Overview

Donald J. Trump's speaking and writing invite passionate reactions — maybe he’s a bluecollar, billionaire hero who speaks the language of the common man or maybe he’s a gleefully illiterate, tremendously unqualified idiot. Whatever the case, he was persuasive enough to get himself elected President of the United States and he’s been persuasive enough to keep a majority of his supporters behind him. In Faking the News: What Rhetoric Can Teach Us About Donald J. Trump, eleven prominent rhetoric experts explain how Trump’s persuasive language works. Specifically the authors explain Trump’s persuasive uses of demagoguery, anti-Semitism, alternative facts, populism, charismatic leadership, social media, television, political slogans, visual identity/image, comedy and humor, and shame and humiliation. Faking the News is written for readers who may not know anything about rhetoric, so each chapter explains a feature of rhetoric and uses that lens to illuminate Trump’s rhetorical accomplishments. Specifically, about how he has used and still uses language, symbols, and even style to appeal to the people in his various audiences.

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9781845409692

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Reviews

David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winner Faking the News brilliantly and simply explains how Trump weaponizes language, diverting attention from issues to stir emotions like anger and resentment. These ten chapters will enable you to understand what makes his rhetoric, simplistic as it is, so effective in rousing supporters. ENDORSEMENT BY - Pamela Keith, former Judge Advocate for US Navy As a student of Rhetoric, and a candidate for political office, I have heard and seen many attempts to analyze how Donald Trump was able to convince so many people of things that were either fundamentally untrue or functionally impossible. This book digs deeper and gets it right. The Trump phenomenon is not merely about a person, but a political environment, nurtured over many years and exploited by savvy operatives able to fuel the rhetoric of personal grievance. It also aptly addresses the more ENDORSEMENT BY - Rick Wilson, columnist for The Daily Beast Faking the News is a valuable addition to the growing field of analysis of both Trump's conscious and intuitive use of rhetoric, propaganda, and branding in America's profoundly disrupted politics. These essays are full of revelatory 'So that's why he does that!' moments, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Trump's language and his dark but brilliant manipulation of the American body politic.

"David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winner ""Faking the News brilliantly and simply explains how Trump weaponizes language, diverting attention from issues to stir emotions like anger and resentment. These ten chapters will enable you to understand what makes his rhetoric, simplistic as it is, so effective in rousing supporters."" ENDORSEMENT BY - Pamela Keith, former Judge Advocate for US Navy ""As a student of Rhetoric, and a candidate for political office, I have heard and seen many attempts to analyze how Donald Trump was able to convince so many people of things that were either fundamentally untrue or functionally impossible. This book digs deeper and gets it right. The Trump phenomenon is not merely about a person, but a political environment, nurtured over many years and exploited by savvy operatives able to fuel the rhetoric of personal grievance. It also aptly addresses the more ENDORSEMENT BY - Rick Wilson, columnist for The Daily Beast ""Faking the News is a valuable addition to the growing field of analysis of both Trump's conscious and intuitive use of rhetoric, propaganda, and branding in America's profoundly disrupted politics. These essays are full of revelatory 'So that's why he does that!' moments, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Trump's language and his dark but brilliant manipulation of the American body politic."""

Author Information

Dr. Ryan Skinnell has published a number of books, including Conceding Composition: A Crooked History of Composition's Institutional Fortunes (Utah State University Press, 2016) and co-edited What We Wish We'd Known: Negotiating Graduate School (Fountainhead Press, 2015). He is the book review editor for Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society and is currently co-editing two books: Reinventing (with) Theory in Rhetoric and Writing Studies and Bureaucracy: A Love Story. Dr. Skinnell has also written about Donald Trump’s rhetoric for The Washington Monthly and the University Press of Colorado Blog.

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