The hands of Donald Trump Entertainment, gesture, spectacle

Commentators from a broad range of perspectives have been at pains to explain Donald Trump's transition from billionaire businessman to populist presidential candidate. This article draws on cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and rhetorical theory to argue that the success of Trump...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHAU journal of ethnographic theory Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 71 - 100
Main Authors Hall, Kira, Goldstein, Donna M., Ingram, Matthew Bruce
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago University of Chicago Press 01.09.2016
Subjects
Candidates
Cultural anthropology
Linguistics
Presidential elections
Rhetoric
Trump, Donald J
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Summary:Commentators from a broad range of perspectives have been at pains to explain Donald Trump's transition from billionaire businessman to populist presidential candidate. This article draws on cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and rhetorical theory to argue that the success of Trump's candidacy in the 2016 Republican primary was in part due to its value as comedic entertainment. We examine the ways that Trump's unconventional political style, particularly his use of gesture to critique the political system and caricature his opponents, brought momentum to his campaign by creating spectacle. Post-structuralist and neo-Marxist scholars have asserted that late capitalism values style over content: Trump took this characteristic to new heights. The exaggerated depictions of the sociopolitical world that Trump crafts with his hands to oppose political correctness and disarm adversaries accrue visual capital in a mediatized twenty-first-century politics that is celebrity driven.
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ISSN:2575-1433
2049-1115
DOI:10.14318/hau6.2.009