Abstract
Trump disregards the norms of presidential communication by regularly speaking or tweeting off-the-cuff with seemingly little forethought or editorial input. As White House administrations institutionalized presidential speechwriting and strategic communications over the past century, meticulously-crafted rhetoric became the norm. Trump’s improvisational rhetoric is the antithesis of the highly-professionalized, disciplined approach to political communication we have come to expect from the presidency. This essay takes the position that his reliance on improvisational rhetoric is more than a matter of communication; it is a matter of governance. Trump regularly uses improvised communication to make important policy decisions. In doing so, the president conflates rhetoric and governance, presenting his personal decisions to tweet or speak as policy actions taken by the United States government. It is tempting to discount the president’s propensity for policy-oriented improvisational rhetoric as a Trump-specific phenomenon that will exit the White House with him. However, the tendency to collapse the distinction between rhetoric and governing is not anomalous feature of the modern presidency. To illuminate the dynamics that have long normalized the “not normal," this essay develops the construct of the “hyper-rhetorical presidency” by outlining four theses that situate presidential rhetoric within the broader landscape of contemporary American politics. Taken together, these dynamics contextualize and explain Trump’s reliance on improvisational rhetoric as a reflection of an increasingly distorted political order and dysfunctional system of governance.
Highlights
President Donald Trump does not speak like a president
Trump disregards the norms of presidential communication in another significant way as well, by regularly speaking or tweeting off-the-cuff with seemingly little forethought or editorial input
Trump’s improvisational rhetoric is the antithesis of the highly-professionalized, disciplined approach to political communication we have come to expect from the presidency
Summary
President Donald Trump does not speak like a president. That is to say, he does not speak in ways that we have come to expect from presidents. (1) The presidency is under relentless pressure to meet impossible expectations; (2) The presidency does not possess the institutional capacity to effectively address these expectations; (3) The presidency must maintain the perception of power and control; and (4) In light of the three prior theses, presidents are incentivized to innovate ever-more hyper forms of presidential rhetorical behavior Taken together, these dynamics contextualize and explain Trump’s reliance on improvisational rhetoric as a reflection of an increasingly distorted political order and dysfunctional system of governance. These dynamics contextualize and explain Trump’s reliance on improvisational rhetoric as a reflection of an increasingly distorted political order and dysfunctional system of governance To make this case, this essay first outlines the original “rhetorical presidency” construct, turns to an articulation of the four theses that elucidate its contemporary hyper manifestation. The essay concludes with a discussion of the implications for governance brought about by a hyper-rhetorical president who makes it up as he goes
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