ABSTRACT

This chapter begins by positioning the news conference interaction between Trump and journalist April Ryan as a foreshadowing of Donald Trump's opprobrious embodiment of toxic White masculinity as President of the United States. It defines the methodological utility of Black feminist spectatorship to exposing how Trump capitalizes upon identity politics to repeatedly (re)secure himself as "a citizen of the center". The chapter argues that Trump's presidential rhetoric exudes the tricks and trades that White men have historically depended upon to (re)secure their position at the top of raced and gendered societal hierarchies. Paying close attention to justifications, characteristics, and enactments, at the intersections of race and gender, the analysis deconstructs Trump's presidential rhetoric to make distinctive claims about how the embodiment of toxic White masculinity functions. Amid Trump's determination to use his amassed presidential power in service to domination, the chapter concludes with an articulation of the importance of critical/cultural exegeses of presidential rhetoric.