2016/12/09 by Allison Fettes, Fettes, Allison
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Law in Society and Culture #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Rhetoric and Communication Studies #communication #politics #post-truth politics
paper · doi:10.14288/cjur.v5i1.188915
openalex publication_date 2016/12/09 · openalex created_date 2020/09/21 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, the United States elected Donald Trump, a reality TV business mogul, over Hillary Clinton, the former United States Secretary of State, as their 45thPresident. The impact of this election has been felt across the globe due to the bizarre campaigning of both Clinton and Trump including accusations of illegal activity, and frequent outright lies communicated to the public through candidate speeches, social media, and news agencies. It seems that the rise of populist voting activity and, what has been dubbed ‘post-truth’ politics played a significant role in Trump’s win. By looking at the semiotic aspect of political communication, political marketing, and the idea of ‘illusory democracy’, I argue that ‘post-truth’ politics are a threat to western democracy.