Cover Image: The Twitter Presidency

The Twitter Presidency

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Member Reviews

This is an interesting look at language study, rhetorical principles, and how rhetoric is used as a political tool. There are components in this book that would be fascinating to include in a linguistic classroom. The book is evocative and thought provoking.
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This book covers everything our Commander in tweets has exposed us to
in the last 2 1/2 years!  The constant bullying, narcissism,  consistently in
our faces day after day!  It's something I never would have believed if I 
hadn't lived it.  I think it's really important to have this textbook to refer back
to over the years.
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For those not aware of malignant narcissism and NPD please check the DSM Manual. For those of us who've endured the wrath we know the truth so there's no need to explain DT's actions to us.
Gaslighting, manipulation, brainwashing, stockholm syndrome, lovebombing, triangulation, co dependency, Jekyll and Hyde persona, grandiose ego, sense of superiority, God like qualities, calculating and cold behavior it's all there.
What is new here is the breakdown of his tweets and how they explain his sense of character.
The use of fear and anxiety is nothing new but using social media to accomplish his agenda and sell his own brand with rhetoric fit for a king is all his own.
Voters may have given him the nod but his followers will blindly follow him off the cliff using loyalty as there platform.
"Trump followers are driven not so much by poor judgement, as they are by poor self wroth, which they collectively express in the denigration of others."
Look it boils down to people want to believe in others inherent goodness. They want to believe the empty promises and broken dreams. They want to stay in denial and ignore the actions set forth by explaining them away in hopes of his total redemption.
Having enduring a family of narcs including two parents as well as marrying into the same I can speak from at least 45 yrs experience.
Narcissists only do what benefits them. So the promises of a greater anything is wrong. Time will tell. Actions speak louder than words. Character is self displayed for all to see but one must choose to see it.
Bullying, shame, blame, guilt, threats, false accusations, smear campaigns, blackmail, and more is used to buy voices and quiet the masses.
The above was used on me and the trail of destruction left behind is exactly what our country will now receive.
You cannot ever trust anything out of the mouths of narcissists as they operate from a false sense of self. If you're allowing a teleprompter read out it appears cordial, nice, and beautiful but the second the cameras are off and we're behind closed doors you best watch out.
Rage, mood swings, inability to take responsibility for one's own actions, shifting blame, finding fault it's all part of the persona.
What captured his election was the voice of the people. He was the white privileged tough guy who felt connected and promised plenty to his voters. In turn they are now finding out everything he touches dies. 
The us v them mentality , the unapologetic white privilege, indignation and social decentering of whiteness adulation is all here.
It's all about attention. It's all about securing sources of supply. It's about stroking the ego. It's about lies and plenty of them. 
Feelings of above law, using nepotism in hiring, corruption , and pay to play schemes are just the forefront of a much larger iceberg as these individuals are financial disasters who are chameleons in disguise.
What they accuse others of doing is EXACTLY what they themselves are DOING!
Skewed reality is what you have especially one built upon a fantasy.
It's a great smoke screen of fog and mirrors to escape accountability.
In turn this rhetoric does nothing more than to undermine civility, degrade the level of political discourse, erode democracy, weaken all rules of law, fuel racial tensions, undermine transparency and intellectual thought process all while promoting mistrust especially against mainstream news media.
The propaganda being used is disheartening but not surprising.
Our Country is under attack from the inside out.
Sadly, I'm all too familiar with the constant state of fight or flight, the fear, the anxiety, the threats of intimidation. It's not new. What is new is this all now comes from my own President. I would never call him that as he's not worthy of this title but sadly until the weak become strong, until the enablers become the enforcers, until the law is utilized this will not stop.
Do not feed the narc. Do not allow his negativity to capture a platform. Do not give him that show to sell himself. 
In the end the toxicity may seem believable and credible but over time even the most loyal will be devalued and discarded and it's then when the new norm is no more.
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This study provides much needed insight into Trump's use ofTwitter to reach his followers.  The discussion of the different strategies he employed as businessman, candidate, and president in his tweets was especially useful, as was the discussion of his adoption of the rhetoric of white rage.  I can envision using this as a text in classes on political and presidential rhetoric and on the use of social media.
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