The American Studies Center (ASC) within the Romanian-American University is pleased to announce the 2nd installment of its Monthly Lecture Series.
We invite you to the online event entitled ”Crisis, Rhetoric and Right-Wing Populist Incumbency in the Case of Donald Trump”, held on 9th of March 2022, starting at5 PM, by Dr. Corina Lacatus, on ZOOM platform.
Dr. Corina Lacatus is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations within Queen Mary University (London, UK).
Abstract
How do right-wing-populist incumbents navigate rhetorical strategic choices when they seek to manage external crises? Relevant literature has paid increasing attention to the role of ‘crisis’ in boosting the electoral success of right-wing populist candidates.
We know a lot less about the rhetorical strategies used by right-wing populist incumbents seeking re-election. We draw on literatures on populism, crisis management and political rhetoric to conceptualize the rhetorical strategic choices of right-wing populist incumbents in times of crisis.
We propose a framework for the choice of rhetorical strategy available to right-wing populist incumbents and illustrate it with a qualitative content analysis of Trump’s tweets and White House press briefings during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We find limited rhetorical adaptation to crisis and high degrees of continuity with previous rhetoric grounded in right-wing populism. This challenges prevalent assumptions regarding the likelihood of incumbent rhetorical flexibility in the face of crisis.
The participation to the event is free of charge and for the RAU students will be considered Extracurricular Activity, if they use the @student.rau.ro email address in the Registration Form available here.
Please note that by attending this Zoom lecture, all the meeting participants and registrants are consenting to be recorded. This event will be live-streamed on the RAU American Studies Center Facebook page and YouTube channel.
