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Comparing the President's Twitter Feed to the Rhetoric of Authoritarian Propaganda

President Donald Trump
Wikimedia Commons
President Donald Trump

Web-exclusive continued discussion.When words like “authoritarian and propaganda” come up, usually one wouldn’t jump straight to thought of tweets. But, regardless of where one falls on the political spectrum, it can be agreed that our current president, Donald Trump, uses the Twitter platform to communicate directly with the American public in an unprecedented way.

But, are his tweets on par with historical examples of authoritarian rhetoric? And when does it become propaganda? Our guest has been digging into the history books, and the president’s twitter feed, to look for comparisons, which we’ll explore today so you can draw your own conclusions. Ron Feemster is a professor of journalism at Florida Southwestern State College. He’ll be presenting a lecture called President Trump's Twitter Feed: The Rhetoric of Authoritarian Propaganda on Wednesday, November 7 at the college’s Fort Myers campus.

Comparing the President's Twitter Feed to the Rhetoric of Authoritarian Propaganda

Copyright 2018 WGCU

Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Mike Kiniry is producer of Gulf Coast Live, and co-creator and host of the WGCU podcast Three Song Stories: Biography Through Music. He first joined the WGCU team in the summer of 2003 as an intern while studying Communication at Florida Gulf Coast University.