A Rhetoric of Divisive Partisanship

The 2016 American Presidential Campaign Discourse of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump

Colleen Elizabeth Kelley

A Rhetoric of Divisive Partisanship: The 2016 American Presidential Campaign Discourse of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump examines the campaign speeches of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump as they targeted members of the American public that were ideologically different but equally emotionally vulnerable. Each appealed to marginalized segments of the electorate, groups at opposite ends of the political spectrum, joined through a shared distrust and fear of politics instead of political or even party affiliation. Both Sanders and Trump polarized and reinforced their respective bases as “outsiders.” Both relied on anti-establishment arguments and discussions grounded in personal attacks against “enemies” during which they joined their target audiences as marginalized outsiders united through a desire to overthrow the status quo and re-claim America. The book expands on previous ideas about dialogue and political talk and asserts that rather than serving as a model of civic and civil discourse, the rhetoric of Sanders and Trump was reactionary and divisive, begun with different intentions and producing different results.

Lexington Books

Pages: 160 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4985-6457-1 • Hardback • February 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4985-6459-5 • Paperback • August 2020 • $44.99 • (£35.00)

978-1-4985-6458-8 • eBook • February 2018 • $39.50 • (£30.00)

Series: Lexington Studies in Political Communication

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Political Science / American Government / National

A Rhetoric of Divisive Partisanship

The 2016 American Presidential Campaign Discourse of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

A Rhetoric of Divisive Partisanship: The 2016 American Presidential Campaign Discourse of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump examines the campaign speeches of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump as they targeted members of the American public that were ideologically different but equally emotionally vulnerable. Each appealed to marginalized segments of the electorate, groups at opposite ends of the political spectrum, joined through a shared distrust and fear of politics instead of political or even party affiliation. Both Sanders and Trump polarized and reinforced their respective bases as “outsiders.” Both relied on anti-establishment arguments and discussions grounded in personal attacks against “enemies” during which they joined their target audiences as marginalized outsiders united through a desire to overthrow the status quo and re-claim America. The book expands on previous ideas about dialogue and political talk and asserts that rather than serving as a model of civic and civil discourse, the rhetoric of Sanders and Trump was reactionary and divisive, begun with different intentions and producing different results.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 160 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4985-6457-1 • Hardback • February 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4985-6459-5 • Paperback • August 2020 • $44.99 • (£35.00)

978-1-4985-6458-8 • eBook • February 2018 • $39.50 • (£30.00)

Series: Lexington Studies in Political Communication

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Political Science / American Government / National

Author

Colleen Elizabeth Kelley is associate professor of rhetorical communication at Penn State Erie.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
1. A Rhetoric of Divisive Partisanship
2. “Other/Outsider” Rhetoric
3. The “Outsider” Rhetorical Behavior of Bernie Sanders
4. The “Outsider” Rhetorical Behavior of Donald Trump
5. Post-election Rhetorical Behavior of Sanders and Trump
6. Wired-in Populism
7. Effects on the Electorate
8. The Post-Campaign Rhetorical Legacy
9. Implications of Divisive Partisanship Rhetoric
Conclusion: A Twenty-First Century Paradigm
References
Index
About the Author

Reviews

This is a splendid if sobering account of the 2016 elections, through the specific lens of the “outsider” and ultimately divisive rhetoric of two strange bedfellows, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, contributing jointly, if inadvertently, to the corrosion of American democracy.
— Elvin T. Lim, Singapore Management University