Confronting Political Intimidation and Public Bullying: A Handbook for the Trump Era and Beyond

Since the kickoff of the 2016 presidential campaign, a climate of fear and intimidation has dominated national life in the United States to a degree rarely seen before, poisoning our politics and reaching into our very relationships with friends, co-workers, and neighbors.Confronting Political Intimidation and Public Bullying is about how this came to be and what enabled the rise of authoritarian rule, and how we can find our way through it.At the core of this political history is a larger US public culture of intimidation and bullying in the workplace, media, and political arena that has been building for thirty-five years. The current harsh environment is a direct challenge to citizens and residents, especially those seeking to engage in progressive activism and party politics now and in the years to come.The book's hope is to provide a kind of clarity that helps us get a handle on events and diminish the terror of the current moment by providing some shared protective mental armor.It offers a unique guide to the strategies and dynamics of contemporary political intimidation and public bullying: the dangers they present, the snares and traps that envelope their targets, and the lessons to be learned.In the end, it's about shedding light on the dark side of contemporary national life in order to see beyond it.For this new edition I have thoroughly revised and updated the original text and added 70% more material in the way of new research and many current examples including an entirely new chapter (Chapter Seven) on civilian and state-sponsored physical and armed violence. The first five chapters lay the groundwork for the lessons offered in Chapters Six and Seven and the Conclusion. As an appendix I have added, "A Political Glossary for the Trump Era and Beyond" that highlights the dramatic shifts in U.S. politics and the emergence of far-right groups and organizations in our national life.

About the Author :
Roddey Reid is Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Diego, where he taught classes on the modern cultures and societies of the US, France, and Japan. Since 2008 his research and writing have focused on trauma, daily life, and the culture of intimidation and bullying in the US and Europe. He hosts a personal blog and podcasts called "UnSafe Thoughts" on bullying and the fluidity of politics in dangerous times (www.roddeyreid.squarespace.com).

Review :
Praise for Confronting Political Intimidation and Public Bullying "Roddey Reid's latest volume shows that Trump mastered, but did not originate, the hyper-tough entrepreneurial bully and autocratic chief executive we see today. His book offers a refreshingly original and convincing study of public bullying as the link between budget austerity, hyper-wealth, and reactionary populism. As the US plunges ever more deeply into authoritarian rule, it forces us to look again at the fabric of our everyday social relations and political choices. To begin to imagine a different kind of politics, to conceive of a more compassionate and knowledgeable society, and to put these goals in practice before it is too late, we need this book." -Jody Berland, author of North of Empire: Essays on the Cultural Technologies of Space "Deeply researched, conceptually sophisticated, and engagingly written, Roddey Reid's excellent book makes an indispensable contribution. If you want to understand Trump's return to power and the forces in the wider culture that made it possible in historical perspective-and if, indeed, you care about the future of the USA-you will find Reid's work of great value. His outlook is always realistic, and often soberly so, but never without hope." -Carl Freedman, author of The Age of Nixon "If you have found yourself wondering how the President morphed from the commander-in-chief to the bully-in-chief, not once but twice, this is the book for you. The short answer: it didn't happen all at once. Reid expertly shows how the Trump phenomenon is the culmination of a decades-long history of transformations affecting not only national political discourse but rooted as well in arenas as diverse and pervasive as workplace culture, the neoliberal spirit of capitalism, and the culture of insecurity in the age of limitless war... Confronting Political Intimidation and Public Bullying is a wake-up call and a call to action in the name of a livable-and shareable-future." -Brian Massumi, author of Ontopower: War, Powers, and the State of Perception and The Personality of Power "Donald Trump's second term as President is even worse than his first. He asserts power, even in the face of rising unpopularity, by sticking to his play book and pushing ever onwards without respite.... Roddey Reid succeeds in finding words that capture the terrifying and disorienting daily experience of what Trump is actually doing and how we got here. He offers some important protective intellectual armor to readers and proposes a series of suggestions for how to counter the assault upon everything that makes life worth living."-Steven Shaviro, author of No Speed Limit: Three Essays on Accelerationism and Fluid Futures: Science Fiction and Potentiality "Reid highlights in his extended essay the ways in which Trump's behavior, and more importantly its resonance with American voters, is less the product of a personality disorder than an expression of the culture of public bullying and intimidation that has become prevalent in business, politics, and media since the beginnings of globalization. Lively and accessibly written, his book questions the adequacy of our liberal juridical institutions in an era of weaponized speech, politicized law enforcement, and armed state violence.."-Gershon Shafir, author of A Half Century of Occupation: Israel, Palestine, and the World's Most Intractable Conflict