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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
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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

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References

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