KU scholar can comment on president’s planned July 4 remarks about nation’s 250th anniversary
LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas expert on presidential rhetoric will be watching President Donald Trump’s address on July 4, the United States’ 250th anniversary, and is available to speak with media about his address. Trump recently said that the July 4th celebration in the nation’s capital will be a “Trump rally.”
Robert Rowland, professor of communication studies at KU, has researched ceremonial presidential rhetoric and is author of the 2021 book “The Rhetoric of Donald Trump: Nationalist Populism and American Democracy.”
Rowland can discuss the speech, its themes, the president’s role in national celebrations and what Trump’s approach to ceremonial rhetoric reveals about contemporary American politics. Having extensively studied the rhetoric of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, Rowland said those presidents and others, including Lincoln and both Roosevelts, were especially eloquent in using American history to reinforce a vision of the present nation, but all have attempted to do so until the Trump administration.
The president’s remarks at the recent UFC cage fight on the White House lawn indicate his rhetoric on ceremonial occasions is radically different than any previous president, Rowland said.
“Presidents normally use ceremonial occasions to speak about values uniting the whole nation,” Rowland said. “President Trump’s comment that the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary will be a ‘Trump Rally’ represents a radically different approach to presidential rhetoric on ceremonial occasions than any president before him.”