Dangerous crooked scoundrels : insulting the president, from Washington to Trump

Author / Creator

Battistella, Edwin L. author

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Summary

History of insults aimed at United States presidents, from George Washington to Donald Trump. "Political insults tell us what we value in our leaders by showing how we devalue them. In Dangerous Cr...

History of insults aimed at United States presidents, from George Washington to Donald Trump.

"Political insults tell us what we value in our leaders by showing how we devalue them. In Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels, linguist Edwin Battistella collects over five hundred insults aimed at American presidents. Covering the broad sweep of American history, he puts insults in their place--the political and cultural context of their times. Along the way, Battistella illustrates the recurring themes of political insults: too little intellect or too much, inconsistency or obstinacy, worthlessness, weakness, dishonesty, sexual impropriety, appearance, and more. The kinds of insults we use suggest what our culture finds most hurtful, and reveal society's changing prejudices as well as its most enduring ones. How we insult presidents and how they react tells us about the presidents, but it also tells us about our nation's politics."--

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