I the People The Rhetoric of Conservative Populism in the United States

"Paul Johnson's I The People offers a theoretically rich lens for understanding the paradoxes of modern conservative rhetoric, drawing together rhetorical, psychoanalytic, and political theory. Johnson attends astutely to the interarticulation of toxic white masculinity and conservative populism in the United States, offering insights into both contemporary iterations of political culture and to their historical antecedents." -Claire Sisco King, author of Washed in Blood: Male Sacrifice, Trauma, and the Cinema

"Anyone who wants to understand the rhetorical appeal of modern conservatism should read this book. I The People shows how conservative constructions of 'the people' frame democracy as a threat to individual freedom-even at the highest levels of government. Paul Johnson exhumes a new history of rhetorical appeals and communicative strategies to examine how conservative populisms articulate diversity and the common good as sources of individual trauma. An important and timely read." -Elisabeth R. Anker, author of Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Politics of Freedom