His speech was not only an impassioned plea for immediate assistance. It was an attempt to create a new community more expansive and powerful than NATO or the United Nations.</p>
<p>Understanding Americans’ desire to maintain their status as the ostensible “leader of the free world,” Zelenskyy concluded by addressing Biden directly, saying, “I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karrin Vasby Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a speech that touched on America’s darkest days and most inspirational leaders, Ukraine’s embattled president made a powerful call for stronger action on Russia.Karrin Vasby Anderson, Professor of Communication Studies, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1786092022-03-05T14:53:37Z2022-03-05T14:53:37ZHow Kwame Nkrumah’s midnight speech set a tradition for marking the moment of liberation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450141/original/file-20220305-19-gqchw6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kwame Nkrumah's vision still resonates with Ghanaians</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jbdodane/9761663542">JB Dodane/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Ghana celebrates the <a href="https://nationaltoday.com/ghana-independence-day/">65th anniversary</a> of its independence from Britain, it is worth revisiting the landmark speech Kwame Nkrumah delivered at midnight to mark the event of Ghana’s birth. Nkrumah had led a mass movement demanding self-government in the anticolonial struggle and was, with independence, poised to become the first Prime Minister of independent Ghana.</p>
<p>Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence from colonial rule. Accordingly, Nkrumah’s speech at the moment of liberation set a tone of pride in Ghana’s accomplishment along with hope for freedom struggles still in progress across decolonising Africa and its diaspora. </p>
<p>Today, Nkrumah’s midnight speech stands as a model of African political leadership that avoids the mimicry of Western models.</p>
<p>Addressing a large and excited crowd, Nkrumah’s first words at midnight were:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>At long last the battle has ended! And thus Ghana, your beloved country, is free for ever.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the climax of the speech, Nkrumah acknowledged the larger stakes of the moment, declaring: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with total liberation of the African continent.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15358593.2022.2027996">recent analysis</a> of Nkrumah’s midnight speech reflects on how he used his performance at the moment of Ghana’s independence to outline his vision of colonial freedom. Nkrumah’s revolutionary rhetoric refused the narrow grounds on which Britain was offering Ghana independence. Instead, he sought to generate new forms of belonging outside the conditions that were the remnants of colonialism. </p>
<p>Nkrumah embraced various populations in the colony who had been devalued by the colonial administration and ignored by African leaders who were his rivals. His rhetoric worked alongside political rallies to organise a mass base that was a means of distinction for his party, the Convention People’s Party.</p>
<p>In addition, he advocated for pan-African union so that Ghana and other emergent African countries wouldn’t perpetuate the legacies of colonial rule. At the time, Nkrumah worried that the piecemeal liberation of colonised territories would limit the transformative potential of independence. Instead, he promoted African union as a way to establish new shared identities and a self-determined presence in international affairs. </p>
<p>Today, Nkrumah’s vision of a united Africa stands as a testament to the common humanity of Africans. Nkrumah’s embrace of the mass base and pan-African discourses mattered because it injected populist energies into Gold Coast politics and demonstrated a way for Africans to pursue sovereignty within conditions of their own making.</p>
<h2>Nkrumah’s vision of freedom</h2>
<p>Trinidadian journalist <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/274609">George Padmore</a>, one of Nkrumah’s closest advisors, singled out how Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party offered a new form of political leadership that was centred on</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the plebeian masses, the urban workers, artisans, petty traders, market women and fishermen, the clerks, the junior teachers, and the vast farming communities of the rural areas.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is fitting, then, that, in the speech, Nkrumah named the people on equal terms with the chiefs when he recognised those who would “reshape the destiny of this country”. Rather than taking his cues from traditional rulers, Nkrumah used this mass base to ensure that the possibilities of postcolonial society would not be limited by precolonial traditions. </p>
<p>He also promoted the masses as representatives of the “new African” who is </p>
<blockquote>
<p>ready to fight his own battle and show that after all the black man is capable of managing his own affairs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This proud and defiant vision of African political achievement was in stark contrast to racist and imperial ways of knowing that degraded and doubted African and black potential. </p>
<p>A second major theme of Nkrumah’s midnight speech was his view of the role of pan-Africanism in relationship to national consolidation. He said that Ghana’s independence was</p>
<blockquote>
<p>meaningless unless it is linked up with total liberation of the African continent. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although this became one of the most famous statements of the speech, its novel sentiment should not be overlooked. It marked Nkrumah’s widening of freedom to include pan-African dimensions. In subsequent years, Nkrumah would coordinate efforts across the continent, including the <a href="http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/africa/OAU_Charter_1993.html">1963 ratification of the Organisation of African Unity</a>. </p>
<p>Today, one of the enduring tributes to his work encouraging political and economic cooperation among African nations is the statue of Nkrumah on the grounds of the African Union building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which depicts him as he was dressed during the midnight speech.</p>
<p>One of the curious aspects of Nkrumah’s midnight speech is the fact that he asked the band to play the Ghana National Anthem twice. The first time, it was played after a moment of silence and Nkrumah’s declaration: “Ghana is free forever!”</p>
<p>Later, Nkrumah called for the anthem to be played again, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>this time … it is going to be played in honour of the foreign states who are here with us today.“ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This second anthem, however, has been written out of most of the widespread records of the speech (including the version that Nkrumah included in his 1961 book, <em>I Speak of Freedom</em>).</p>
<p>My archival work in both Ghana and the US has recovered a complete version of the speech that includes the second anthem and other omitted passages.</p>
<p>In my view, these dual anthems mark both the national and international audiences that Nkrumah was addressing. </p>
<p>For Nkrumah, achieving genuine freedom was not as simple as merely renaming the Gold Coast "Ghana” and replacing the colonial administers in Accra’s Christiansborg Castle with African agents. The “hard work” that Nkrumah focused on that night included a social and ideological reorganisation to match the political changes underway within independence. In this view, the pursuit of pan-African union was central to the transfiguration of the political kingdom. </p>
<h2>Beyond Ghana</h2>
<p>Nkrumah’s midnight speech is everywhere in Ghana today. It circulates on radio and in social media posts. Key quotations from it are emblazoned on t-shirts, posters, magazine covers, billboards, and beyond. As Nkrumah has ascended to founding father status within Ghana’s current Fourth Republic, contemporary politicians from all sides of the political spectrum invoke it. This is true even when advocating for policies that are in direct tension with those of Nkrumahism.</p>
<p>What is less well known, however, is that, in part because of Nkrumah’s influence and the catalytic role of Ghana’s freedom, the midnight independence speech has become a transnational tradition tied to moments of postcolonial foundation across the globe. </p>
<p>The midnight staging of Nkrumah’s speech was, in fact, an allusion to <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/tryst_with_destiny">the midnight speech</a> that Jawaharlal Nehru delivered for India’s independence ten years earlier. In addition, the convention of a midnight independence ceremony became a recurring practice for other countries emerging from colonial rule. Midnight independence ceremonies in subsequent years included Nigeria (1960), Sierra Leone (1961), Tanzania (1961), Botswana (1966), Angola (1975), and Zimbabwe (1980). </p>
<p>Across the Black Atlantic, Guyana marked independence with a midnight celebration (1966) and even the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China was celebrated with a midnight countdown.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erik Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nkrumah’s rhetorical vision used the politics of the crowd to build a postcolonial community outside of the conscripts of colonialism.Erik Johnson, Assistant Professor, Media and Communications Studies, Stetson University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1668762021-09-03T14:01:10Z2021-09-03T14:01:10ZAt the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, ancient Greece and Rome can tell us a lot about the links between collective trauma and going to war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419140/original/file-20210902-14-g183ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C22%2C2964%2C1845&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">America's political leaders rushed the nation into war just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, just like ancient Greeks and Romans did in response to similar traumatic events.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-defense-donald-rumsfeld-addresses-members-of-news-photo/1862297?adppopup=true">David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the outskirts of Grapevine, Texas, a town about 5 miles northwest of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, there’s a <a href="https://www.grapevinetexasusa.com/listing/9-11-flight-crew-memorial/101/">memorial dedicated to the 33 airline flight crew members</a> who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. When I stumbled upon the monument several years ago with my family, I experienced contrary emotions: sadness inspired by the memorial’s stark figures, mixed with anger over how the attacks quickly became a pretext for U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
<p>Now, as U.S. soldiers <a href="https://theconversation.com/calculating-the-costs-of-the-afghanistan-war-in-lives-dollars-and-years-164588">leave behind uncertainty and violence in Afghanistan</a>, I look back on America’s past 20 years with two sets of eyes.</p>
<p>As the first-year graduate student who stood smoking a cigarette in <a href="https://www.911memorial.org/911-faqs">Washington Square Park at 8:45 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001</a> – less than a mile from the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and where the sound of the jet engines’ final roar mixed in with a Tuesday morning’s bustle – I feel visceral sorrow and remorse. </p>
<p>Today, as a scholar of Greek literature who <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501752346/the-many-minded-man/">studies narrative and memory</a>, I see how this collective trauma shaped U.S. actions and has affected Americans’ vision of their identities and shared history – a feedback loop that is reflected in the myths and histories of ancient Greece.</p>
<p>Twenty years is still recent history for many, so memories of the 9/11 attacks may still be too raw to easily reflect on and learn from. That’s why looking for parallels in ancient stories of destruction and loss can help in understanding how shared trauma can shape the stories a nation tells itself, and the decisions that get made in response.</p>
<h2>What is “collective trauma”?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01441">Collective trauma</a> is a term that describes the shared experience of and reactions to a traumatic event by a group of people. That group may be as small as a few people or as large as a whole society.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-pain-of-9-11-still-stays-with-a-generation-64725">The 9/11 attacks shattered collective American confidence</a> in its safety and sense of place in the world. America’s collective efforts to learn to live with that trauma partly explain why there is a Sept. 11 memorial in a Texas town thousands of miles from where the attacks took place. It also demonstrates that collective tragedies can shape the world views of individuals who were not present at the event.</p>
<p>The traumatized group may go through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/brief-treatment/mhi028">shared stages of grief</a>, from disbelief to anger. The further the group gets from the traumatizing event itself, the closer it moves to <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities/special_issues/social_memory">social memory</a>, a concept historians use to describe how groups of people come to share a consistent story about past events. This narrative can be manipulated to reflect or enforce values in the present.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Maria Antonia Fernandez-Lopez touches an original steel beam from one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center to commemorate the 14th anniversary of 9/11 at the Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center in Los Angeles." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419138/original/file-20210902-16-1q7uc75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1020%2C717&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419138/original/file-20210902-16-1q7uc75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419138/original/file-20210902-16-1q7uc75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419138/original/file-20210902-16-1q7uc75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419138/original/file-20210902-16-1q7uc75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419138/original/file-20210902-16-1q7uc75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419138/original/file-20210902-16-1q7uc75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Americans’ collective trauma over the Sept. 11 attacks is reflected in memorials located near and far from where they took place.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Sept11AnniversaryCalifornia/3645cedf0859466da483020e813a5917">Nick Ut/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My studies of ancient Greek history suggest to me that this is what happened in the U.S. after the attacks. There are myths and histories of the ancient world that describe how, in the wake of the destruction of cities, societies created cultural memories that helped them find reasons for rushing into war. These episodes have parallels to the U.S. in the early 21st century.</p>
<h2>Reshaping history via stories</h2>
<p>In the spring of 2002, I attended a New York University conference called “<a href="https://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/departments/ancientstudies/conferences-and-colloquia0.html">Saving the City</a>,” where speakers were asked to consider such stories. One of the histories we focused on involved Athens after the Persian army invaded Greece – for a second time – in 480 B.C. and burned the temples, groves and homes of the Athenians. The attack was in part vengeance for a past military loss, and also a punishment for Athens’ meddling in Persian affairs in Asia Minor. As with New York on Sept. 11, the attackers targeted an icon: the first version of the Athenian Parthenon.</p>
<p>In the wake of this collective trauma, as the scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=38lYWBAAAAAJ&hl=en">Bernd Steinbock argues</a>, <a href="https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2013/2013.11.57/">narratives of city destruction became popular in Athenian storytelling and art</a>. In some of these stories, cities that had committed offenses against the gods then suffered at the hands of international armies that formed to set them right.</p>
<p>Athenians told one another these stories as they raised troops and a navy to harry the Persians in Asia Minor. Athenian political rhetoric was shaped by the specter of Persian invasion and the threat of re-invasion, the glory of victory and the casting of Athens as a force for freedom and justice in the world. This rhetoric justified imperial expansion, violence and eventually the murder and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4435410">enslavement of the city’s own allies.</a>.</p>
<p>That led to the <a href="https://historycooperative.org/the-peloponnesian-war-athens-vs-sparta/">Peloponnesian War</a>, a destructive 27-year conflict with Sparta that ended with Athens being conquered again in 404 B.C.</p>
<h2>Rhetoric and calls to arms</h2>
<p>In 2001, Americans were still in the early days of their collective trauma when talk pivoted to the rhetoric of war. Analogies were made to shared cultural or national stories from the past: The terrorists were “<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/gen.bush.terrorism/">evil-doers</a>,” President George W. Bush said soon after the attacks, and fighting them was “a new crusade.” September 11 was the “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2016/12/06/the-parallels-and-differences-between-pearl-harbor-and-911/">Pearl Harbor</a>” that made it OK to invade Afghanistan.</p>
<p>By early 2002, Bush was telling the nation that Iran, Iraq and North Korea – the “<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/29/bush-axis-of-evil-2002-1127725">axis of evil</a>” – were threats to the United States, although they had not been implicated in the Sept. 11 attacks. His administration would soon use its claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction <a href="https://americandiplomacy.web.unc.edu/2003/08/weapons-of-mass-destruction-and-tonkin-gulf/">as a “Gulf of Tonkin”</a> moment to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq – a reference to the 1964 event that spurred greater American military involvement in the Vietnam War.</p>
<p>As I listened to this sort of political rhetoric at the time, the language of Greek myth and poetry helped me understand how political speech capitalizes on memory to create shared realities and justify use of violence. I spent that first year of graduate school in New York City studying the <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/80469baf9c07c3ea8dfcf70da888631d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750">language and politics</a> in Homer’s epic, the “Iliad.” The story’s “thousand ships” from different cities sailing east, with a bumbling fool at their head, to punish the Trojans seemed an awful lot like the fractious “<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/11/20/prague.bush.nato/">coalition of the willing</a>” – Bush’s term for the military alliance he assembled to invade and occupy Iraq.</p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p>
<h2>Collective trauma and imperialism</h2>
<p>Rome provides another example from ancient history of the relationship between collective trauma and justifications for imperial pursuits. </p>
<p>The city of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppxrv">Rome fought and won its first war</a> with the powerful city of Carthage – located in what is today Tunisia – between 264-241 B.C., and its second between 218-201 B.C. Rome then imposed a hefty war indemnity on Carthage, which helped it acquire territories that laid the foundation for a <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt183pb5x.6">pan-Mediterranean empire</a>. </p>
<p>These two victories ended any significant threat that Carthage may have posed, but Roman culture remained obsessed with war. According to the military leader and author <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-remains-found-by-pompeii-really-are-pliny-the-elder-new-tests-indicate-1.8439072">Pliny the Elder</a>, the statesman Cato the Elder used to shout “<a href="http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0978.phi001.perseus-eng1:15.20">I think Carthage must be destroyed</a>” at every meeting of the Roman Senate. Rome went on to fight a third war with Carthage, besieging and destroying the city between 149-146 B.C.</p>
<p>I can’t think of this anecdote without remembering how <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/books/review/to-start-a-war-robert-draper.html">Bush agitated for invading Iraq</a> over 10 years after his father’s invasion of the country. Or that just a handful of years after Bush’s 2002 “axis of evil” speech, a presidential candidate sang “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7s5pT3Rris">bomb bomb Iran</a>” to the tune of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV873dFNQFI">a Beach Boys pop hit</a>.</p>
<p>These and other accounts from ancient Greece and Rome suggest that over history, collective trauma has often created an opportunity for leaders to use social memory – a culture’s shared stories – to create justifications for lashing out at the world, careless of any new damage it may cause.</p>
<p>As individuals and nations, we don’t act because of what we suffer, but often because of the stories we tell about it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Christensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ancient Athenians and Romans also let shared mass tragedies propel justifications for going to war – even when it wasn’t clear what that violence would solve.Joel Christensen, Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1557832021-02-23T16:17:47Z2021-02-23T16:17:47ZHow the pandemic changed political communication – and why it matters<p>The social impact of COVID is self-evident. It has touched the everyday aspects of each of our lives, from simple tasks such as shopping, to meeting family members on Zoom, to (not) socialising with friends. Each of these has been transformed over the last year in ways never imagined before March 2020.</p>
<p>This can also be said of the kind of language politicians use – and of the expectations their audiences have when listening to them. This is because politicians are no longer to appear in front of crowds, be they large or small. They don’t meet voters or their parties, and even in parliament they are only speaking in front of a small, socially distanced group of fellow MPs. </p>
<p>All this affects the quality of our liberal democratic discourse. It also changes the kinds of arguments politicians use to justify their decisions (and the extent to which such changes are exposed to genuine democratic scrutiny). For example, since March 2020, changes to the norms, values and expectations of a free society have changed at speed with little parliamentary or media scrutiny. In order to impose lockdowns, freedoms have been restricted. These changes were done for public health reasons but they still pose a significant challenge to <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-in-a-pandemic-how-coronavirus-caused-a-dramatic-shift-in-our-relationship-with-the-state-147679">conventions of a democratic society</a>.</p>
<h2>Pandemic PMQs</h2>
<p>Ordinarily, prime minister’s questions would be a riotous occasion in the House of Commons. Party leaders seek to expose the intellectual and political deficiencies of their opponent and their arguments. The conventional purpose of this exercise is for each leader to whip their backbenchers into a vocal frenzy of support, thereby showing they can lead their party to potential future victory at the polls. </p>
<p>COVID has dialled back the volume considerably. The pandemic has removed most of the physical audience (MPs), and changed the tone of questions and answers so that they are now more comparable to a forensic select committee. Gone are loud displays of support, or the need for the Speaker to regularly demand “order!” Under the current circumstances, PMQs has been transformed into a sedate exchange of questions and answers. There is little to no interaction with the physical or virtual audiences of MPs.</p>
<p>Another arena to have rhetorically been affected by COVID are media engagements. Sit-down interviews occasionally continue in a socially distant way on some of the <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/27/bbc-defends-andrew-marr-after-terrible-boris-johnson-interview-13977337/">bigger weekly programmes</a> but on the rolling news channels, politicians are now “Zoomed in” from their home offices which, in themselves, send interesting messages to the audience. Politicians will <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-disastrous-zoom-backgrounds-of-mps-at-pmqs">use these settings</a> to try to convince audiences of their rhetorical character using props such as books, framed pictures or other items such as plants. The aim is to make the interview slightly more open and potentially more composed by placing the political figure in a domestic setting, yet this set up lacks the conventional confrontational framing provided by a face-to-face interview which is often required for genuine scrutiny.</p>
<h2>Party faithful, I think you’re on mute?</h2>
<p>Finally, the party conference has inevitably been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53324512">substantially affected by COVID</a> and with it the ability of party leaders to engage with their supporters. Normally the keynote party leader speech would be a chance to articulate an ideological renewal strategy. It’s the leader’s chance to show they are capable of continuing to lead their party and to enjoy their support through audience reactions such as applause.</p>
<p>The virtual conference cuts out a key measure of how much support a leader really has – the sound of the audience. Without that feedback, party leaders are left speaking into a camera in the hope that the audience accepts their arguments without really knowing if it does. That affects the vocal tone of their delivery and overall speaking style. This has been a significant issue for Labour leader Keir Starmer, especially as he has yet to appear before the <a href="https://theconversation.com/keir-starmer-what-we-learned-from-his-first-party-conference-speech-as-labour-leader-146704">Labour Party conference</a> in person as leader.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The impact of COVID on these rhetorical arena affects the ability of one of our key democratic norms to function – communication. Without communication (or rhetoric), there is no meaningful liberal democratic society or scrutiny of our political leaders. This is not to suggest our liberal democracy has ceased to function (indeed, its move into the virtual realm is a testament to its strength). However, the manner in which PMQs is currently functioning impedes not just scrutiny but also the ability of party leaders to lead their parliamentary parties.</p>
<p>The use of virtual interviews affects the ability of interviews to truly hold political leaders to account, given the changing tone in the environment. And the digital party conference prevents activists from showing their support for party leaders through applause. It is important that a party leader solicits applause from their supporters as it shows the wider electorate that they lead a supportive party. Without applause, it is unclear if they have a united party behind them that supports their leadership or broader agenda. </p>
<p>Needless to say, these situations are unavoidable during the COVID pandemic because safety rightly comes first. However, it is important that in a post-COVID world, the norms and expectations of political communication are returned to their liberal democratic norms of vocal and uncomfortable accountability for healthy engagement between political leaders and voters to return. When it is safe to do so, it is vital that in these areas the “new normal” resembles the “old normal”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155783/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew S. Roe-Crines does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Empty chambers and cancelled conferences deny the public a vital feedback loop when politicians are presenting their ideas.Andrew S. Roe-Crines, British Politics Lecturer, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1524832021-01-15T13:21:13Z2021-01-15T13:21:13ZHow Trump’s language shifted in the weeks leading up to the Capitol riot – 2 linguists explain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378909/original/file-20210114-16-xx0z5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=593%2C568%2C4979%2C3099&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trump addresses a crowd in Dalton, Georgia, on Jan. 4, the night before the state's U.S. Senate runoff.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-donald-j-trump-speaks-in-support-of-republican-news-photo/1230444469?adppopup=true">Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Jan. 6, the world witnessed how language can incite violence. </p>
<p>One after another, a series of speakers at the “Save America” rally at the Ellipse in Washington redoubled the messages of anger and outrage.</p>
<p>This rhetoric culminated <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/09/three-key-factors-that-drive-far-right-political-violence-two-that-dont/">with a directive</a> by the president to go to the Capitol building to embolden Republicans in Congress to overturn the results of the 2020 election.</p>
<p>“Fight like hell,” President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/trump-speech-riot.html">implored his supporters</a>. “And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/12/us/capitol-mob-timeline.html">Shortly thereafter</a>, some of Trump’s supporters breached the Capitol. </p>
<p>Throughout his presidency, Trump’s unorthodox use of language <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/two-linguists-use-their-skills-to-inspect-21-739-trump-tweets/">has fascinated linguists and social scientists</a>. But it wasn’t just his words that day that led to the violence.</p>
<p>Starting with <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?506975-1/president-trump-statement-2020-election-results">a speech he made on Dec. 2</a> – in which he made his case for election fraud – we analyzed six public addresses Trump made before and after the riot at the Capitol building. The others were <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-rally-speech-transcript-dalton-georgia-senate-runoff-election">the campaign rally</a> ahead of the runoff elections in Georgia, <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6">the speech</a> he made at the “Save America” rally on Jan. 6, the videotaped message that aired later that same day, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/politics/video-trump.html">his denouncement of the violence on Jan. 7</a> and <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trumps-first-comments-since-capitol-riots-says-he-wants-no-violence">his speech</a> en route to Texas on Jan. 12.</p>
<p>Together, they reveal how the president’s language escalated in intensity in the weeks and days leading up to the riots.</p>
<h2>Finding patterns in language</h2>
<p>Textual analysis – converting words into numbers that can be analyzed as data – can identify patterns in the types of words people use, including their syntax, semantics and vocabulary choice. Linguistic analysis can reveal latent trends in the speaker’s <a href="https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/31333">psychological, emotional and physical states</a> beneath the surface of what’s being heard or read.</p>
<p>This sort of analysis has led to a number of discoveries.</p>
<p>For example, researchers have used it to identify the authors of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2283270?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">The Federalist Papers</a>, the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/08/22/545122205/fbi-profiler-says-linguistic-work-was-pivotal-in-capture-of-unabomber">Unabomber manifesto</a> and a novel written by <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-a-computer-program-helped-show-jk-rowling-write-a-cuckoos-calling/">J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym</a>.</p>
<p>Textual analysis continues to offer fresh political insights, such as its use to advance the theory that social media posts attributed to QAnon are actually written by <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qanon-is-two-different-people-shows-machine-learning-analysis-from-orphanalytics-301192981.html">two different people</a>.</p>
<h2>The ‘official’ sounding Trump</h2>
<p>Contrary to popular thinking, Trump does not universally use inflammatory rhetoric. While he is well known for his <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/11/14238274/trumps-speaking-style-press-conference-linguists-explain">unique speaking style</a> and his once-frequent social media posts, in official settings his language has been quite similar to that of other presidents. </p>
<p>Researchers have noted how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2015.1010191">people routinely alter their speaking</a> and writing depending on whether a setting is formal or informal. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17467586.2015.1038286">formal venues</a>, like the State of the Union speeches, <a href="https://rogerkreuz.com/SOTU.png">textual analysis</a> has found Trump to use language in ways that echo his predecessors.</p>
<p>In addition, a <a href="https://businessfinancing.co.uk/leader-vocabulary/">recent study</a> analyzed 10,000 words from Trump’s and President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign speeches. It concluded – perhaps surprisingly – that Trump and Biden’s language was similar. </p>
<p>Both men used ample emotional language – the kind that aims to persuade people to vote – at roughly the same rates. They also used comparable rates of positive language, as well as language related to trust, anticipation and surprise. One possible reason for this could be the audience, and the persuasive and evocative nature of campaign speeches themselves, rather than individual differences between speakers. </p>
<h2>The road to incitement</h2>
<p>Of course, Trump has, at times, <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-inaugural-speech-is-it-morning-or-mourning-in-america-71656">used</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/21506029/trump-violence-tweets-racist-hate-speech">overtly dire and violent language</a>.</p>
<p>After studying Trump’s speeches before the storming of the Capitol building, we found some underlying patterns. If it seemed there was a growing sense of momentum and action in his speeches, it’s because there was.</p>
<p>From early December to early January, there was an increase in the use of words that convey <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X09351676">movement and motion</a> – terms like “change,” “follow” and “lead.” </p>
<p><iframe id="RLCy4" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/RLCy4/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>This is important, because it signals that the undertone of the speeches, beyond the overt directives, was goading his supporters to take action. By contrast, passive voice is often used to distance oneself from something or someone. In addition, research on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029005010">linguistic indicators of deception</a> has found that people who are lying often use more motion words. </p>
<p>We also looked at Trump’s use of presidential language during the same time frame. Researchers have identified the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2006.01.006">hallmark features of presidential language</a>. These include using more articles – “the,” “an,” “a” – prepositions, positive emotion, long words and, interestingly, swear words. </p>
<p>Trump used the most presidential language <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnSNvtqUuqc">in the video recorded the day after the riots</a>, in which he denounced the violence, and in his Dec. 2 election fraud speech. His other four speeches more closely match the level of presidential language reflected in his State of the Union speeches. </p>
<p><iframe id="4Pbve" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/4Pbve/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The violence at the Capitol building and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/13/us/trump-impeachment">impeachment of the president</a> have only added fuel to a contentious period marked by a pandemic, an economic crisis, widespread protests over racial inequality, a heated presidential election and citizens divided over real and fake news.</p>
<p>In this context, the role of language to calm, reassure and unify is more important than ever – and in this task, Biden has a steep challenge ahead of him. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152483/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leah Cathryn Windsor was PI on a Minerva Initiative project funded by the Department of Defense. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger J. Kreuz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The president’s language sounded less presidential and more inflammatory in the weeks leading up to the riots.Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of MemphisLeah Cathryn Windsor, Research Assistant Professor, University of MemphisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1509332020-12-22T17:38:02Z2020-12-22T17:38:02ZFrom biblical times to Trump, false messiahs have doomed societies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375511/original/file-20201216-13-1ehm607.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C2492%2C1661&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Surrounded by army cadets, U.S. President Donald Trump watches the first half of the 121st Army-Navy Football Game at the United States Military Academy in New York City on Dec. 12, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The prophet Jeremiah records in excruciating detail the catastrophic events leading to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BCE. </p>
<p>Jeremiah describes the devastating famine, escalating sense of fear and ominous foreboding that permeated the city <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jer.+23%3A16-17&version=NRSV">despite optimistic oracles issued in the royal court by prophets</a>, who promised divine intercession. Jeremiah warned his listeners not to be deceived by false hopes based on the belief that God would protect his sacred temple and the city in which it stood: “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jer.+7%3A4&version=NRSV">Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord</a>.’”</p>
<p>The people of Jerusalem disregarded Jeremiah’s advice and threw him into a well, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jer.+26%3A8-11&version=NRSV">threatening even to kill him because his doom-saying weakened morale in the besieged city</a>. Yet, it is Jeremiah’s oracles that the Bible preserves because he was correct: the city was violently destroyed and most of the Judeans either died or were exiled to Babylonia, leaving only a remnant of peasants behind to work the land. This brought the biblical kingdom of Judah <a href="https://www.livescience.com/55774-ancient-israel.html">to an end</a>.</p>
<p>History teaches that messianic hopes lead to poor outcomes for the societies that embrace them. Yet, they continue to surface — even today, with the elevation of Donald Trump by some to messiah-like status.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375514/original/file-20201216-19-vwasc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting showing the destruction of the Jerusalem" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375514/original/file-20201216-19-vwasc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375514/original/file-20201216-19-vwasc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375514/original/file-20201216-19-vwasc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375514/original/file-20201216-19-vwasc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375514/original/file-20201216-19-vwasc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375514/original/file-20201216-19-vwasc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375514/original/file-20201216-19-vwasc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Distruzione del tempio di Gerusalemme (Destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem),’ by Italian painter Francesco Hayez (1867)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.gallerieaccademia.it/la-distruzione-del-tempio-di-gerusalemme">(Gallerie dell'Accademia)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Divine intervention and predictive failures</h2>
<p>The Babylonian conquest is just one example of false hopes for divine intercession leading to ill-fated rebellion and catastrophic defeat. In the year 70 CE, Jerusalem again found itself besieged <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Jerusalem-70">by a regional superpower demanding political submission</a>. </p>
<p>Josephus, a Jewish historian who survived the war, writes an eye-witness account of the events that led to the second cataclysmic destruction of Jerusalem. He reports that, leading to the Jewish revolt in 66 CE, numerous bandits fomented rebellion against Rome in ways that suggest they had <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-2.html">messianic pretensions</a>: one false prophet gathered mobs in the wilderness and led them to the Mount of Olives, promising to breach the city walls. </p>
<p>More poignantly, Josephus narrates the final hours of the Jerusalem temple before it was burned to the ground, when thousands of common people, including women and children, gathered in the temple cloisters because a prophet had predicted that God would <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-6.html">deliver them from there</a>. In language choked with emotion, Josephus describes the foolish waste of life that day due to false hopes in divine intercession.</p>
<p>Sixty-five years later, another disastrous rebellion against Rome culminated in brutal conquest, death and slavery for hundreds of thousands of Judeans — <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691117812/imperialism-and-jewish-society">leading to the disintegration of Jewish society in Judea for over a century</a>. This failed revolt by a man with messianic pretensions, dubbed “Son-of-a-Star” (Bar Kokhba), resulted in political domination by foreign rulers and the dispersion of the Judean population into foreign lands until the modern era. </p>
<p>Christian messianism has an equally long track record of failed apocalyptic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfulfilled_Christian_religious_predictions">predictions</a> and false prophecies, appearing already in the New Testament: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+9%3A1&version=NIV">the Gospel of Mark 9:1</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+cor+7%3A29-31&version=NIV">Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 7:29-31</a> both anticipate that Jesus will return within their lifetimes to establish the kingdom of God. </p>
<p>The failure of this event and efforts to justify and explain it ultimately led to the founding of a new religion: Christianity.</p>
<h2>Trump the saviour</h2>
<p>Most recently, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2050303220924078">messianic expectations have attached to the figure of Trump</a>, whom a <a href="https://religionnews.com/2018/07/02/why-white-evangelicals-voted-for-trump-fear-power-and-nostalgia/">large proportion of white evangelicals herald as a political saviour</a>. Many of them draw a link between Isaiah 45, which describes the Persian king <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/opinion/trump-evangelicals-cyrus-king.html">Cyrus the Great</a> as God’s anointed, and the fact that Trump is the 45th president of the United States; this numerical coincidence is viewed as evidence for divine providence. </p>
<p>Even Trump’s moral failings have been assimilated to his messianic identity: <a href="https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article228612744.html">Jerry Falwell Jr. compares Trump to King David</a>, who <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+sam+11&version=NRSV">committed adultery, hired a hitman</a> and repented to God following the death of his son who was conceived through this illicit sexual union. </p>
<p>If evangelicals regard Trump as their saviour and <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-still-enjoys-huge-support-among-evangelical-voters-and-its-not-only-because-of-abortion-148174">the one who will rectify the moral and political imbalance</a> they perceive is afflicting American society, the QAnon movement has taken this doctrine of salvation to the next level: Exploiting human emotion and concern for children, the movement posits a global child sex-trafficking ring run by high level Democrats and the Hollywood elite. </p>
<p>QAnon followers believe that this criminal network controls the U.S. government — menacingly labelled “<a href="https://www.govexec.com/feature/gov-exec-deconstructing-deep-state/">the Deep State</a>” — and operates with impunity across the globe.</p>
<p>Their <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2020/05/qanon-q-pro-trump-conspiracy/611722/">conspiratorial mythology</a> centres on Trump, who is acclaimed as the tireless leader, fighting to destroy this evil cabal. QAnon believers anticipate an imminent revelation of the truth, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/20/the-qanon-conspiracy">referred to as the Great Awakening</a>, and predict an impending apocalypse cryptically referred to as “the Show.” </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-church-of-qanon-will-conspiracy-theories-form-the-basis-of-a-new-religious-movement-137859">The Church of QAnon: Will conspiracy theories form the basis of a new religious movement?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Trump’s claims to be the “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/08/21/i-am-chosen-one-trump-again-plays-messianic-claims-he-embraces-king-israel-title/">chosen one</a>” and his frequent references to the Deep State explicitly fuel messianic speculation centred on his presidency. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375509/original/file-20201216-23-17nn49v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Trump stands in front of a crowd with his fist raised." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375509/original/file-20201216-23-17nn49v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375509/original/file-20201216-23-17nn49v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375509/original/file-20201216-23-17nn49v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375509/original/file-20201216-23-17nn49v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375509/original/file-20201216-23-17nn49v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375509/original/file-20201216-23-17nn49v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375509/original/file-20201216-23-17nn49v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump campaigning in late October after testing positive for coronavirus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trump’s relentless (albeit futile) attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. election through <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/business/election-security-letter-trump.html">unsubstantiated claims that mail-in voting was riddled with fraud</a> exploits the credulity and undying faith of his supporters; <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-were-primed-to-believe-the-current-onslaught-of-disinformation/">they overwhelmingly accept</a> his narrative and have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/technology/beware-of-this-misinformation-from-stop-the-steal-rallies-this-weekend.html">taken to the streets to support his cause</a>. </p>
<p>Trump’s narcissistic undermining of democratic principles, abetted by messianic mythologies and ill-fated expectations for divine intercession, threatens to <a href="https://abc11.com/trump-rally-2020-election-results-dc-protest-stop-the-steal/8741019/">unravel American society in civil violence</a> and distrust.</p>
<p>Trumpism has all the hallmarks of previous messianic movements: in subordinating reality to mythology, they failed and in the process destroyed the societies they aspired to save.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kimberly Stratton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The messianic language used in relationship to Donald Trump and QAnon conspiracy theories have their roots in Christian expectations of messianic deliverance.Kimberly Stratton, Associate Professor, Humanities and Religion, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1472552020-10-05T14:31:22Z2020-10-05T14:31:22ZWhy Donald Trump’s words work, and what to do about it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361492/original/file-20201004-18-qh6ao5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C40%2C5019%2C3338&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With the American flag reflected in the teleprompter, President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Duluth International Airport on Sept. 30, 2020, in Duluth, Minn. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As America chaotically careens toward election day with President Donald Trump fighting a COVID-19 infection, we should stop and ask: Just why and how do Trump’s words work? And how does the recent confusion sown by his doctors at Walter Reed Medical Center amplify that work?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1312525833505058816"}"></div></p>
<p>Perhaps more importantly: What can we do about it?</p>
<p>These questions strike at the core of a deep and persistent misunderstanding about communication. Too often people assume that communication is a matter of transmitting information from one place to another and that words simply carry meaning. </p>
<p>From this perspective, the president’s words function as a conduit from his head to everyone listening. With this president, we have all become accustomed to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-46175024">concept of “misinformation</a>,” whereby we recognize that intentionally false or misleading information is transmitted to the listener, and how it’s had <a href="https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/10/what-drove-the-covid-misinformation-infodemic/">a devastating impact during the COVID-19 pandemic.</a></p>
<p>We’ve also been awed by <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/26/donald-trump-twitter-addiction-216530">his use of Twitter</a> to communicate that misinformation.</p>
<h2>Trump rhetoric</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/1-2-the-communication-process/#:%7E:text=The%20transmission%20model%20of%20communication%20describes%20communication%20as%20a%20one,by%20environmental%20or%20semantic%20noise.">transmission model</a> of communications describes the technical movement of a signal over a channel and across a distance. But this is a poor description of presidential rhetoric. </p>
<p>Too often we think that the complex, human task of communication is the same as the technical process of transmission. We worry whether someone “gets” our suggestions. When the president’s doctors update us on his health status, we assume that they’re just “giving” us information. “Giving” and “getting” are verbs of transmission. </p>
<p>Parsing the information transmitted by a president, determining whether it’s true or false or what’s really going on, is an ineffective way to understand what Trump’s words actually achieve. It doesn’t matter whether the information he transmits is accurate or inaccurate, and we make a mistake when we focus too much on accuracy and inaccuracy.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1311225520814776320"}"></div></p>
<p>Then what to focus on? </p>
<p>What I and many others call the “rhetorical model of communication” suggests that words have impact, and that meaning is an outcome of the effects words produce. About 2,400 years ago, <a href="https://iep.utm.edu/gorgias/">Gorgias</a>, the famous <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sophists/">sophist</a> and democratic theorist, argued that words had a similar effect as drugs on the body. <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Medicine/">Ancient Athenian soothsayers would speak to the wounds of soldiers in battle</a> in hopes that their words would heal. </p>
<p>So instead of asking whether a president’s rhetoric is true or false, instead of trying to interpret the information presented in order to receive an accurate sense of what Trump is really saying, we ought to start asking: What effect do the president’s words have on us? For example, what is the impact of his anti-mask mockery on his followers and on public health efforts to keep citizens safe?</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QiN-wANjTrc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trump mocks a reporter for wearing a mask during a news conference, courtesy of The Independent.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Evoke strong reactions</h2>
<p>Trump’s words are aimed at producing strong reactions. When he mocks mask-wearing, he knows that he’ll evoke a strong reaction from both the media and his followers, and he doesn’t seem to care about the accuracy of the information he’s transmitting. He knows that elections are not won or lost on policy ideas or rational voters making informed choices. They are won or lost on the basis of the effects produced by the candidate’s words. </p>
<p>Those effects drive us to the polls and motivate us to act and reason in specific ways. </p>
<p>I’ve taught rhetoric and communication classes for 20 years, and in almost every class, I begin by telling my students to pay more attention to the effects their words have on others and not the information they wish to convey. This president has surely mastered that lesson. He speaks with the intent of producing the strongest possible impact and cares not at all about the information transmitted.</p>
<p>There is no mistaking the intended effects of this president’s rhetoric. He aims to create feelings of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0002716218811309">resentment, distrust and suspicion</a>. Mapping the world in terms of “us” and “them” creates conflict (and is perhaps the cornerstone of fascist rhetoric). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Trump points at a supporter while speaking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361493/original/file-20201004-22-w60rvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361493/original/file-20201004-22-w60rvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361493/original/file-20201004-22-w60rvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361493/original/file-20201004-22-w60rvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361493/original/file-20201004-22-w60rvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361493/original/file-20201004-22-w60rvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361493/original/file-20201004-22-w60rvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump gestures to supporters as he arrives at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport on Sept. 30, 2020, in Minneapolis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Conflict with those we resent and distrust drives attention — this is the ethos of the entertainment industry, reality television and thousands of years of theatre. Making us feel uncertain, anxious, fearful — this is what Trump’s words do, regardless of the information they transmit. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-10-04/trump-coronavirus-diagnosis-trust">The uncertainty created by his doctors at Walter Reed</a> served this same function — they attracted attention via uncertainty.</p>
<p>The feelings Trump targets draw us in, make us pay attention to all of his transgressions and affect our relations with others who share our space. Attention is persuasion, because meaning is in the way we react to his words, not in the information he transmits. </p>
<h2>Amplifying Trump’s rhetoric</h2>
<p>Every time CNN or Fox News broadcasts <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/03/coronavirus-chris-hayes-don-lemon-1202896531/">the president’s news conferences</a>, they amplify the effects by spreading them to larger audiences. Trump knows this, and yet our news outlets continue to let it happen. </p>
<p>Why? </p>
<p>Because dramatic tension fuels attention, and Trump’s words work to generate tension, anxiety, conflict and therefore attention. We could parse the rhetorical tactics that typically generate the strongest reactions and easily see them in Trump’s words (hyperbole, <a href="https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/reification#:%7E:text=Reification%20is%20when%20you%20think,evil%20%E2%80%94%20as%20a%20material%20thing.">reification</a>, ad hominem attacks, ambiguity). But we ought to focus more on how we react in order to limit his ability to persuade.</p>
<p>The president’s words right now are affecting all of us; they are driving us from one another and creating battle lines like the plot of a good drama. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1313074061757554688"}"></div></p>
<p>Where are our soothsayers? Who will speak to our wounds in hopes of having the same affects as drugs on our bodies, like Gorgias believed? </p>
<p>Resistance to Trump requires changes in the way we react to his words. Like a parent who does not react to their children’s tantrums (which are designed to generate attention), we must react with neutrality and objectivity, not more insults or hyperbole. </p>
<p>To put it more succinctly: Saving democracy requires defying Trump’s words by reacting differently from what they typically prescribe or intend. We need to react with civility, care and calm to undo the cycle of attention and persuasion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Danisch receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>Because dramatic tension fuels attention, Trump’s words work to generate tension, anxiety and conflict. We need to react with civility, care and calm to undo the cycle of attention and persuasion.Robert Danisch, Associate Professor, Communications & Chair of Department of Communication Arts, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1470782020-09-29T12:33:26Z2020-09-29T12:33:26ZDon’t underestimate the power of the putdown in a presidential debate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360382/original/file-20200928-18-c9kvhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C7%2C4721%2C3299&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will either – or both – of these men use humor or insults in their first presidential debate?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2020-Debate-SportsBetting/bef83fc51f3e433098cbd813c6fbfc50/photo">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before the first presidential debate, President Donald Trump demanded that his Democratic challenger Joe Biden <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-27/trump-says-he-ll-demand-biden-take-drug-test-for-debate">submit to a drug test</a>.</p>
<p>Trump was again suggesting – without evidence – that his opponent takes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-strongly-demanding-biden-drug-tested-2020-9">performance-enhancing drugs</a>.</p>
<p>If Trump brings this up during the debate, no one should be surprised if Biden has a comeback prepared. Biden’s campaign has already issued a statement on the president’s unusual challenge – “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/27/joe-biden-trump-debate-422328">If the president thinks his best case is made in urine he can have at it</a>,” said Biden’s deputy campaign manager – but the Democratic presidential nominee has yet to answer himself.</p>
<p>Biden could respond as U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, a Democrat from South Carolina, did during a televised debate in 1986 with his Republican opponent Henry McMaster, who similarly challenged him to take a drug test.</p>
<p>“Henry, I’ll take a drug test if <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/the-quotable-fritz-hollings-in-11-verses/article_07ee6482-f41c-11e8-ba17-5f7805fa5530.html">you’ll take an IQ test</a>,” Hollings said.</p>
<p>Hollings won the exchange – and the election.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>A way to have the last word</h2>
<p>In my recent book, “<a href="https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/the-art-of-the-political-putdown">The Art of the Political Putdown</a>: The Greatest Comebacks, Ripostes, and Retorts in History,” I point out that delivering a comeback can be a potent political weapon, deflecting criticism, hammering home a point and even leaving an opponent speechless.</p>
<p>A politician who wields a comeback with skill can use it as both a bludgeon and a shield, damaging the opponent without hurting their own popularity with voters.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">President Barack Obama frames a comeback to a criticism from Mitt Romney in 2012.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During one of the 2012 presidential debates, Republican Mitt Romney repeated one of his favorite campaign lines – that the U.S. Navy was the smallest it had been since World War I. </p>
<p>“Well, Governor,” President Barack Obama responded, “we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military’s changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJxeSVcbBtM">game of Battleship</a>, where we’re counting ships. It’s what are our capabilities?” </p>
<p>Obama won the exchange and the election.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Republican candidate Donald Trump zings his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, with a one-liner.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Insults can work</h2>
<p>During the GOP primaries in 2016, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told Donald Trump he could not insult his way to the nomination or “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/09/10/politics/jeb-bush-donald-trump-carly-fiorina/index.html">certainly not the presidency</a>.” </p>
<p>But Trump did just that. </p>
<p>Trump produced perhaps the most memorable moment of the 2016 presidential debates when Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton chided him after he called his temperament “his strongest asset.”</p>
<p>“It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country,” she said.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Q71k6fmts">Because you’d be in jail</a>,” Trump shot back. </p>
<p>The crowd roared – and Trump won the election.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LoPu1UIBkBc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">President Ronald Reagan quashes a key criticism with humor.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Humor is more effective</h2>
<p>Trump’s strategy has a poor record in history. A far better strategy, as President Ronald Reagan exhibited when he ran for reelection in 1984, is humor.</p>
<p>Reagan, who was 73, stumbled in his first debate with Democratic challenger Walter Mondale. He knew he would be asked about his age during the next debate. When the question came, he answered, “I want you to know that … I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPu1UIBkBc">my opponent’s youth and inexperience</a>.”</p>
<p>Even Mondale laughed. Reagan easily won reelection.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Lamb does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A politician who wields a comeback with skill can use it as both a bludgeon and a shield, damaging the opponent without hurting their own popularity with voters.Chris Lamb, Professor of Journalism, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1466402020-09-28T12:25:56Z2020-09-28T12:25:56ZWhen politicians use hate speech, political violence increases<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359668/original/file-20200923-17-n2vp75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C11%2C2461%2C1751&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump have been accused of using hate speech.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IndiaNamasteTrump/563dd5a065c34b5e897b098049ab841c/photo">AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Politicians deepen existing divides when they use inflammatory language, such as hate speech, and this makes their societies more likely to experience political violence and terrorism. That’s the conclusion from a study I recently did on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629.2020.1739033">connection between political rhetoric and actual violence</a>.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump is not the only world leader who is accused of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741827580/go-back-where-you-came-from-the-long-rhetorical-roots-of-trump-s-racist-tweets">publicly denigrating</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attacks-protections-for-immigrants-from-shithole-countries-in-oval-office-meeting/2018/01/11/bfc0725c-f711-11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html">people based</a> on their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/politics/trump-undocumented-immigrants-animals.html">racial</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/06/16/choice-words-from-donald-trump-presidential-candidate/">ethnic</a> or <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/09/politics/donald-trump-islam-hates-us/">religious</a> backgrounds. </p>
<p>In the 2019 parliamentary campaign in India, politicians from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party targeted Muslims as part of a widespread electoral <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-15/senior-politicians-censured-for-hate-speech-as-india-polls-begin">strategy to galvanize Hindu nationalism</a>. Similarly, in the 2019 Polish election, incumbent president Andrzej Duda made <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/polands-rulers-manufactured-a-rainbow-plague/614113/">demonization of the LGBT community as well as foreigners</a> the centerpiece of his successful reelection campaign. </p>
<p>Hate speech has also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629.2020.1739033">figured prominently in the recent rhetoric</a> of political leaders in a variety of countries including Russia, Colombia, Israel, Egypt, Ukraine, the Philippines, Italy, Greece, Sri Lanka and Iraq.</p>
<p>These remarks are not just empty rhetoric or political theater. My research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629.2020.1739033">when politicians use hate speech, domestic terrorism increases</a> – in the U.S. and in other countries. </p>
<p>Indeed, since the beginning of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, domestic terrorism has more than doubled in the United States. During the Obama administration’s two terms, the U.S. <a href="https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd">averaged 26.6 incidents of domestic terrorism per year</a>, according to the Global Terrorism Database. The most active year, by far, was 2016, which saw 67 attacks, more than double Obama’s overall average. During the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency, 2017 and 2018 – the latest year for which data are available – domestic terror activity stayed that high, with 66 and 67 attacks, respectively. </p>
<p><iframe id="8hu8Y" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8hu8Y/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Polarizing politics paves the way</h2>
<p>Hateful rhetoric targeting minority groups is an <a href="http://politicalviolenceataglance.org/2018/08/17/what-violent-rhetoric-does-and-does-not-do/">established technique</a> to unify and mobilize political supporters and to delegitimize and dehumanize political opponents. Hate speech by politicians also serves to deepen political polarization.</p>
<p>More polarized societies are especially susceptible to bouts of political violence and terrorism when politicians use hate speech. Examples include <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/terror-from-far-right-in-weimar-republic/">Weimar Germany in the 1920s and 1930s</a>, which featured assassinations of leftist politicians and street brawling by Nazi partisans;
<a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/argentina">Argentina in the 1970s</a> during the so-called “Dirty War” in which government-backed right-wing death squads fought with left-wing political movements who themselves engaged in terrorism; and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09546550903574438">Turkey in the late 1970s early 1980s</a>, when ultranationalist right-wing organizations and leftist opposition movements attacked each other. </p>
<p>When taken to an extreme, hateful rhetoric by political leaders can precipitate civil wars and genocides, as was the case in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/rwanda-shows-how-hateful-speech-leads-violence/587041/">the 1990s in Rwanda</a>, where Hutu extremists used anti-Tutsi radio broadcasts to foment widespread violence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359674/original/file-20200923-22-tsfavb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Soldiers drag a person away while another person pulls the other direction." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359674/original/file-20200923-22-tsfavb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359674/original/file-20200923-22-tsfavb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359674/original/file-20200923-22-tsfavb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359674/original/file-20200923-22-tsfavb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359674/original/file-20200923-22-tsfavb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359674/original/file-20200923-22-tsfavb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359674/original/file-20200923-22-tsfavb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In Argentina in the 1970s, political polarization and inflammatory politicians led to violence in the streets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/woman-tries-desperately-to-prevent-detention-of-a-young-man-news-photo/523996124">Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Examining the data</h2>
<p>For my analysis, I used statistical data on domestic terrorist incidents from the <a href="https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/">Global Terrorism Database</a> at the University of Maryland, and major party figures’ use of hate speech in about 150 countries between 2000 and 2017 from the <a href="https://www.v-dem.net/en/">Varieties of Democracy</a> project at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.</p>
<p>I tried to determine the relationship between politicians using hate speech and the number of domestic terror attacks the country experienced the following year. Other elements can affect domestic terrorism, so I factored into my analysis each country’s political system, its gross domestic product per capita, its population size, its degree of ethnic and linguistic diversity and its level of media freedom. </p>
<p>To further distinguish political violence that was specifically produced by hate speech, I also factored in how much domestic terrorism the country had experienced in previous years and whether or not the country was experiencing a civil war.</p>
<p><iframe id="Fv8Al" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Fv8Al/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Violence climbs when politicians speak with hate</h2>
<p>What I found is that countries where politicians frequently weave hate speech into their political rhetoric subsequently experience more domestic terrorism. A lot more. </p>
<p>Countries such as Costa Rica or Finland, where the data show politicians “never” or “rarely” employed hate speech, experienced an average of 12.5 incidents of domestic terrorism between 2000 and 2017. Countries where politicians were found to “sometimes” use hate speech in their rhetoric, such as Belgium or Cyprus, experienced 28.9 attacks on average. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>However, domestic terrorism was quite frequent in countries whether politicians used hate speech “often” or “extremely often.” Such countries, including Iraq, Russia, Turkey and Sudan, experienced an average of 107.9 domestic terrorist attacks during that period.</p>
<p>What public figures say can bring people together, or divide them. How politicians talk affects how people behave – and the amount of violence their nations experience.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146640/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Piazza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>My research shows that when politicians use hate speech, it’s not just empty rhetoric or political theater: Domestic terrorism increases, in the US and in other countries.James Piazza, Liberal Arts Professor of Political Science, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1458402020-09-21T20:00:09Z2020-09-21T20:00:09ZArdern versus Collins: ahead of their first TV debate, how much will charisma and eloquence matter?<p>When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was named the “<a href="https://development-academy.co.uk/news-tips/the-worlds-top-10-public-speakers/">world’s most eloquent leader</a>” last month it raised the question of just how important eloquence is within a politician’s arsenal.</p>
<p>With the first televised <a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/1-news-vote-2020?">leaders’ debate</a> this evening, voters have their first opportunity during the election campaign to compare Ardern’s style with her National Party rival Judith Collins. </p>
<p>While she has a different, more pugnacious style, Collins is also highly articulate, forceful in her speech and quick on her feet. The debate is her first real campaign opportunity to demonstrate those points of difference.</p>
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<p>Contrast New Zealand’s two main party leaders with their counterparts in the US presidential campaign and the differences are glaring. Trump and Biden are arguably two of the least articulate candidates in modern American history. </p>
<p>Biden has described himself as a “<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/04/politics/joe-biden-most-qualified-person-president-2020/index.html">gaffe machine</a>” and barely a day goes by that Trump doesn’t deliver a helping of nearly indecipherable “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/15/an-amazing-donald-trump-word-salad/">word salad</a>”. Little wonder that age and possible dementia are among the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/07/2020-dementia-campaign-123106">commonest criticisms</a> of both candidates.</p>
<p>Those contrasts between the current US and New Zealand candidates also underline that eloquence, while an asset, is neither vital nor sufficient on its own for electoral success. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stardust-and-substance-new-zealands-election-becomes-a-third-referendum-on-jacinda-arderns-leadership-143262">Stardust and substance: New Zealand's election becomes a 'third referendum' on Jacinda Ardern's leadership</a>
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<p>Still, since success in politics is about generating voter support and governing effectively by persuading people to follow one’s lead, eloquence obviously matters. That has never been more obvious than during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
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<img alt="Donald Trump in front of crowd" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358950/original/file-20200921-20-10qh0vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358950/original/file-20200921-20-10qh0vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358950/original/file-20200921-20-10qh0vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358950/original/file-20200921-20-10qh0vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358950/original/file-20200921-20-10qh0vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358950/original/file-20200921-20-10qh0vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358950/original/file-20200921-20-10qh0vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Donald Trump at a rally in August: being conventionally articulate isn’t everything.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<h2>What is eloquence and why does it matter?</h2>
<p>Essentially, eloquence is fluent, elegant and persuasive speech. Eloquent speakers can express themselves forcefully and convincingly as the situation demands. While it’s about more than being articulate, clear and coherent, dexterity with vocabulary is an important part of the equation.</p>
<p>It also doesn’t necessarily mean being precise and specific. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1741-5705.2004.00210.x?">Research shows</a> US presidents use less “verbal certainty” — emphatically supporting specific courses of action — than CEOs or religious leaders. This tendency to avoid certainty has increased over time, in part due to greater media scrutiny. </p>
<p>Effective political speech often embodies “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0951692800012002003?">strategic ambiguity</a>” — communicating ideals or values that leave room for interpretation. </p>
<p>We see this in campaign slogans, of course, such Labour’s current “Let’s keep moving” and Obama’s “Change we can believe in”. But this ambiguity is also often deployed within actual policy proposals (such as Labour’s and National’s plans for reducing debt, which both leave questions unanswered).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-facebook-prime-minister-how-jacinda-ardern-became-new-zealands-most-successful-political-influencer-144485">The Facebook prime minister: how Jacinda Ardern became New Zealand's most successful political influencer</a>
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<p>Obama’s ideas were often <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984309000897?">phrased vaguely enough</a> to attract a wide range of followers who believed in many kinds of change. Eloquence is not the same thing as charisma. But as Obama demonstrated, it can play a key role in a leader being perceived as charismatic.</p>
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<h2>Eloquence in the soundbite age</h2>
<p>Eloquence is also a source of power. As historian James McGregor Burns put it, “Words at great moments of history are deeds”. In those critical moments, a leader’s words frame the problem and enact the solution. </p>
<p>Words eloquently expressed can help leaders get things done, inspire people to sacrifice or rise to the occasion. </p>
<p>As has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-why-jacinda-arderns-coronavirus-response-has-been-a-masterclass-in-crisis-leadership-135541">argued</a> elsewhere, Ardern’s skillful communication contributed to a high level of public buy-in to her plan to eliminate the virus.</p>
<p>In his 1995 book The Inarticulate Society, Tom Schachtman argued eloquence has nearly vanished in the political sphere, replaced by soundbites and images.</p>
<p>But that’s overstating the case. The conditions and expectations for political speech have changed. Politicians have had to adapt to the soundbite society by using pithy, memorable lines that encapsulate key ideas. </p>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0388000120300073">democratisation</a>” of political discourse means politicians are expected to be less formal and more conversational than they once were. But no fair-minded observer could hear Barack Obama’s famous <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/series/election-2016/president-barack-obama-2004-convention-speech-legacy/">2004 convention speech</a> and believe that eloquence is absent in modern politics.</p>
<p>Similarly, Ardern’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/29/jacinda-arderns-speech-at-christchurch-memorial-full-transcript">speech</a> after the Christchurch mosque shootings demonstrated the importance of eloquence in setting the right tone in traumatic circumstances. </p>
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<h2>Eloquence can invite backlash</h2>
<p>Being eloquent is no guarantee of success, of course. Obama’s opponents would try to spin his skill as an orator as <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/2008/02/24/clinton-makes-fun-of-obamas-lofty-rhetoric/">empty rhetoric</a>. Ardern, too, has been <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/300085193/jacinda-i-like-you-but-please-shut-up-about-the-team-of-five-million">criticised</a> for overusing the “team of five million” line.</p>
<p>While eloquence helps create charismatic personas and adoring followings, it can also generate passionate opposition.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-months-from-new-zealands-election-national-gambles-on-judith-collins-crushing-jacinda-arderns-charisma-142895">Two months from New Zealand’s election, National gambles on Judith Collins crushing Jacinda Ardern's charisma</a>
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<p>Indeed, being inarticulate sometimes has its advantages. Trump’s many <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54011022">incendiary</a> or seemingly <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/05/11/president_trumps_full_interview_with_lester_holt.html">incriminating</a> statements might have spelled the end for another politician. </p>
<p>But because his syntax is often so muddled, it creates openings for his handlers to clean up the mess by reinterpreting what he meant to say.</p>
<p>But Trump is perhaps an aberration. Most politicians work hard to develop eloquence. They know the public will judge them in part on their ability to articulate a vision, explain their plans and defend their records. </p>
<p>As Ardern and Collins are no doubt aware ahead of their debate, history often reserves a special place for those able to capture the zeitgeist with their words and ability to deliver them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Theodore E. (Ted) Zorn is a member of Democrats Abroad, but holds no official position in the organisation.</span></em></p>Policy and promises matter, but the way politicians articulate them can be just as important — especially on live television.Theodore E. (Ted) Zorn, Professor of Organisational Communication and Head of Massey Executive Development, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1460702020-09-18T12:06:46Z2020-09-18T12:06:46ZTrump’s appeals to white anxiety are not ‘dog whistles’ – they’re racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358679/original/file-20200917-18-1ds5ndd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C25%2C1902%2C1253&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trump targets white voters with hostile, angry language.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/images/id-1843504/">hafteh7 via Pixabay</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Donald Trump’s rhetoric is often referred to as “<a href="https://gen.medium.com/trumps-dog-whistle-presidency-c889d095b60a">dog whistle politics</a>.” </p>
<p>In politician speak, a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/dog-whistle-political-meaning">dog whistle</a> is language that conveys a particular meaning to a group of potential supporters. The targeted group hears the “whistle” because of its shared cultural reference, but others cannot.</p>
<p>In 2018, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/14/year-dog-whistle-politics/">The Washington Post</a> wrote that “perhaps no one has sent more dog whistles than President Trump.” </p>
<p>When Trump this year planned a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma – the site of one of the worst acts of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/us/tulsa-massacre-graves-excavation.html">racial terror</a> in U.S. history – on the Black holiday of Juneteenth, the media called the rally a “<a href="https://gen.medium.com/trumps-dog-whistle-presidency-c889d095b60a">racist dog whistle</a>.” That suggests that white nationalists would view the timing as an overture, while others would miss the date’s racism. Journalists have also referred to Trump calling COVID-19 “the China virus” as a <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/488236-trump-gop-dog-whistle-on-coronavirus-inflames-anti-chinese-rhetoric-online">dog whistle</a>.</p>
<h2>Dog whistles</h2>
<p>If so, Trump wouldn’t be the first politician to do dog whistle politics. My <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=z_0X7hkAAAAJ&hl=en">political psychology research</a> has found that George W. Bush used <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-019-09568-3">religious dog whistles</a> quite effectively.</p>
<p>When Bush said during his 2003 State of the Union address that the American people had a “wonder-working power,” it probably sounded like a nice turn of phrase to most Americans. But evangelical Christians heard a line from the hymn “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBqUwpCvCL8">Power in the Blood</a>” and understood that the president was one of them.</p>
<p>In a 2004 presidential debate, Bush said he wouldn’t nominate a Supreme Court justice who agreed with the <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/60us393">1857 Dred Scott decision</a>, which ruled that a formerly enslaved man had no right to citizenship. Dred Scott is broadly viewed as a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2932.html">travesty of racial justice</a>. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/weekinreview/speaking-in-the-tongue-of-evangelicals.html">Christian conservatives</a> see in the decision parallels with Roe v. Wade – the Supreme Court case that protects abortion rights – because in their view, both reflect judicial overreach and human rights violations. So what evangelicals heard in Bush’s Dred Scott comment was that he, like them, opposed Roe v. Wade. </p>
<p>True dog whistles rely on there being an “outgroup” that can’t hear the politician’s <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/dog-whistle-politics-9780190841805?cc=us&lang=en&">coded message</a>. They are so specifically targeted that there’s no need to deny their coded meaning because no one outside the intended audience even hears them.</p>
<h2>Coded speech</h2>
<p>This is why the term “dog whistle” does not accurately describe Donald Trump’s rhetoric. When Trump talks about <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-37230916">“rapists” from Mexico</a>, “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-referred-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nations-n836946">shithole countries</a>” in Africa and white supremacists as “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/08/very-fine-people-charlottesville-who-were-they-2/">very fine people</a>,” the racial connotation isn’t hidden – it is obvious. </p>
<p>“This isn’t just a wink to white supremacists,” said Sen. Kamala Harris <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1271055250884083714">in a tweet</a> about Trump’s planned Tulsa rally. “[H]e’s throwing them a welcome home party.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358712/original/file-20200917-14-my5wkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An anti-immigration protester stands in the street holding a sign that reads, 'Build Wall Deport Them All'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358712/original/file-20200917-14-my5wkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358712/original/file-20200917-14-my5wkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358712/original/file-20200917-14-my5wkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358712/original/file-20200917-14-my5wkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358712/original/file-20200917-14-my5wkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358712/original/file-20200917-14-my5wkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358712/original/file-20200917-14-my5wkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many Trump supporters appreciate his open and frank anti-immigration rhetoric.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/member-of-the-anti-immigration-protesters-crosses-pacific-news-photo/1145569172?adppopup=true">Kevin Sullivan/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As language and culture change over time, dog whistles evolve, too. </p>
<p>In the 1980s and 1990s concepts like “law and order” and “inner city” – phrases well used by Ronald Reagan and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/01/politics/willie-horton-ad-1988-explainer-trnd/index.html">George H.W. Bush</a> – might have functioned as political dog whistles. Appealing to white suburbanites’ perception of cities as crime-ridden places overrun with Black and Latino people, they therefore signaled their intent to use the law against people of color to protect white people. Plausibly, 30 years ago, the racial meaning of the phrases might have evaded other listeners.</p>
<p>Today <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/21/opinion/trump-police-reform.html">news coverage shows</a> that Americans <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-law-and-order-campaign-relies-on-a-historic-american-tradition-of-racist-and-anti-immigrant-politics-145366">broadly understand the racial connotations</a> when Donald Trump talks about “restoring law and order” and protecting “the suburbs.” Such phrases are no longer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12239">dog whistles</a>, though they are still referred to as such.</p>
<p>Incorrectly characterizing Trump’s racist rhetoric – like <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a52453/alternative-facts/">calling lies “alternative facts”</a> – obscures the serious problems in this administration’s politics. It suggests that most Trump supporters are missing his appeals to white fear and resentment, not ignoring or endorsing them. </p>
<h2>Saying the quiet part out loud</h2>
<p>But Trump’s racism is not lost on voters. </p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/washington-post-ipsos-poll-of-african-americans-jan-2-8-2020/a41b5691-e181-4cda-bb88-7b31935103d9/">2020 poll by The Washington Post/Ipsos</a> found that eight in 10 Black Americans think Donald Trump is racist. <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/new-yahoo-news-you-gov-poll-most-americans-say-trump-is-a-racist-and-want-him-to-stop-tweeting-160841770.html">Another, from Yahoo!/YouGov</a>, found that 86% of Democrats and 56% of independents think Donald Trump is racist. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Meanwhile, only 13% of Republicans consider Trump racist. His supporters usually say he’s just a plain-spoken leader who tells it like it is. This turns the dog whistle notion on its head: It’s the outgroup that’s picking up on the hidden message in Trump’s rhetoric, while the ostensible target group takes his words literally.</p>
<p>Trump says the quiet part out loud. There is both honesty and danger in that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethany Albertson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dog whistles constitute coded language that only some voters can hear. But Trump does not hide his bigotry when talking about Mexican ‘rapists,’ the ‘China virus’ and ‘law and order.’Bethany Albertson, Associate Professor of Government, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1264542019-11-12T12:56:20Z2019-11-12T12:56:20ZLaw-and-order or conspiracy? How political parties frame the impeachment battle will help decide Trump’s fate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300941/original/file-20191108-194675-ekmjz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tallies are displayed as House members vote on a resolution on impeachment procedure on Oct. 31, 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump-Impeachment-Resolution/4ea5d32e65b04758a94577c276e86c01/11/0">AP/Andrew Harnik</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The presidential impeachment battle moves to a new stage on Wednesday, when the House will conduct the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-to-hold-first-open-hearings-in-impeachment-inquiry-of-trump/2019/11/06/90041c3c-00bd-11ea-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html">first</a> public, televised testimony. </p>
<p>The nation is <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/impeachment-polls/">divided</a>: Although a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/29/trump-poll-impeachment-ukraine-call-core-supporters/2478185001/">majority</a> of Americans believe that Trump should cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, the public is not yet sure if Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses. </p>
<p>The impeachment battle will occur in Congress. But it will also play out on the national stage as the two sides compete to frame how the public thinks about the legitimacy of the inquiry. </p>
<p>Frames are ways of thinking about a particular thing, person or event. Linguists like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/13/how-to-report-trump-media-manipulation-language">George Lakoff</a> explain that “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330212838_Sticky_words_Evaluation_and_optimization_of_information_interactions_based_on_linguistic_analysis">sticky</a>” frames, when repeated enough, will literally stick in our heads, rewiring the circuits in our brains and providing shortcuts to understanding reality. </p>
<p>The winner of this frame war will succeed in shaping how Americans understand the impeachment inquiry and will provide the standards for judging whether or not Trump has committed impeachable offenses. </p>
<h2>Law-and-order vs. conspiracy</h2>
<p>Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are betting that public opinion will move toward impeachment and removal once more information is made public. To try to shape public opinion they are relying on a law-and-order frame that tells Americans that the impeachment inquiry is legitimate and legally justified. </p>
<p>Democrats are positioning themselves as the only ones willing to uphold the rule of law and the Constitution. </p>
<p>Republicans, led by President Trump, are counting on their power to frame reality to prevent the public from moving toward impeachment. </p>
<p>The GOP is relying on a conspiracy frame that tells Americans that the impeachment inquiry is illegitimate and part of a plot to destroy America. Republicans are positioning themselves as the only ones who are not involved in the plot against Trump and America. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.jennifermercieca.com/">scholar of American democracy and communication</a> who has a <a href="https://7991bb1e-0d62-48eb-ab48-322d00a47622.filesusr.com/ugd/1c004b_a55cf85178a34dccbd4769fca69e8f2e.pdf">book</a> coming out next year about Trump’s 2016 campaign and demagoguery, I’ve been paying close attention to the frame wars.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300954/original/file-20191109-194641-1kw3qxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300954/original/file-20191109-194641-1kw3qxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300954/original/file-20191109-194641-1kw3qxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300954/original/file-20191109-194641-1kw3qxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300954/original/file-20191109-194641-1kw3qxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300954/original/file-20191109-194641-1kw3qxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300954/original/file-20191109-194641-1kw3qxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300954/original/file-20191109-194641-1kw3qxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘No one is above the law,’ said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as she announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Sept. 24, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Trump-Intelligence-Whistleblower/932990ebdc9f45f48c4bfa48925a1710/3/0">AP/Andrew Harnik</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Democrats’ conservative message</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/937436-the-rhetoric-of-law-and-order-was-first-mobilized-in">Historically, Republicans have</a> deployed a <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/from-wallace-to-trump-the-evolution-of-law-and-order/">law-and-order</a> frame to shape the public’s understanding of their party and policies. </p>
<p>In his 1964 Republican Party Convention acceptance <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwaterspeech.htm">address</a>, Barry Goldwater committed the Republicans to policies that would preserve “a government limited by laws of nature and of nature’s God … so that liberty lacking order will not become the license of the mob and of the jungle.” </p>
<p>Goldwater lost the 1964 election, but his law-and-order frame has dominated the party ever since.</p>
<p>Democrats are now repurposing that frame to shape public understanding: Trump’s actions not only violated his oath to protect the Constitution, Democrats argue, but endanger the rule of law itself.</p>
<p>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/24/20882453/impreachment-trump-nancy-pelosi-statement">established</a> the law and order frame from the beginning of the impeachment inquiry. </p>
<p>Pelosi’s Sept. 24, 2019 announcement launching the official impeachment inquiry referenced Constitution Day. She noted that “sadly on that day” President Trump prevented Congress from receiving information about “a whistleblower complaint,” which Pelosi said is a “violation of law.” </p>
<p>She accused Trump of “calling upon a foreign power to intervene in his election,” which was a clear “breach of his constitutional responsibilities.”</p>
<p>Pelosi next established her credibility to know the “law and order” on this issue by explaining her 25-year history on the Intelligence Committee, her work to establish the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and her work to write the whistleblower laws themselves. </p>
<p>“I can say with authority,” Pelosi declared, “that the Trump administration’s actions undermine both the national security and our intelligence and our protections of whistleblowers.” </p>
<p>“No one is above the law,” Pelosi said.</p>
<p>Pelosi’s language has been used throughout this process by fellow Democrats.</p>
<p>The Democrats’ “law and order” frame is useful because it is expansive. New information about Trump’s violations of his oath of office can be easily incorporated within the frame. </p>
<p>For example, if Trump continues to obstruct the inquiry, then the law-and-order frame lends itself to impeaching Trump for obstructing the investigation, a clear violation of law and order. </p>
<p>It’s also useful because it tells the story of the impeachment inquiry as essentially conservative – Democrats want to preserve and protect the country’s long-cherished Constitution and the rule of law. </p>
<h2>Trump’s conspiracy frame</h2>
<p>Trump is leading the Republicans in attempting to counter the Democratic Party framing. He uses a “conspiracy” frame. </p>
<p>In 1964, historian <a href="https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/">Richard Hofstadter</a> wrote about the “paranoid style” in American politics. Paranoid rhetoric throughout American history, Hofstadter wrote, told an apocalyptic story of a network of agents determined to infiltrate and undermine the nation. </p>
<p>Trump’s conspiracy framing relies upon a similar apocalyptic story. </p>
<p>On Nov. 4, 2019, Trump invoked this frame when he accused Democrats of having a “crazed thirst for power.” He told his Lexington, Kentucky, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=287&v=pGjRidJuGnA">rally</a> that “the Democrats are trying to tear our country apart.” He called the “deranged, hyper-partisan” impeachment inquiry a plot to “nullify the ballots of tens of millions of Americans.” </p>
<p>Trump’s conspiracy frame relies upon a rhetorical strategy called <a href="http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/A/anticategoria.htm">tu quoque</a>, Latin for “you too.” It invokes hypocrisy, effectively saying “they do it too.” </p>
<p>Trump and the Republicans have used tu quoque to try to discredit Democrats, individual witnesses and the entire investigation. </p>
<p>“This is a <a href="https://factba.se/search#hoax">hoax</a>, the greatest hoax,” Trump <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBXttvUJRFE">claims</a> repeatedly – framing the Constitutional investigation in the language of conspiracy. </p>
<p>The Republicans’ dominant attack is that Democrats aren’t following the rule of law when they claim to be upholding the rule of law – they are hypocrites.</p>
<p>Like conspiracy, an appeal to hypocrisy centers on the question of trust. It argues that we cannot trust the opposition because their motives or actions are impure. It’s a strategy designed to deny legitimacy by attacking the credibility of the opposition. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300956/original/file-20191109-194637-x1qhme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300956/original/file-20191109-194637-x1qhme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300956/original/file-20191109-194637-x1qhme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300956/original/file-20191109-194637-x1qhme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300956/original/file-20191109-194637-x1qhme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300956/original/file-20191109-194637-x1qhme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300956/original/file-20191109-194637-x1qhme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300956/original/file-20191109-194637-x1qhme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Trump told a Kentucky rally in early November that the Democrats had a ‘crazed thirst for power.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Election-2020-Trump/2ec4a1d96b084e4ca5f2193bd7bc6462/40/0">AP/Susan Walsh</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What to expect</h2>
<p>As the impeachment investigation moves into its next stage, expect Trump’s team to continue to attack the essence of the Democrats’ frame. </p>
<p>Trump will likely continue to use his conspiracy frame and especially tu quoque to try to convince Americans that Democrats aren’t following the rule of law when they claim to be upholding the rule of law. </p>
<p>Attacking the transparency of the process, calling it a “Soviet style” investigation, and using <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1184293357121613824?lang=en">personal attacks</a> against Democratic leaders can all be understood as strategies within this frame. </p>
<p>Likewise, because responding to charges of conspiracy or tu quoque is a losing proposition, expect Democrats to ignore Trump’s conspiracy framing, continue to assert that the investigation is about the rule of law, and rely upon arguments from authority – the authority of the process, the Constitution and precedent – to make their case. </p>
<p>And expect them to make arguments about how history will judge this moment and the choices that are made by Congress about Trump’s conduct. </p>
<p>In their more impassioned moments, expect Democrats to resort to apocalyptic rhetoric as well. After they have provided the nation with an accumulation of evidence they say proves Trump’s guilt, expect them to argue that the very viability of the Constitution and the rule of law are on the line. </p>
<p>Will Trump be impeached and removed from office? If no one persuades anyone in Congress to adopt their frame and the parties vote along party lines, then Trump will be impeached by the House of Representatives, but not removed by the Senate. </p>
<p>At that point, Americans will be asked to understand the impeachment process as both a defense of law and order and a conspiracy to remove the president. Voters in 2020 will have to decide how to make sense of that contradiction.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend.</a> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Mercieca does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>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.Jennifer Mercieca, Author of the forthcoming book Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump (Texas A&M University Press). Associate Professor of Communication, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1213562019-08-06T13:04:27Z2019-08-06T13:04:27ZThe ‘warspeak’ permeating everyday language puts us all in the trenches<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286968/original/file-20190805-36353-1vbey6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's a linguistic battlefield out there.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/man-rifle-cannon-mouth-132569027?src=iqRyIBNxbJNRGEt8iMq23Q-2-7">Complot/Shutterstock.com </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/03/us/patrick-crusius-el-paso-shooter-manifesto.html?module=inline">In a manifesto posted online</a> shortly before he went on to massacre 22 people at an El Paso Walmart, Patrick Crusius cited the “invasion” of Texas by Hispanics. In doing so, he echoed President Trump’s rhetoric of an illegal immigrant “invasion.” </p>
<p>Think about what this word choice communicates: It signals an enemy that must be beaten back, repelled and vanquished. </p>
<p>Yet this sort of language – what I call “warspeak” – has relentlessly crept into most aspects of American life and public discourse.</p>
<p>After the Columbine shooting, <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/AN.204">I started writing</a> about how “<a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/2016/06/15/local-news/loaded-language-gun-speak">gunspeak</a>” – the way everyday turns of phrase, from “bite the bullet” and “sweating bullets,” to “trigger warnings” and “pulling the trigger” – reflected a society obsessed with guns.</p>
<p>But warspeak’s tentacles extend much further. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=437ExXEvYzc">Words and phrases derived from war imagery</a> crop up in advertisements, headlines and sports coverage. They’ve inspired an entire lexicon deployed on social media and in politics.</p>
<p>The intent might be as benign as the creative use of language. But I wonder if it communicates larger truths about American violence and polarization.</p>
<h2>The political battlefield</h2>
<p>For decades, America has been fighting metaphorical wars – wars on heart disease, drugs, smoking, cancer, poverty, advertising and illiteracy.</p>
<p>Then there are the culture wars, which have intensified recently to include wars on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/us/war-on-christmas-controversy.html">Christmas</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/trump-worldwide-war-abortion-190729093420685.html">abortion</a>, <a href="https://www.commentarymagazine.com/politics-ideas/the-war-on-bathroom-privacy/">bathrooms</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/05/07/fbi-confirms-the-deadly-costs-of-a-war-on-cops/">cops</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Women">women</a>. These are different: They involve people on two sides of a polarizing issue.</p>
<p>War targets an enemy – someone or something to be defeated, using whatever means necessary. It’s one thing when you’re at war with a disease. It’s quite another when you’re at war with a group of people on the other side of a political issue.</p>
<p>The political arena seems to have become especially fertile ground for warspeak.</p>
<p>Otherwise boring legislative machinations have been energized with the drama of a life or death struggle. The Republican-controlled Senate uses a “<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nuclear-option-why-trumps-supreme-court-pick-needs-only-51-votes-in-the-senate/">nuclear option</a>” to confirm judges by a simple majority of 51 votes rather than the older standard of 60 votes. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s ability to speed along the appointment of conservative judges constitutes the latest volley in a “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/30/746687036/a-look-at-the-power-wielded-by-senate-majority-leader-mitch-mcconnell">judicial arms race</a>.” </p>
<p>Elections deploy the language of military campaigns. Republican donors and lawmakers warned Trump <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/21/2018-midterms-republicans-trump-warning-312404">of a potential bloodbath</a> before the 2018 midterm elections. Meanwhile, Democrats running for president strategize in their campaign “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/02/16/466898589/2-strategists-reflect-on-presidential-campaigns-war-rooms">war rooms</a>” for ways to build up “war chests” that will leave them with enough funds to compete in the “battleground states.”</p>
<p>The political media reinforces it all. In its coverage of the July primary debates, The New York Times wrote that the moderates were “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/us/politics/democratic-debate-live.html">throwing firebombs</a>” at the progressives. Cory Booker, the “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-harris-rematch-detroit-second-democratic-debate-n1037546">happy warrior</a>,” sparred with former Vice President Joe Biden who “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/01/biden-performed-better-second-debate-cnn-didnt/?utm_term=.113f9bfa470f">took incoming fire</a>” all night, but “shot back” and survived, even as moderator Don Lemon “<a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/second-democratic-debate-night-one/">threw a generational warfare bomb</a>.”</p>
<h2>Our semantic arsenals</h2>
<p>Then there are the less obvious ways warspeak has become part of everyday speech.</p>
<p>Baseball players mash bombs while basketball players drain three-point bombs. Social media is replete with <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/photobomb">photobombs</a> and <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tweetbomb">tweet bombs</a>, and there are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdHtAzFNwjE&feature=youtu.be&t=334">so many bombshells on cable news</a>, it’s a miracle your TV hasn’t exploded.</p>
<p>Everything has been “weaponized.” According to Google’s Ngram Viewer, the use of the word in print has increased by more than a factor of 10 between 1980 and 2008.</p>
<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=weaponized&year_start=1980&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=4&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cweaponized%3B%2Cc0" width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p>You might have seen it applied to <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/02/gillum-florida-race-robocalls-desantis-806122">race</a>, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/06/05/weaponized-white-feminism-in-the-handmaids-tale-and-when-they-see-us/">feminism</a>, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/148830/weaponizing-children">children</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/12/new-low-trump-tried-use-migrants-canon-fodder-against-democrats/?utm_term=.a0ae6b901edd">immigrants</a>, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-is-imprisoning-a-record-44000-people">Immigration and Customs Enforcement</a>, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/02/18/how-higher-education-has-been-weaponized-in-the-age-of-trump-and-how-it-can-be-redeemed/">higher education</a>, <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-the-Right-Weaponized-Free/242142">free speech</a> and <a href="https://us.starsinsider.com/music/383179/torture-tracks-songs-that-have-been-weaponized">songs</a>. </p>
<p>But did you know that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/weaponize-a-term-for-arms-takes-aim-at-tennis-and-economics-1532704933">tennis serves</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@overseasdem/the-russians-weaponized-laughter-644d85aa2242">laughter</a>, <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n09/william-davies/weaponising-paperwork">paperwork</a> and <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2017/06/al-franken-giant-of-the-senate-reviewed.html">Midwestern niceness</a> can also, apparently, be weaponized?</p>
<p>Then there are the warriors in our midst – the weekend warriors, gridiron warriors, keyboard warriors and spiritual warriors – while the country’s future software engineers sign up for <a href="https://www.cio.com/article/3222718/the-10-best-coding-bootcamps.html">coding boot camps</a> to learn their trade. </p>
<p>We’re all in the trenches, and most of us don’t even know it.</p>
<h2>Why warspeak matters</h2>
<p>Semantic wars, like all wars, are costly. But the role of warspeak in today’s society isn’t as easily quantified as a military budget or body count.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, I believe warspeak matters for three reasons. </p>
<p>First, it degrades our ability to engage with one another about important issues. Law professors Oren Gross and Fionnuala Aolain <a href="https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cjlpp/vol24/iss2/1">have written</a> about how the framing of issues as a “war” can “significantly shape choices.” There is an urgency that’s communicated. Instantaneous action is required. Thought and reflection fall by the wayside. </p>
<p>Second, in the context of politics, warspeak seems to be connected to violent political attitudes. In 2011, researchers at the University of Michigan <a href="https://phys.org/news/2011-01-violent-political-rhetoric-fuels-attitudes.html">found</a> that young adults exposed to political rhetoric charged with warspeak were more likely to endorse political violence.</p>
<p>Finally, if everything from weather to sports is laden with violent imagery, perceptions and emotions become needlessly distorted. Political carnage and carnage in the classroom, weaponized songs and weapons of war, snipers on the hockey rink and mass shooters – all blur together across our cognitive maps.</p>
<p>There’s a reason why writers, talking heads and politicians deploy warspeak: It commands people’s attention in an increasingly frenzied and fractured media environment. </p>
<p>I wonder, however, if it contributes to political polarization – what Pew Research <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/topics/political-polarization/2018/">describes</a> as the “defining feature of American politics today.” And I wonder if it’s one reason why, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/249098/americans-stress-worry-anger-intensified-2018.aspx">according to Gallup</a>, Americans’ stress, worry and anger increased in 2018, to the highest point in a dozen years.</p>
<p>One thing is clear: Americans no longer need to be enlisted in the Army to suffer from battle fatigue or be shell-shocked by news of the latest mass shooting.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Myers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Each spin of the news cycle hits us with another ‘bombshell,’ while everything from free speech to race has been ‘weaponized.’ What’s the effect of being relentlessly exposed to metaphors of war?Robert Myers, Professor of Anthropology & Public Health, Alfred UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1205652019-07-30T16:43:29Z2019-07-30T16:43:29ZThe rhetorical trick Trump used on the ‘Squad’ and how it could affect the vote<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286130/original/file-20190729-43149-3v3obm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Trump told four Democratic Congresswomen of color to 'go back' to the 'corrupt' countries they came from.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump/402b3c2e25b6482a81c4f12162e50d89/83/0">AP/Carolyn Kaster</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Trump’s <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1150381394234941448">tweets</a> calling on four Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back” to the “corrupt” countries they came from sparked the controversy he undoubtedly wanted, as did his subsequent attack on one, Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota.</p>
<p>The chant “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-supporters-newest-rallying-cry--send-her-back-reverberates-across-a-nation-fraught-with-racial-tension/2019/07/18/6ee96ede-a99d-11e9-9214-246e594de5d5_story.html?utm_term=.79d8167a7284">Send her back</a>,” a variation on the 2016 Trump supporters’ chant about <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/politics/donald-trump-lock-her-up/index.html">Hillary Clinton, “Lock her up,”</a> resounded through a recent political rally. </p>
<p>These slights reveal Trump’s fondness for a rhetorical device called synecdoche.</p>
<p>Difficult to <a href="https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/pronunciation/american/synecdoche">pronounce</a> but easy to define, synecdoche comes from the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/synecdoche">Greek</a> <em>synekdokhe</em>, which means “an understanding one with another.” It substitutes a part for the whole, using that one part to represent the whole. </p>
<p>The title of the television series “Suits,” in which formal clothes represent scheming lawyers, nicely illustrates the idea. When people say “wheels” for cars, “boots on the ground” for occupying soldiers or “Ol’ Blue Eyes” for Frank Sinatra, they’re using synecdoche. </p>
<p>In the president’s case, he wants to make “The Squad” represent the Democratic Party. Trump thinks his chances for reelection will improve if people see these four women every time they hear the word “Democrat.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286128/original/file-20190729-43118-1v4ug13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286128/original/file-20190729-43118-1v4ug13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286128/original/file-20190729-43118-1v4ug13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286128/original/file-20190729-43118-1v4ug13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286128/original/file-20190729-43118-1v4ug13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286128/original/file-20190729-43118-1v4ug13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286128/original/file-20190729-43118-1v4ug13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286128/original/file-20190729-43118-1v4ug13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Synecdoche Squad: from left, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Trump-Democrats/fca6a5080b93441a89590351f8e57835/28/0">AP/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>FDR gets away with it</h2>
<p>If Trump’s use of this strategy feels familiar, that’s because synecdoche happens during every election. I notice these things, because I’m a <a href="http://msupress.org/books/book/?id=50-1D0-4549#.XTHSMmN7m70">scholar</a> of political rhetoric. </p>
<p>Presidential candidates are themselves synecdoche. They represent their whole party. If they’re popular enough, they create what’s called a “<a href="https://politicaldictionary.com/words/coattail-effect/">coattail effect</a>.” People vote for the entire party because of one person, its leader. The reverse can be true as well: A poor candidate, like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/04/archives/news-analysis-what-goldwater-lost-voters-rejected-his-candidacy.html">Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964</a>, can drag down the entire party. </p>
<p>In 2018, Democrats sought to attach <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/20/17483068/trump-2018-midterm-elections-approval-rating">the president</a> to every single Republican in a swing district, while Republicans demonized <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/pelosi-is-the-star-of-gop-attack-ads-worrying-democrats-upbeat-about-midterms/2018/08/09/f85a2474-9b43-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html?utm_term=.3ccaa949a002">House Speaker Nancy Pelosi</a> as a way to tarnish all Democrats. </p>
<p>Trump’s tweets twist the usual strategy by aiming his synecdoche at House members. This is rare for a president. </p>
<p>One prior example is Franklin Roosevelt’s <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300205749/1940">1940</a> reelection campaign. Seeking <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/fdrs-third-term-decision-and-the-22nd-amendment">an unprecedented</a> third term as war raged in Europe and Asia, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/campaigns-and-elections">Roosevelt, a Democrat, faced a formidable opponent in businessman Wendell Willkie</a>. </p>
<p>New to electoral politics and an outsider, <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631496257">Willkie</a> exuded charisma. He criticized Roosevelt’s economic record, but shared his concern for national defense. Unlike many Republicans of the era, Willkie was no isolationist.</p>
<p>Roosevelt did not want to attack Willkie; the president <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-willkie-what-if-f-d-r-s-hybrid-party-plot">admired</a> the Republican liberal. Instead, he found his Republican foils in the the crusty old House minority leader, <a href="https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/17559">Joseph Martin</a>; in <a href="https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/B/BARTON,-Bruce-(B000211)/">Bruce Barton</a>, an advertising executive turned politician; and in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1991/01/20/isolationist-congressman-hamilton-fish-sr-dies/4544ee14-84a6-4827-9744-5c7bd599615a/?utm_term=.b72baf3bca90">Hamilton Fish III</a>, a strident, conservative isolationist. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/45562/martin-barton-and-fish-wynken-blinken-and-nod-rangel-conyers-and-frank">Martin, Barton and Fish</a>” – the chant became a staple at FDR’s campaign rallies, as he detailed their opposition to every <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-01-20-1991020056-story.html">New Deal reform</a> and <a href="http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/_resources/images/msf/msf01371">national defense measure</a>. When FDR got away with that synecdoche, Willkie later <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300205749/1940">said</a>, “I knew I was licked.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286132/original/file-20190729-43136-17rqw6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286132/original/file-20190729-43136-17rqw6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286132/original/file-20190729-43136-17rqw6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286132/original/file-20190729-43136-17rqw6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286132/original/file-20190729-43136-17rqw6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286132/original/file-20190729-43136-17rqw6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286132/original/file-20190729-43136-17rqw6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286132/original/file-20190729-43136-17rqw6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Franklin D. Roosevelt making his final campaign speech in 1940, asking for a third term.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-ELN-OH-USA-APHS305872-FDR-1940/c45bf57f62a040698c747e81830bb115/2/0">AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Democratic nominee becomes irrelevant</h2>
<p>Roosevelt could control the political narrative because, as president of the United States, he was the nation’s <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-1349-6.html">chief storyteller</a>, the keeper of national myths. </p>
<p>That’s the power of the president. Because of it, presidents can influence perceptions of political reality. This is what Trump is attempting to do as he enters the 2020 presidential campaign. </p>
<p>He wants to define the Democratic Party to his advantage. And, as David Brooks recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/opinion/trump-pelosi-squad.html">wrote</a> in The New York Times, the president has a “vested interest in keeping the progressives atop the Democratic Party.” </p>
<p>If these four women represent Democrats – much as a representative serves as a proxy in Congress – then Trump’s synecdoche suggests that the Democrats are only these progressive women of color. </p>
<p>By identifying his opponents as the party of leftists, women and minorities, Trump thinks he can secure crucial <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2019/07/18/the-2020-campaign-will-be-more-racially-divisive-than-2016-was">white working-class votes</a>. </p>
<p>If this strategy works, the Democratic nominee in the 2020 election becomes irrelevant. That leader, like Willkie, would no longer be the face of the party. </p>
<p>The president’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/looking-for-a-reason-to-attack-how-trump-seized-on-a-fox-news-broadcast-go-after-cummings/2019/07/29/7dd33f38-b21c-11e9-951e-de024209545d_story.html?utm_term=.0e5dff072157">explained</a> this strategy after Trump’s attack on Maryland Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings.</p>
<p>“Whenever the members of Congress like [Rashida] Tlaib or [Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez] or Cummings are the focus, that means the focus is not on [Kamala] Harris or Joe Biden. Every time people go crazy, it’s still cemented in some people’s minds that these people are maybe the modern Democratic Party,” Giuliani told the Washington Post.</p>
<p>As Richard Nixon did with his divisive “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10352.html">Southern Strategy</a>” in 1968 that exploited white racial animus in the South, Trump’s “Squad Strategy” offers the promise of victory through polarization of the electorate. “They” are not like “us.”</p>
<h2>Could it backfire?</h2>
<p>Yet 2020 is not 1940 or 1968. Heightening racial tensions with synecdoche is now a risky choice.</p>
<p>For one thing, the nation no longer looks like it did in 1968. The white working-class part of the electorate has been shrinking. More people <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/07/16/top-4-ways-squad-young-congresswomen-represent-more-americans-trump">identify with</a> the Squad than ever before.</p>
<p>By attacking representatives Ocasio Cortez, Omar, Pressley and Tlaib, Trump may encourage women, minorities and those who like this foursome to head to the polls. </p>
<p>As important, an incumbent president’s greatest advantage is, well, incumbency. Only 10 U.S. presidents have <a href="https://presidentialhistory.com/2015/05/can-you-name-the-10-presidents-who-were-defeated-for-re-election.html">failed</a> to win reelection, because the office itself and people’s respect for it is a significant electoral <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/9/16447546/trump-2020">advantage</a>.</p>
<p>But if President Trump squanders that respect through racially divisive strategies like his attacks on the Squad, Representative Cummings and Baltimore, it could cost him in 2020. </p>
<p>Americans may no longer see Trump as a part for the nation’s whole.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John M. Murphy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Difficult to pronounce, synecdoche is the form of rhetoric used by President Trump when he told four Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back” to the “corrupt” countries they came from.John M. Murphy, Professor of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.