Palgrave Pivot Donald Trump and the Kayfabe Presidency: Professional Wrestling Rhetoric in the White House (Rhetoric, Politics and Society)

This book examines Donald Trump's longstanding connections to professional wrestling in relation to how he uses and exploits language, and the ways in which he has weaponized going public never before seen in previous administrations. Trump utilizes the language of wrestling to make rhetorical appeals and draws upon its theatrical tactics to redefine expectations of spaces to fundamentally change the nature of political expectations and expression. Wrestling is almost always about stories within a confined space, and Donald Trump inculcated many of its techniques to command an audience with rhetoric. The emotional performance supersedes truth or accuracy; factual exactness matters less than your presentation of the material. As Donald Trump blends performance and public service, social confusion over boundaries has occurred. Theatrical norms, when applied to daily life, generate vastly different reactions than within the artificial confines of an arena. It is not simply a muddling of public and private, but rather a jumbling of theatrical and generalized social standards. This book examines these aspects and explores how Donald Trump has also utilized well-established presidential tools in completely new ways in an attempt to build the strongest executive branch in American history. Review “In Donald Trump and the Kayfabe Presidency, Shannon Bow O’Brien offers a unique assessment through the lens of professional wrestling to better understand the public presidency of Donald Trump. Given Trump’s long connection to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), comparing Trump’s public performances to the entertainment strategies used in the genre places the tone and combativeness of his public performances into a relevant context. This book offers a fascinating addition to the literature on presidential communication through a case study of Trump’s distinctive style of campaigning and governing.” ― Lori Cox Han, Professor of Political Science, Chapman University, USA From the Back Cover This book examines Donald Trump's longstanding connections to professional wrestling in relation to how he uses and exploits language, and the ways in which he has weaponized going public never before seen in previous administrations. Trump utilizes the language of wrestling to make rhetorical appeals and draws upon its theatrical tactics to redefine expectations of spaces to fundamentally change the nature of political expectations and expression. Wrestling is almost always about stories within a confined space, and Donald Trump inculcated many of its techniques to command an audience with rhetoric. The emotional performance supersedes truth or accuracy; factual exactness matters less than your presentation of the material. As Donald Trump blends performance and public service, social confusion over boundaries has occurred. Theatrical norms, when applied to daily life, generate vastly different reactions than within the artificial confines of an arena. It is not simply a muddling of public and private, but rather a jumbling of theatrical and generalized social standards. This book examines these aspects and explores how Donald Trump has also utilized well-established presidential tools in completely new ways in an attempt to build the strongest executive branch in American history. Shannon Bow O’Brien is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. She specializes in American politics with a focus upon executive politics and presidential rhetoric. Her previous book, Why Presidential Speech Locations Matter: Analyzing Speechmaking from Truman to Obama, was published in 2018. About the Author Shannon Bow O’Brien is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. She specializes in American politics with a focus upon executive politics and presidential rhetoric. Her previous book, Why Presidential Speech Locations Matter: Analyz