“Fake and Fraudulent” vs. “An American Right”: Competing Imaginaries of the Vote in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Campaign

Jennifer Stromer-Galley, Brian McKernan, Christy Khoury, Pyeonghwa Kim

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemChapter

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

How should we understand January 6th? We cannot understand January 6th without understanding the rhetoric-the arguments that President Trump made to persuade the public and his supporters-that the election was stolen from him. The “Stop the Steal” mantra was an argument that Trump laid out over seven months during the campaign in his interactions with the press, on Twitter, and through ad buys on Facebook and Instagram. Using conceptual theories of social imaginaries, the chapter contends that Trump’s rhetoric constructed a narrative aimed to sow doubt about the accuracy of the vote count and encourage his supporters to reject the electoral outcome, culminating in the attempted coup on January 6th. His rhetoric is contrasted with that of Joe Biden. The contrast underscores how distinctly antinormative Trump’s rhetoric was with regard to the value we hold around the vote.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMedia and January 6th
PublisherOxford University Press
Pages54-60
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9780197758564
ISBN (Print)9780197758526
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2024

Keywords

  • 2020 presidential election
  • Donald Trump
  • media
  • rhetorical analysis
  • social imaginary

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Social Sciences

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