Donald J. Trump and the Politics of White Rage

Research Outreach

Post author By Brian
Post date September 10, 2021

Twittering away our deliberative capacity: Social media and the threat to democracy – Research Outreach

Ott, B. L., & Dickinson, G. (2021). Twittering away our deliberative capacity: Social media and the threat to democracy. Research Outreach, 124, 50-53. Doi: 10.32907/RO-124-1462293052

By Brian

BRIAN L. OTT (Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University) is a scholar and public intellectual who has been studying rhetoric, media, and their intersection for more than 20 years. He has authored numerous books and essays on the changing nature of communication in the digital era, and he has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, and Politico among others. His op-eds have appeared in outlets such as USA Today, Newsweek, Salon, and The Hill.

Brian is Department Head and Professor of Communication at Missouri State University. He is a former President of the Western States Communication Association and a former Editor of the Western Journal of Communication.

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Brian Ott and Greg Dickinson’s The Twitter Presidency was the first book-length academic study of President Trump’s rhetoric and his use of Twitter. It is centrally concerned with Donald Trump’s rhetorical style, which the authors argue reflects an aesthetics of white rage and is rooted in authoritarianism, narcissism, and demagoguery. The Twitter Presidency specifically explores how Trump took advantage of Twitter’s structural biases, namely simplicity, impulsivity, and incivility, to effectively channel and transmit the affective dimensions of white rage. The homology between his general communication practices and his preferred communication platform (manner and modality), Ott and Dickinson argue, struck a powerful emotive chord with his followers, who felt aggrieved at the decentering of white masculinity.