The New Abnormal
The New Abnormal podcast (which has over 250,000 downloads) focuses on 'Now / Next / Why'. My guests have include a wide variety of experts based in locations from Los Angeles to Shanghai, Rio to Beirut, and Helsinki to Melbourne. Those guests have included activists, creatives, writers, philosophers, strategists, psychologists, lecturers, futurists etc, and asking them to explain their views has led to some fascinating conversations. Re: my bio, I'm a futurist, public speaker, and author whose written two books - my first went to No1 in the business charts whilst my second was shortlisted for the 'Business Book of the Year' Awards. (I'll be writing a third as soon as time allows.) So, I hope you enjoy listening to the series - which was set up during the early days of Covid and is therefore divided into a series per year. All rights reserved. #TheNewAbnormal podcast series © Sean Pillot de Chenecey 2020.
The New Abnormal
Jennifer Mercieca 'Demagogue for President - the rhetorical genius of Trump'
Series Two
This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Dr Jennifer Mercieca, author and Professor at Texas A&M University; an historian of American political rhetoric whose research combines history, political theory / philosophy / science.
Her latest research is on how ubiquitous propaganda has ruined our public sphere and what we can do about it. As an author, she writes about American political discourse, especially as it relates to citizenship, democracy, and the presidency, and has published three books: 'Founding Fictions', 'The Rhetoric of Heroic Expectations: Establishing the Obama Presidency', and 'Demagogue for President: the Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump'.
Jennifer has also written for The Conversation, USA Today, Washington Post, and other major media outlets. She's been interviewed by the BBC, NPR, The New York Times, CNN, The Guardian, Vice, ABC Radio, Slate, and many other outlets throughout the US and Worldwide - and has been called “probably the leading authority on Trump’s rhetoric”.
So, as you can imagine, this interview features a fascinating discussion about her views, including the use of language as a weapon, how Trump took advantage of distrust, polarisation and frustration, and why the unifying campaign strategies he employed were anything but simple.
In their review of her latest book, The Washington Post stated "The question of how Donald Trump ever got elected president has stumped some of the nation’s deeper thinkers. Jennifer Mercieca has a compelling answer.
Spoiler alert: Trump is not, in fact, a genius. He’s a sophisticated con man who used the tools of rhetoric to pick the pockets of the American body politic, double-talking his way to power..."