<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2919"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2920">Burkophiles,<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2921"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2919"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2922"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2923"> If we
concentrate too heavily on Trump’s personality defects, as evidenced in his
narcissism and rhetorical tics (yes, he compulsively dwells on any slight or
tangential criticism, puts his “dominance ritual” front and center, before all
else), we may miss the larger Burkean import on what’s happening this
presidential cycle. We’re very much in the midst of a “breaking of a frame,” as
I see it, and as Burke articulates and anatomizes such a political rending in <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2924">ATH</i>. I’m attaching an outline of a
possible study of Trump’s generic tokens, particularly as displayed in his
primary-season discourse.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2925"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2922"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2926"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2927"> Trump’s
predictable, sectarian burlesque (that’s the “frame amplification” that goes
with the political dislocations we’re now witnessing, Burke and “New” social-movement
theorists say) has turned darker in the general campaign. Some stages of
Trump’s fevered drama now manifest tragic dimensions, as in Burke’s notion of “factional
tragedy” (see the long footnote on pp. 188-90). When a candidate twice hints at
the possible desirability that his opponent be assassinated, and incessantly
calls for her imprisonment (Trump made the threat to Clinton’s face in the
debates), the discourse has gotten beyond the public division/private
reconciliation that can transpire in Buckley-style burlesque. If I were to give
such a study a title, I might call it “Burlesque, Tragedy, and a (Potentially)
‘Yuuuge’ Breaking of a Frame: Trump’s Rhetoric as ‘Early Warning.’”<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2928"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2926"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2929"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2930"> The
“Early Warning” motif comes from “All the Rage: Sanders and Trump Represent Two
Different Sides of American Populism---And the Uprising They Sparked Could
Topple the Established Political Order,” by John Judis, <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2931">New Republic</i> (Judis’ book on the matter is to be published this
month). On the timeliness of Trump as potent restorationist leader, see, also,
William Greider’s prescient article in <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2932">The
Nation</i>, “My Post-Debate Blues [first one], or, How a Rude Egomaniac Has
Effectively Channeled Working Class Anger”; “Trump’s Rhetoric of White
Nostalgia,” by Ronald Brownstein in <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2933">The
Atlantic</i>; “The Anti-Establishment Surge Won’t Disappear after the
Election,” by Robert Reich, syndicate column in my local newspaper; “How the
Rhetoric of Donald Trump Is (Sort of) Changing American Politics,” by Eric
Fershtman, <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2934">Seneca Review</i>; “What Fuels
the Backlash on Trade,” by Peter S. Goodman, <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2935">NYTimes.com</i>; and, in particular, the <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2936">Politico</i>-Harvard poll that shows that 85 percent of Republican (!)
voters say that free trade has hurt their communities, and “GOP Senators
Succumb to Trump’s War on Trade,” by Seung Min Kim, <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2937">Politico.com</i>. Note, of course, also, the chagrin of establishment
Republicans at the hijacking of their party by the Trumpster.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2938"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2929"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2939"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2940"> The
“frame” it is a-breakin’. The great lacuna and weakness in Clinton’s candidacy
is her vulnerability on the likes of NAFTA and the admission of China into the
world trade organization, and her retreat from the “inequality” theme that
highlighted her pre-primary rhetoric. Her big break is, she’s running against
an opponent whose personality, personal history, and patent unsuitability for
such high office overmatch her deficits.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2941"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2939"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2942"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2943"> John
Judis’ “Early Warning” has been sounded, as per political theory. It has been
amplified by the genre (or genres) of Trump’s rhetoric that has taken hold.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2944"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2942"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2945"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2946"> Be
duly warned.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2947"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2945"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2948"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2949"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2950"> </o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2739">
</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2951"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2952"> Ed</span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2951"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2951"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2951"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_5268"> P. S. I'll attach in a subsequent post. <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477333423848_2953"></o:p></span></div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"><font size="2" face="Arial"> On Tuesday, October 25, 2016 12:43 AM, Jim Moore <jimmijcat@hotmail.com> wrote:<br></font></div> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv5309112385"><style>#yiv5309112385 #yiv5309112385 -- .yiv5309112385EmailQuote {margin-left:1pt;padding-left:4pt;border-left:#800000 2px solid;}#yiv5309112385 </style><div>
</div><style type="text/css">
#yiv5309112385 #yiv5309112385 --
p
{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}
#yiv5309112385
</style><div><div dir="ltr">
<div id="yiv5309112385x_divtagdefaultwrapper" style="font-size:12pt;color:#000000;font-family:Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div>All,</div>
<div><br clear="none">
</div>
<div>I'm no expert, but didn't Burke articulate this concept</div>
<div>with the notion of DIVISION being the always present</div>
<div>corollary of IDENTIFICATION. When I say, "I'm a</div>
<div>Canadian, eh," I'm also saying, "I'm not Guatemalan,</div>
<div>or Russian or Czech or a U.S. citizen . . ." or any number</div>
<div>of possibly contraries. Similarly, if one says "I'm not</div>
<div>for Trump" it doesn't necessarily say, "I'm with HRC,"</div>
<div>but it might say, in the context of this election, "My</div>
<div>division from Trump is greater than my division</div>
<div>from HRC," whose initials are bound to go do in history</div>
<div>like JFK's and FDR's, by the way.</div>
<div><br clear="none">
</div>
<div>Peace and tear down walls,</div>
<div><br clear="none">
</div>
<div>Jim </div>
</div>
<hr tabindex="-1" style="display:inline-block;width:98%;">
<div class="yiv5309112385yqt6553977930" id="yiv5309112385yqt61373"><div dir="ltr" id="yiv5309112385x_divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000" style="font-size:11pt;"><b>From:</b> KB <kb-bounces@kbjournal.org> on behalf of wessr@oregonstate.edu <wessr@oregonstate.edu><br clear="none">
<b>Sent:</b> October 24, 2016 6:47:05 PM<br clear="none">
<b>To:</b> Phillip Tompkins; kb@kbjournal.org<br clear="none">
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [KB] Burkean identification and Trump</font>
<div> </div>
</div></div>
</div>
<font size="2"><span style="font-size:10pt;">
</span></font><div class="yiv5309112385yqt6553977930" id="yiv5309112385yqt46655"><div class="yiv5309112385PlainText">Phil, thanks for your examples. They provide an interesting contrast.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
While tribal identifications with teams can produce oppositions <br clear="none">
leading to hostility, they can also coexist with an identification at <br clear="none">
the level of good sportsmanship that transcends such opposition. Win <br clear="none">
or lose, you can shake hands with your opponent, the way hockey <br clear="none">
players do when they line up at the end of a playoff series, each <br clear="none">
player on each team shaking the hand of every player on the other team.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Such coexistence of two levels is not possible for the Nazi, who can't <br clear="none">
transcend to a level cutting across the opposition without giving up <br clear="none">
his Nazi identification. An interesting text to explore from this <br clear="none">
Burkean standpoint is Irvin Yalom's THE SPINOZA PROBLEM. As you may <br clear="none">
know, this is a historical novel about a real Nazi who loved Goethe, <br clear="none">
then was dismayed to discover that Goethe loved Spinoza, which <br clear="none">
prompted this Nazi to explore what was for him a great mystery: how <br clear="none">
could Goethe love a Jew?<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Bob<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Quoting Phillip Tompkins <tompkinp@Colorado.EDU>:<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
> I agree with this analysis. I think of identification not only as a <br clear="none">
> rhetorical term but also as a value-free social scientific <br clear="none">
> construct. Last night I watched the Chicago Cubs win the National <br clear="none">
> League title for the first time since 1945. The people in Chicago <br clear="none">
> were out of their minds. But there were also some Dodger fans. Who <br clear="none">
> are the good guys?<br clear="none">
> No doubt the Nazi Party faithful had a powerful sense of <br clear="none">
> identification--with that component of superiority that allowed them <br clear="none">
> to kill off the lesser groups like the Jews, who in turn identified <br clear="none">
> with their religion, culture and customs. Identifying against <br clear="none">
> someone or something, howerver, is powerful in our current election. <br clear="none">
> We identify with the least offensive candidate.<br clear="none">
> Phil Tompkins<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> -----Original Message-----<br clear="none">
> From: KB [<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:kb-bounces@kbjournal.org" target="_blank" href="mailto:kb-bounces@kbjournal.org">mailto:kb-bounces@kbjournal.org</a>] On Behalf Of wessr@oregonstate.edu<br clear="none">
> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2016 4:01 PM<br clear="none">
> To: Edward C Appel<br clear="none">
> Cc: kb@kbjournal.org<br clear="none">
> Subject: [KB] Burkean identification and Trump<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> Burkeans,<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> Burke's concept of identification may illuminate and be illuminated <br clear="none">
> by the Trump campaign. A few observations (no doubt there are others):<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> It may be far easier to prevent identification from solidifying than <br clear="none">
> to break it once it occurs. Trump's core supporters now appear to <br clear="none">
> believe anything he says, no matter how outlandish.<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> Late in the primaries, I saw a TV report of Cruz walking into a <br clear="none">
> small crowd of Trump supporters to try to change their minds. A few <br clear="none">
> of them starting chanting "lyin Ted," mimicking Trump. Such <br clear="none">
> mimicking says something about how identification could lead to <br clear="none">
> groups of "trump-shirts" roaming the streets to enforce Trump's will.<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> Identification could be viewed as a good thing that can go bad, as <br clear="none">
> in Burke's recounting of a "bad filling of a good need" (PLF 218). <br clear="none">
> But maybe it would be better to view identification as an analytic <br clear="none">
> rather than an honorific concept to require always taking the extra <br clear="none">
> step to explain what makes an identification good or bad.<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> Bob<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> Quoting Edward C Appel <edwardcappel@frontier.com>:<br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
>> All,<br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> One of Burke’s examples of the “unifying term” as deflector from<br clear="none">
>> gross inequality of sacrifice, privilege, rewards, and motivations was<br clear="none">
>> the WWII profiteer who would speak of how “we’re all in this conflict<br clear="none">
>> together.” The implicitly unifying identifier “we” in that context so<br clear="none">
>> strikingly illustrates the use of “ambiguity” in rhetorical appeal. It<br clear="none">
>> put executives at Ford and GM, and GIs being blown apart in Europe and<br clear="none">
>> the Pacific, on the same footing.. Up to a point, necessarily vague<br clear="none">
>> abstractions of a public-spirited cast legitimately serve to keep<br clear="none">
>> societies and polities from coming apart at the seams. Up to a point.<br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> What’s happened this political season is the result of a sharp<br clear="none">
>> fraying or tarring of that social fabric. The success of both Sanders<br clear="none">
>> and Trump vouchsafes that disintegration. Forty years of globalization<br clear="none">
>> of USAmerican jobs and once-middle-class incomes, to the conspicuous<br clear="none">
>> advantage of wealthy owners and executives, who now manufacture more<br clear="none">
>> cheaply and sell world-wide, and obvious disadvantage to working class<br clear="none">
>> citizens, high school level or lower, has come home to roost. Trump<br clear="none">
>> has become the mouthpiece for these ignored and neglected Americans,<br clear="none">
>> their plight studiously finessed with the rhetoric of “re-education”<br clear="none">
>> for the new technologies, or assurances that “Americans can compete<br clear="none">
>> with anybody.” (True, of course, at one dollar an hour.) A wild man<br clear="none">
>> like Donald Trump could not likely survive in a less volatile economic<br clear="none">
>> situation. He is so cleverly exploiting this one: “I will be your<br clear="none">
>> voice!”<br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> On our private Burkean discussion list, I said long ago that Trump is<br clear="none">
>> functioning like a Rorschach Test. He’s the indistinct picture of rage<br clear="none">
>> onto which people can project a multitude of grievances. He’s a<br clear="none">
>> walking negative: Whatever it is we are doing now that’s taken away<br clear="none">
>> our American Dream, “Trump, thank heaven, isn’t that!” All those<br clear="none">
>> Clinton adds with Trump spouting invectives?---who are they really<br clear="none">
>> helping?<br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> Ed<br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> _______________________________________________<br clear="none">
>> KB mailing list<br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> KB@kbjournal.org<br clear="none">
>> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org">http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org</a><br clear="none">
>> <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org">http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org</a>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> _______________________________________________<br clear="none">
>> KB mailing list<br clear="none">
>> KB@kbjournal.org<br clear="none">
>> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org">http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org</a><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----<br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> _______________________________________________<br clear="none">
>> KB mailing list<br clear="none">
>> KB@kbjournal.org<br clear="none">
>> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org">http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org</a><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
>> _______________________________________________<br clear="none">
>> KB mailing list<br clear="none">
>> KB@kbjournal.org<br clear="none">
>> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org">http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org</a><br clear="none">
>><br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
> _______________________________________________<br clear="none">
> KB mailing list<br clear="none">
> KB@kbjournal.org<br clear="none">
> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org">http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org</a><br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
><br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
_______________________________________________<br clear="none">
KB mailing list<br clear="none">
KB@kbjournal.org<br clear="none">
<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org">http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org</a><br clear="none">
</div></div>
</div></div><br><div class="yqt6553977930" id="yqt07703">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">KB mailing list<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:KB@kbjournal.org" href="mailto:KB@kbjournal.org">KB@kbjournal.org</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org" target="_blank">http://kbjournal.org/mailman/listinfo/kb_kbjournal.org</a><br clear="none"></div><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>