Paul Elliott Johnson's guest appearances

Paul Elliott Johnson

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

re:verb

The Rick Ungar Show Highlight Podcast

Paul Elliott

Kamala Harris

Nancy Pelosi

Peter Thiel

Timothy Shriver

Alonzo Bodden

Ray Bradbury

Steven Johnson

Chris Matthews

Jonathan Adler

Wendy Suzuki

Ben Burgis

David Corn

Michael Cohen

Emily Miller

OwlTail

Although “populism” is a term that has been rigorously discussed and theorized in political science and communication studies, the term has received special attention ever since the political rise and presidency of Donald Trump. But what does populism actually mean, and how can we trace the lineage of populist conservative discourses that prefigured the Trump presidency?To guide us through the rhetorical history of this fraught concept, we are joined on the show today by Dr. Paul Elliott Johnson, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh. His recently published book, I the People: The Rhetoric of Conservative Populism in the United States, tells a captivating story of how conservative politicians and rhetors from the mid-20th-century to the present have appealed to the values of “the people.” Johnson elucidates how the conservative variant of populism has reduced the category of “the American people” through its focus on a possessive individualism constantly under threat by new ways of being and modes of organization. This sense of “the people under siege” has been undergirded by a reactionary response to blackness, which is ultimately traceable to the US’s foundation in settler-colonialism and chattel slavery. In our discussion, we talk through several of the rhetorical case studies in Johnson’s book, including the political ascendency and presidency of Ronald Reagan, the 1994 midterm elections and the year of the “angry white male,” the astroturfed revanchist “Tea Party” surge during the Obama presidency, and the rise of Donald Trump and the contemporary right-wing. Finally, we discuss some alternative methods of articulating “the people” that might help to expand, rather than reduce, the meaning of US popular democracy.References:Beasley, V. B. (2011). You, the people: American national identity in presidential rhetoric (Vol. 10). Texas A&amp;M University Press.Cooper, M. (2017). Family values: Between neoliberalism and the new social conservatism. MIT Press.Corrigan, L. M. (2020). Black feelings: Race and affect in the long sixties. Univ. Press of Mississippi.DiPiero, T. (2002). White men aren't. Duke University Press.Goldberg, J. (2009). Liberal fascism: The secret history of the American left, from Mussolini to the politics of change. Crown Forum.Harris, C. I. (1993). Whiteness as property. Harvard law review, 1707-1791.Hartman, S. V. (1997). Scenes of subjection: Terror, slavery, and self-making in nineteenth-century America. Oxford University Press on Demand.Honig, B. (2017). Public things: Democracy in disrepair. Fordham Univ Press.Kelsie, A. E. (2019). Blackened Debate at the End of the World. Philosophy &amp; Rhetoric, 52(1), 63-70.King Watts, E. (2017). Postracial fantasies, blackness, and zombies. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 14(4), 317-333.Laclau, E. (2005). On populist reason. Verso.Lee, M. J. (2006). The populist chameleon: The people's party, Huey Long, George Wallace, and the populist argumentative frame. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 92(4), 355-378.Lee, M. J. (2014). Creating conservatism: Postwar words that made an American movement. MSU Press.Matheson, C. (2016). “What does Obama want of me?” Anxiety and Jade Helm 15. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 102(2), 133-149.Mbembe, A. (2019). Necropolitics. Duke University Press.Moffitt, B. (2020). Populism. John Wiley &amp; Sons.Moten, F. (2013). Blackness and nothingness (mysticism in the flesh). South Atlantic Quarterly, 112(4), 737-780.Mudde, C. (2004). The populist zeitgeist. Government and opposition, 39(4), 541-563.Nash, G. H. (2014). The conservative intellectual movement in America since 1945. Open Road Media.Ore, E. J. (2019). Lynching: Violence, rhetoric, and American identity. Univ. Press of Mississippi.Spillers, H. J. (1987). Mama's baby, papa's maybe: An American grammar book. diacritics, 17(2), 65-81.Vats, A. (2014). Racechange is the new Black: Racial accessorizing and racial tourism in high fashion as constraints on rhetorical agency. Communication, Culture &amp; Critique, 7(1), 112-135.White, K. C. (2018). The branding of right-wing activism: The news media and the Tea Party. Oxford University Press.Wright, M. M. (2015). Physics of blackness: Beyond the middle passage epistemology. U of Minnesota Press.

Although “populism” is a term that has been rigorously discussed and theorized in political science and communication studies, the term has received special attention ever since the political rise and presidency of Donald Trump. But what does populism actually mean, and how can we trace the lineage of populist conservative discourses that prefigured the Trump presidency?To guide us through the rhetorical history of this fraught concept, we are joined on the show today by Dr. Paul Elliott Johnson, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh. His recently published book, I the People: The Rhetoric of Conservative Populism in the United States, tells a captivating story of how conservative politicians and rhetors from the mid-20th-century to the present have appealed to the values of “the people.” Johnson elucidates how the conservative variant of populism has reduced the category of “the American people” through its focus on a possessive individualism constantly under threat by new ways of being and modes of organization. This sense of “the people under siege” has been undergirded by a reactionary response to blackness, which is ultimately traceable to the US’s foundation in settler-colonialism and chattel slavery. In our discussion, we talk through several of the rhetorical case studies in Johnson’s book, including the political ascendency and presidency of Ronald Reagan, the 1994 midterm elections and the year of the “angry white male,” the astroturfed revanchist “Tea Party” surge during the Obama presidency, and the rise of Donald Trump and the contemporary right-wing. Finally, we discuss some alternative methods of articulating “the people” that might help to expand, rather than reduce, the meaning of US popular democracy.References:Beasley, V. B. (2011). You, the people: American national identity in presidential rhetoric (Vol. 10). Texas A&amp;M University Press.Cooper, M. (2017). Family values: Between neoliberalism and the new social conservatism. MIT Press.Corrigan, L. M. (2020). Black feelings: Race and affect in the long sixties. Univ. Press of Mississippi.DiPiero, T. (2002). White men aren't. Duke University Press.Goldberg, J. (2009). Liberal fascism: The secret history of the American left, from Mussolini to the politics of change. Crown Forum.Harris, C. I. (1993). Whiteness as property. Harvard law review, 1707-1791.Hartman, S. V. (1997). Scenes of subjection: Terror, slavery, and self-making in nineteenth-century America. Oxford University Press on Demand.Honig, B. (2017). Public things: Democracy in disrepair. Fordham Univ Press.Kelsie, A. E. (2019). Blackened Debate at the End of the World. Philosophy &amp; Rhetoric, 52(1), 63-70.King Watts, E. (2017). Postracial fantasies, blackness, and zombies. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 14(4), 317-333.Laclau, E. (2005). On populist reason. Verso.Lee, M. J. (2006). The populist chameleon: The people's party, Huey Long, George Wallace, and the populist argumentative frame. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 92(4), 355-378.Lee, M. J. (2014). Creating conservatism: Postwar words that made an American movement. MSU Press.Matheson, C. (2016). “What does Obama want of me?” Anxiety and Jade Helm 15. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 102(2), 133-149.Mbembe, A. (2019). Necropolitics. Duke University Press.Moffitt, B. (2020). Populism. John Wiley &amp; Sons.Moten, F. (2013). Blackness and nothingness (mysticism in the flesh). South Atlantic Quarterly, 112(4), 737-780.Mudde, C. (2004). The populist zeitgeist. Government and opposition, 39(4), 541-563.Nash, G. H. (2014). The conservative intellectual movement in America since 1945. Open Road Media.Ore, E. J. (2019). Lynching: Violence, rhetoric, and American identity. Univ. Press of Mississippi.Spillers, H. J. (1987). Mama's baby, papa's maybe: An American grammar book. diacritics, 17(2), 65-81.Vats, A. (2014). Racechange is the new Black: Racial accessorizing and racial tourism in high fashion as constraints on rhetorical agency. Communication, Culture &amp; Critique, 7(1), 112-135.White, K. C. (2018). The branding of right-wing activism: The news media and the Tea Party. Oxford University Press.Wright, M. M. (2015). Physics of blackness: Beyond the middle passage epistemology. U of Minnesota Press.

E65: I The People: Conservative Populist Rhetorics (w/ Dr. Paul Elliott Johnson)

What has become of the American conservative movement? Rick speaks with Paul Elliott Johnson.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3670347/advertisement

What has become of the American conservative movement? Rick speaks with Paul Elliott Johnson. This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/show/3670347/advertisement" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.spreaker.com/show/3670347/advertisement</a>

What Has Become of the American Conservative Movement?: With Guest Paul Elliott Johnson