Abstract
This chapter explores Trump’s clowning strategy and his talent as a performer—two attributes which helped him build a successful campaign, attract voters, and ensure media coverage. In disarticulating old-style political rhetoric, Trump privileges emotions over contents, and slogans above thought. His jokes, nicknames, and mockeries help him impersonate the “everyday man” who fights against the elite. Trump’s public speeches and tweets can be considered as performances that highlight the role of affect in politics, which helps us understand how these political performances hold together seemingly disparate interests, histories, and visions of the future.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
English translation provided by the Author.
- 2.
English translation provided by the Author.
- 3.
English translation provided by the Author.
- 4.
English translation provided by the Author.
- 5.
English translation provided by the Author.
References
Adorno, T., & Horkheimer, M. (2002). Dialectic of Enlightenment. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Anderson, A. (1988). Sports of The Times; Trump: Promoter Or Adviser? The New York Times. Retrieved April 2, 2019, from http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/12/sports/sports-of-the-times-trump-promoter-or-adviser.html
Aristotle. (1996). Politics: Books III and IV. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Aristotle. (2010). Retorica. Milano: Mondadori.
Barthes, R. (1972). La retorica antica. Milano: Bompiani.
Bergson, H. (2002). Il Riso. Saggio sul Significato del Comico. Milano: SE.
Blumler, J., & McQuail, D. (1968). Television in Politics: Its Uses and Influence. London: Faber & Faber.
Bourdieu, P. (2002). Campo del potere e campo intellettuale. Roma: Manifestolibri.
Byers, D. (2015). Trump Claims $213M Payout for ‘Apprentice’. Politico. Retrieved May 22, 2019, from http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/07/trump-claims-213m-payout-for-apprentice-210595
Chait, J. (2019, July 9). Why Trump Fears the Secret British Memo Calling Him a Clown. The Intelligencer. Retrieved August 2, 2019, from http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/07/trump-fears-secret-british-memo-kim-darroch.html
de Tocqueville, A. (1981). La democrazia in America. Torino: Einaudi.
Debord, G. (1967). La Société du Spectacle. Paris: Buchet Chastel.
Desideri, P. (1984). Teoria e prassi del discorso politico. Roma: Bulzoni.
Feeley, P. (2015). Trump Won’t Renew ‘Apprentice’ So That He Might Focus on a Presidential Run. Retrieved August 8, 2019, from http://www.unionleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150227/NEWS0605/150229334/1010/Art
Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. (2015). From Gulf to Bridge: When Do Moral Arguments Facilitate Political Influence? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(12), 16–65.
Handel, J. (2015). How Did Donald Trump Get a $110K SAG Pension? The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 21, 2019, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-stat/graphics/politics/trump-archive/docs/trump-fec-financial-disclosure-2015.pdf
Healy, P., & Haberman, M. (2015, December 5). 95,000 Words, Many of Them Ominous, from Donald Trump’s Tongue. The New York Times. Retrieved August 6, 2019, from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/us/politics/95000-words-many-of-them-ominous-from-donald-trumps-tongue.html
Hegel, G. W. F. (2006). Phenomenologie De L’esprit. Paris: Bibliotheque Des Textes Philosophiques.
Heidegger, M. (1979). Sentieri interrotti. Firenze: La Nuova Italia.
Hobbes, T. (2006). Leviatano. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
Hogan, K. (2016). The Strange Tale of Donald Trump’s 1989 Biking Extravaganza. Politico. Retrieved July 27, 2019, from http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/donald-trump-2016-tour-de-trump-bike-race-213801
Koffler, J. (2015). Donald Trump’s 16 Biggest Business Failures and Successes. Time. Retrieved June 2, 2019, from http://time.com/3988970/donald-trump-business/
Lee, J. (2019, May 17). Send in the Clowns: How Comedy Conquered Politics. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 21, 2019, from https://www.ft.com/content/5d25d042-756e-11e9-be7d-6d846537acab
McGinnis, J. (1988). The Selling of the President. New York: Penguin.
McLaughlin, B., & Macafee, T. (2019). Becoming a Presidential Candidate: Social Media Following and Politician Identification. Mass Communication and Society, 22, 584–603.
Merker, N. (2009). Filosofie del populismo. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
Meyrowitz, J. (1986). No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behaviour. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Middleton, R. (1962). National TV Debates and Presidential Voting Decisions. Public Opinion Quarterly, 26, 426–429.
Miller, A. (2001). On Politics and the Art of Acting. London: Viking Penguin.
Miller, C. C. (2016, March 15). Measuring Trump’s Language: Bluster But Also Words That Appeal to Women. The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2019, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/upshot/donald-trump-is-among-the-most-feminine-sounding-candidates.html
NowThisNews. (2019). What Do Clowns, Fear, and President Trump Have in Common? Retrieved June 7, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfljkZ0-GEc
O’Reilly, A. (2019, May 5). Biden Lables Trump ‘Clown’ During Campaign Stop in South Carolina. Fox News. Retrieved July 20, 2019, from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-labels-trump-a-clown-during-campaign-stop-in-south-carolina
Perelman, C., & Olbrechts-Tyteca, L. (2001). Trattato dell’argomentazione. Torino: Einaudi.
Pew Research Center. (2015, November 23). Beyond Distrust: How Americans View Their Government. Retrieved April 3, 2019, from https://www.people-press.org/2015/11/23/beyond-distrust-how-americans-view-their-government/
Prospero, M. (2010). Il Comico della Politica. Roma: Ediesse.
Quintiliano. (2001). Institutio oratoria. Milano: Giulio Einaudi.
Reicher, S., & Haslam, A. S. (2016, November 19). The Politics of Hope: Donald Trump as an Entrepreneur of Identity. The Scientific American. Retrieved August 25, 2019, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-politics-of-hope-donald-trump-as-an-entrepreneur-of-identity/
Rosenberg, M., McNeill, R., Twohey, M., & Conlin, M. (2016). Exclusive – Donald Trump’s Companies Have Sought Visas to Import at Least 1,100 Workers. Reuters UK. Retrieved March 21, 2019, from http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-election-trump-exclusive-idUKKCN0Q62RV20150801
Sendhu, S. (2016). Donald Trump’s Use of Grammar ‘Typical of Children Aged 11 and Under’. The Independent. Retrieved February 8, 2019, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/donald-trump-uses-language-typical-of-children-under-11-a6936256.html
Sparkman, D. J., Edelman, S., & Till, D. (2019). Ingroup and Outgroup Interconnectedness Predict and Promote Political Ideology Through Empathy. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. [Online First]. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430218819794
Thompson, M. (2017). La fine del dibattito pubblico. Milano: Feltrinelli.
TrumpTwitterArchive. (2019). Trump Twitter Archive. Retrieved December 21, 2019, from http://www.trumptwitterarchive.com/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Morini, M. (2020). The Clowning Performer. In: Lessons from Trump’s Political Communication. Political Campaigning and Communication. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39010-5_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39010-5_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39009-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39010-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)