ABSTRACT
Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency was historically improbable. Anger and rage were key ingredients of Trump’s success, functioning as primary warrants for his larger stated goal of “making America great again.” Social media helped to create perfect conditions for anger and rage to grow by encouraging the instant sharing of information, often in echo chambers where opinions are not challenged and alternative viewpoints are not offered. Affect theory provides one way to understand how anger/rage shaped and influenced political discourse surrounding the 2016 election. Memes related to the Trump campaign typically carried both specific argumentation and more general feelings of anger/rage about contemporary political life. In the case of Trump, memes and viral images function to reflect, build, and spread a sense of deep anger/rage that justified and supported his populist candidacy.
