'Propaganda as a weapon': Communications expert explains why Trump’s presser was so 'dark'

During his Tuesday, January 7 press conference at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald Trump angrily railed against everything from the outgoing Biden Administration to windmills (which he considers dangerous). Trump doubled down on his desire for Canada to become the 51st state and for the United States to buy Greenland — and he wouldn't rule out of the possibility of using military force against Denmark, a NATO member and long-time U.S. ally.

Jennifer Mercieca, a communications professor at Texas A&M University, discussed the press conference with The New Republic's Greg Sargent during an appearance on the publication's podcast. And both of them laid out some reasons why they found Trump's comments so ominous.

Mercieca is known for her in-depth analysis of rhetoric, and she cited Trump as a blatant example of communication being used to bully and intimidate rather than persuade.

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The Texas A&M professor told Sargent, "The opposite of an authoritarian is someone who uses rhetoric, meaning that they use rhetoric to persuade. Persuasion is an invitation to think like I do…. Authoritarians, they don’t do that. They use propaganda. They use communication as a weapon, as a force."

Sargent noted that during the press conference, Trump doubled down on "threatening to annex Greenland and the Panama Canal."

Mercieca told Sargent, "He's very concerned, in this press conference, about shipping routes and who controls them, and he wants control of them. And that seems to be the framework by which he is going to justify all kinds of illegal empire building. I don't know how people are going to frame this, but really bizarre land grabs it sounds like."

The press conference, Sargent argued, "suggests things are going to get pretty damn dark" after Trump returns to the White House on January 20 — and Mercieca agreed.

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The communications professor told Sargent, "I expect it to be dark. I believe him when he says he's going to be a dictator on Day 1. I do not believe him when he says he’s not going to be a dictator on Day 2. I don’t think, in the world history, we’ve seen an example of someone assuming dictatorial power and then giving it up willingly. That’s never happened, especially not someone like Donald Trump, who is an unaccountable leader by nature, who wants that power."

Mercieca continued, "We've put a very dangerous person in office. He plans to use his power in whatever way he can and however he wants, and I don't see how we're going to stop him from doing that."

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Listen to the full New Republic podcast at this link or read the interview transcript here.