"The good, the bad, and the weird" with Jennifer Mercieca

The rhetorical analyst who wrote the book on Trump's demagoguery explains the power of positivity and weirdness.

2016 was the year we all became pundits. 2024 may be the year we all become rhetoricians. And no one is better at explaining how words help create and destroy democracy than Jennifer Mercieca. 

The author of DEMAGOGUE FOR PRESIDENT: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump can tell you why our wannabe American dictator has been so effective on the stump. But this conversation ended up being more about why he’s flailing now.

In February, Mercieca advocated for “weirdifying” fascism, and the new Democratic nominee for vice president, Tim Walz, has embraced a cousin of that strategy. She also told us in our last conversation how the MAGA plan was to turn Biden into a “beta male,” and we explored how that strategy may have worked too well for Trump.

And we talked about how the forces of freedom can learn from Swifties. There’s also some fun stuff for history buffs, though you may never look at the 1824 election the same way.

Catch up on all the episodes of “How are you feeling about democracy?” here.

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