Donald Trump, Access Hollywood, and the Rhetorical Performance of Aggrieved White Masculinity

This essay examines Trump's 2016 Greensboro rally performance of aggrieved white masculinity to shed light on the Access Hollywood scandal specifically and his appeal for supporters generally. Trump projected a persona of primitive, white, working-class masculinity; feminized the establishment through populist conspiracy; used psychological iconicity and inference to equate Clinton's assertions with what he depicted as his accusers' false claims of sexual assault; and dispelled their credibility through reenactment and partition. His sexism, conjoined with anger, also did displaced racist work by depicting his hypermasculine, authoritarian leadership as essential for restoring white men and the nation to their rightful places.