Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to Text and Discourse : From Poetics to Politics

Richard S. Conley connects Donald Trump's populist style to his predecessors. Trump’s method of communication through social media obviously differs from previous candidates and presidents with populist platforms, but his themes – a disdain for elites, grassroots support, majoritarianism, anti-intellectual discourse and nativism – borrow variably from such figures as Andrew Jackson, Huey Long, Barry Goldwater and Ross Perot. As such, Trump’s approach to governance falls within a long tradition of populism dating to the 19th Century.