Document Type
Article
Keywords
President Donald Trump; trade policy; tariffs
Publisher
Fast Capitalism
Rights Management
Open Access
Abstract
In Fast Capitalism’s 2020 issue, “This is Not Normal,” I explored Trump’s propensity for improvised rhetoric during his first term; that is, his reliance on “making it up as he goes” in his public statements, whether communicated verbally or through social media. The primary goal of my original essay was not simply to identify the president’s ad-hoc communication style—which is clear for all to see—but to argue that the president’s tendency toward improvisational speech matters because it represents more than just his approach to communication. This tendency toward improvisation also constitutes much of his approach to governing.
In “Making It Up As He Goes: Trump’s Improvisational Rhetoric and the Hyper-Rhetorical Presidency,” I demonstrated how “Trump regularly uses improvised communication to make important policy decisions [that are] publicly announced by the president without prior consultation or communication with all relevant stakeholders, including foreign allies, key members of Congress, and administration policy advisors” (Holtzman 2020, 53-54). The upshot was that this rhetorical behavior reflects a “distorted system of governance” that results in two significant consequences, both clearly on display in the president’s trade policy reversal: organizational dysfunction within the White House and policy incoherence.
Comments
Holtzman, Richard (2025) "Still Making It Up as He Goes: Revisiting the Hyper-Rhetorical Presidency in Trump’s Second Term," Fast Capitalism: Vol. 22: Iss. 1, Article 4.
DOI: 10.32855/1930-014X.1003
Available at: https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/fastcapitalism/vol22/iss1/4