Resolute Square

Jennifer Mercieca

Award-Winning Professor, Author, and Resolute Square Contributor

About Jennifer Mercieca

Dr. Jennifer Mercieca is an award-winning Professor in the Department of Communication & Journalism at Texas A&M University. She writes about American political discourse, especially as it relates to citizenship, democracy, and the presidency. Jennifer has published three books: Founding Fictions, The Rhetoric of Heroic Expectations: Establishing the Obama Presidency, and Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump.

Her 2020 book on Donald Trump’s rhetoric (Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump) was reviewed in the Washington Post, which said, “it deserves a place alongside George Orwell’s ‘Politics and the English Language’ and Harry G. Frankfurt’s ‘On Bulls---.’ It’s a brilliant dissertation on Trump’s patented brand of balderdash. That makes it one of the most important political books of this perilous summer.” Reviews in Politico and Salon called the book a “must read” and “highly recommended.”

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Latest
Why Trump’s Supporters Want The Long Con
Dr. Jennifer Mercieca examines how Donald Trump used communication to con his supporters and suggests strategies to cool out his marks and defend democracy in America.
September 12, 2023
Attacking Democracy: It’s All Upside For Trump
Violence is essential to fascism, as Benito Mussolini explained: “fascism does not, generally speaking, believe in the possibility or utility of perpetual peace.”
August 16, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks New
Propaganda Power of Nostalgia
Jen Mercieca warns of the propaganda power of nostalgia: Your memories about the past are incomplete, easily shaped by others, and a vulnerability to propaganda. Fascists know that.
July 7, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks New
Trump Violates Democracy on CNN
"Trump has not changed. Trump will not change. Trump continues to be a threat to the United States and the free world—and Republican audiences still love it," writes Jen Mercieca after CNN's 90-minute demagogue festival.
May 11, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks New
Tucker Carlson's Show Was Bad For America
White genocide, fake vaccines, Ukrainian bio-labs? Tucker has spent his time at Fox pushing a whole lot of poison into the American public.
April 27, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks New
Oh Yes, He’s The Great Pretender
America has a President of the United States and a Pretender in the United States. When it comes to Trump, playing pretend is no game and this time, the media can't come to play.
April 6, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks New
Trump Might Still Be Awaiting Indictment, But Stormy Daniels Has Already Won.
With Trump's indictment looming, the culmination of a 17-year battle is upon us. But Jen Mercieca writes that we don't need to wait to see who won in the grand scheme. Way to reclaim your humanity, Stormy Daniels!
March 23, 2023
Distinction without a Difference: Weirdifying Anti-Trans Discourse
Conservatives like Michael Knowles have made it clear that their goal is to erase trans people from existence - with GOP laws already attempting to forcibly detransition people in the south. Jen breaks down how to dissect this anti-trans rhetoric and weirdify it.
March 8, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks compact
Biden Weirdifies Putin’s War Propaganda
At every turn leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin and his mouthpieces lied about their intentions and Biden and his team weirdified them.
February 23, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks compact
How To Save Democracy: Weirdify Fascism
Fascists want to control what we talk about and how we think about it. To save democracy, we have to weirdify what fascists desperately want to make normal.
February 8, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks compact
Why Some Will Forever Buy The Big Lie
Some will never quit believing Trump's big lie and he has proven that he'll never stop telling it. Jen Mercieca explains why this conspiracy works despite the facts.
January 26, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks compact
The Truth About Conspiracy Theory
We're wired to find conspiracies appealing, but they are a trap door into a maze. But unlike a maze, the conspiracy makes our brain less capable of finding the way out - or even wanting to.
January 12, 2023
Rhetorical Tricks compact
Ideas Are Weapons: the Overton Window And Fascism
Propagandists use “conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses.” Why? Because it works.
December 29, 2022