Associate Professor of Communication, Texas A&M University
Jennifer Mercieca is an historian of American political discourse, especially discourses about citizenship, democracy, and the presidency. Her scholarship combines American history with rhetorical and political theory in an effort to understand democratic practices. She argues that current views of citizenship rely upon the tragic and ironic views, which do not enable citizens to act to control their government.
Her presidency research argues that we have heroic expectations for the presidency that are both unrealistic and unconstitutional and that these expectations burden the presidency. She is the author of Founding Fictions and the co-Editor of The Rhetoric of Heroic Expectations: Establishing the Obama Presidency.
Her essays have appeared in scholarly journals like Rhetoric & Public Affairs, The Quarterly Journal of Speech, and Presidential Studies Quarterly.
Dr. Mercieca teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Political Communication, Presidential Rhetoric, Activism, Citizenship & the Public Sphere, Social Movements, Rhetorical Theory, and the History of American Public Discourse. Dr. Mercieca frequently appears as an expert commentator and as a consultant for news stories.
A field guide to Trump's dangerous rhetoric
Jun 21, 2020 03:31 am UTC| Politics
All leaders are demagogues. You may not realize this, because weve come to associate the word demagogue with only dangerous populist leaders. But in Greek, the word just means leader of the people (dēmos the people +...
Michael Cohen’s guilty plea? ‘Nothing to see here’
Aug 28, 2018 15:32 pm UTC| Insights & Views
On the afternoon of Aug. 21, when news of Paul Manaforts conviction and Michael Cohens plea deal emerged within hours of one another, the social media channels of Donald Trumps most vociferous supporters went dark. The...
There’s an extra $1 billion on the table for NT schools. This could change lives if spent well
Political donations rules are finally in the spotlight – here’s what the government should do