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A Reading List for Trump 2.0

Trump in a bubble
Image credit: Illustration by Stephen Kelly/Getty Images/Shutterstock

For those interested in what linguistic anthropology can tell us about Trump and Trumpism, SLA digital media recommends:

On Trump himself:

Janet McIntosh and Norma Mendoza Denton’s excellent edited volume Language in the Trump Era

Cover Image of "Language in the Trump Era: Scandals and Emergencies" edited by J. McIntosh and "N. Mendoza-Denton

Kira Hall, Donna Goldstein and Matthew Ingram’s fantastic 2016 article, “The Hands of Donald Trump”

Image in the article "Hands of Donald Trump" providing an example of Trump’s Pistol Hand gesture, The Apprentice (2006), Associated Press Images.
Trump’s Pistol Hand gesture, The Apprentice (2006), Associated Press Images

On Digital Media and Political Reaction

James’ Slotta’s “The Signs of Donald Trump: Signs of Circulation in a Time of Bubbles” (2019)

Image of Trump in and surrounded by bubbles. (Image credit: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images / Shutterstock)
Image credit: Illustration by Stephen Kelly/Getty Images/Shutterstock

Dillon Ludemann’s 2024 piece “Creatures of kek:” Affordance and enregisterment within “kek” on 4chan’s “/pol/” board

Image of reactionary meme "Pepe the frog" smoking a cigar in a tuxedo. Used in a 4chan post used as an example in Luderman's article "Creatures of kek" (2024)
Reactionary meme figure Pepe the Frog smoking a cigar in a tuxedo and smirking

On White Supremacy:

Krystal Smalls, Arthur Spears, and Jonathan Rosa’s special issue in the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology on Language and White Supremacy

Image used in J. Delifino's article "White Allies and the Semiotics of Wokeness: Raciolinguistic Chronotopes of White Virtue on Facebook" included in the special issue on language and white supremacy
Image included in Jennifer’s Delfino’s article in the Language and White Supremacy special issue. Original caption: “Baloo the Bear reposts @BeauTFC’s “redneck” Tweet”

On Sexism and Reactionary Gender:

Maureen Kosse’s 2022 piece in Gender and Language, “‘Ted Cruz Cucks Again’: The Insult Term cuck as an alt-right masculinist signifier”

Alt-right meme depicting a ‘cuckservative’ Gadsden flag: the rattlesnake is tied to a post, wearing a ball gag
Image from Kosse’s article. Original caption: Alt-right meme depicting a
‘cuckservative’ Gadsden flag: the rattlesnake
is tied to a post, wearing a ball gag

Cat Tebaldi’s exploration of the Tradwives phenomenon among white nationalist women in her 2024 article, “Metapolitical Seduction: Women’s Language and White Nationalism”

Screenshot of Blonde in the Belly of the Beast video. A blonde woman with a side part stares into the low resolution laptop camera.
Image from Tebaldi’s article depicting Blonde in the Belly of the Beast. Original caption: A screenshot depicting Blonde in the Belly.

On the Limits of Bidenism

Jen Delfino’s awesome White Allies and The Semiotics of Wokeness

Screenshot from facebook with two white people holding signs with color palettes indicating the flaw of colorblindness. Signs say "When you don't see color..." and "you can't see patterns." Caption: As someone who used to say "I don't see colour", this photo really resonates with me and furthered my learning. I'm still learning and still working. Hopefully I am starting to see you all now.
Image from Delfino’s article. Original caption: From Colorblind to Colorvision

Kate Arnold-Murray’s excellent 2024 work on liberal political mediocrity in “Settle for Biden: The Scalar Production of a Normative Presidential Candidate on Instagram“

Image from Settle for Biden posted on Instagram by the Path2Progress Instagram account. He's standing with his hand out. Caption says "Joe Biden knows how to pronounce 'Yosemite'
Image from Arnold-Murray’s article. Original caption: Joe Biden knows how to pronounce ‘Yosemite’ (Settle for Biden, published August 4).

Happy reading!