Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:04:05.845Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Part II Introduction: The Show Must Go On: Hyperbole and Falsehood in Trump’s Performance

from Part II - Performance and Falsehood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Norma Mendoza-Denton
Edited by
Janet McIntosh  and
Norma Mendoza-Denton
Janet McIntosh
Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
Norma Mendoza-Denton
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Get access

Summary

This section introduction furnishes an overview of Trump’s verbal behavior when it verges on or crosses into falsehood, by way of innuendo, gaslighting, and plausible deniability. It compares the Trump administration’s symbolic practices with those of Nazi Germany, including the use of superlatives and hyperbole so extreme it takes on a “fairy tale quality.” The chapter further identifies a favorite Trump discourse sequence here termed “reactive reversal,” related to the concept of “plausible deniability” discussed in a later chapter. First, Trump stakes out a hyperbolic claim, and if a public outcry follows, Trump reacts by reversing his claim and blaming others for their inference. Then he may triumphantly declare victory over whoever “really” claimed/did what he originally claimed. This is one of Trump’s methods of gauging reaction from the public.

Keywords

liespropagandahyperboleinnuendogaslightingplausible deniabilityNazi Germanysuperlatives
Type
Chapter
Information
Language in the Trump Era
Scandals and Emergencies
 , pp. 91 - 96
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aristotle, . [350 bce]2018. Aristotle: Rhetoric. Translated by C. D. C. Reeve. Hackett Publishing Company.Google Scholar
The Atlantic. 2011. “Tragedy in Arizona: The Shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.” January 8, 2011. https://bit.ly/2EgwL6H.Google Scholar
Carpenter, Amanda. 2018. Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us. Broadside Books.Google Scholar
CBS. 2010. “Palin: Don’t Retreat! Reload!” April 9, 2010. https://bit.ly/2RPgeP9.Google Scholar
Claridge, Claudia. 2010. Hyperbole in English: A Corpus-Based Study of Exaggeration. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CNN. 2015. “Donald Trump on Megyn Kelly: ‘There was Blood Coming out of Her Wherever.’” August 7, 2015. https://bit.ly/2rLCyhNGoogle Scholar
Frankfurt, Harry. 1986. “On Bullshit.” Raritan 6, no. 2: 81–100.Google Scholar
Kakutani, Michiko. 2018. The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump. Tim Duggan Books.Google Scholar
Kranish, Michael. 2019. “Trump Has Referred to His Wharton Degree As ‘Super Genius Stuff.’ An Admissions Officer Recalls it Differently.” The Washington Post, July 8, 2019. https://wapo.st/2JosRfn.Google Scholar
Lakoff, George (@GeorgeLakoff). 2018. “Trump Uses Social Media as a Weapon to Control the News Cycle.” Twitter, January 3, 2018. https://bit.ly/2PNIUoS.Google Scholar
Loftus, E. F., and Palmer, J. C.. 1974. “Reconstruction of Auto-Mobile Destruction: An Example of the Interaction between Language and Memory.” Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 13: 585–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MSNBC. 2010. “Dangerous Backlash.” The Daily Rundown, March 25, 2010.Google Scholar
Smokinggun.com 2019. “Why Has Donald Trump Been Saying That His Father Was Born in Germany?” April 2, 2019. https://bit.ly/38Giltf.Google Scholar
Stracqualursi, Veronica, and Liptak, Kevin. 2018. “Trump Says He Wants ‘My People’ to Sit Up ‘At Attention’ Like the North Koreans, Later Says He’s ‘Just Kidding.’” CNN, June 15, 2018. https://cnn.it/35jckSl.Google Scholar
Trump, Donald. 1987. The Art of the Deal. Ballantine.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×