Syracuse University Professor: Time Will Tell How Long Trump Spectacle Will Last

Amos Kiewe

Professor of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts Amos Kiewe offers his opinion about the viability of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate.

“Donald Trump, who was early dismissed as not a viable candidate, continues to go strong, and along the way he has not changed his collection of outrageous statements. Whether to construct an impassable wall between the U.S. and Mexico, deporting 11 million illegal immigrants, to resuming waterboarding or creating tracking databases for incoming refugees from Syria, Trump’s ‘policy statements’ resonate with a specific constituency. And this is the crux of the matter: he has succeeded thus far because he is taken by a given constituency as a-political and thus considered viable and strong against the conventional candidates who are often taken as sanitized and carefully managed. Time will tell how long the spectacle will last.”

Amos Kiewe is a professor of communication and rhetorical studies in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. His areas of research are in rhetorical theory and criticism, political communication, presidential studies, argumentation, and persuasion. He is available for interview by emailing akiewe@syr.edu or calling 315-443-5132.