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13 - Evaluator in Chief

from Part III - The Interactive Making of the Trumpian World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

Janet McIntosh
Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
Norma Mendoza-Denton
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Summary

This chapter examines what Trump might gain from perpetually evaluating others in his verbal interactions. The analysis presented here explores Trump’s evaluations of his guests at the 2017 Black History Month Listening Session. The political stakes of the event were high, as the President who had been repeatedly accused of racist and xenophobic remarks led a meeting of Black Americans in celebration of Black historical figures. Yet during the event, Trump repeatedly placed himself in the role of “evaluator” and positioned his guests as “evaluatees.” With each guest likely noticing that their own turn to be evaluated was soon at hand, each worked to provide Trump ample evidence of their fealty in exchange for his positive evaluation. Their demonstrations of commitment and loyalty to Trump garnered his praise only when the guests provided evidence that mets Trump’s implicit criteria, which he repeatedly modeled in his evaluation of others around the table. As a result, Trump and guests worked together on the fly to achieve his position as “Evaluator in Chief” and further solidify his public image as the “Boss.”

Type
Chapter
Information
Language in the Trump Era
Scandals and Emergencies
, pp. 191 - 202
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

Davis, Julie H. 2017. “Trump’s Cabinet, with a Prod, Extols the ‘Blessing’ of Serving Him.” The New York Times, June 12, 2017. https://nyti.ms/2rjw0pn.Google Scholar
Ochs, Elinor, and Taylor, Carolyn. 1995. “The ‘Father Knows Best’ Dynamic in Family Dinner Narratives.” In Gender Articulated: Language and the Socially Constructed Self, edited by Hall, Kira and Bucholtz, Mary, pp. 97120. Routledge.Google Scholar
Trump, Donald. 2017. “Black History Month Listening Session.” C-SPAN video. February 1, 2017. https://cs.pn/2tRKdpX.Google Scholar

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