Part I Introduction: “Ask the Gays”: How to Use Language to Fragment and Redefine the Public Sphere

Abstract

This section introduction sets the stage for chapters 2, 3, and 4 by surveying some aspects of Trump’s speech acts that have precipitated a breakdown of the body politic. For example, Trump’s use of the determiner the before human kinds (such as “the gays”) pigeonholes and homogenizes the groups in question, rendering them an undifferentiated “other.” The chapter also discusses how Trump threatens Habermas’ notion of “the public sphere,” widely influential in contemporary understandings of the development of Western-style democracy. Trump’s divisive linguistic practices threaten the Enlightenment principles behind a Habermasian public sphere in which rational individuals freely participate with others in discussions of common problems, through a common language. The chapter further discusses how Trump hails and enlists his supporters through interactional routines, including entraining them during his campaign rallies with powerful three-syllable chants (such as “Get them out!”, “Lock her up!”, and “Build that wall!”). Trump also divides the nation by sanctioning insensitivity against his detractors, enacting the role of a stern, even merciless father figure.

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