Humor and play in political discourse
This dissertation analyzes how politicians use humor and its political effects. Primarily, this study investigates humor by Donald J. Trump and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement while also investigating the use of humor by progressive American congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and by Dutch politicians during an electoral debate.
This dissertation finds that humorous political rhetoric, especially a deceptive form of humor called dark play, has transformed into the far right’s most reliable weapon that mobilizes and radicalizes political support by transforming political grievances of ‘negative emotions’ into sustained joy and pleasure. By doing so, far-right humor facilitates the normalization and mainstreaming of radical ideas in the public sphere while obstructing reflective deliberation, turning playful actions into earnest ideological support, violence, and political cynicism.
This interdisciplinary study combines philosophical tools with empirical methods. Through conceptualizing humor as a form of playful transgression and dark absorption wherein humor can radicalize towards more serious action, this dissertation understands humor not as harmless joking but as a powerful cultural form.
This dissertation employs a wide range of empirical methods including a historical comparative analysis of an 1893 lynching case with the Capitol storming on January 6th, 2021; a qualitative analysis of the SBS6 Hart van Nederland debate from 2023; a combined qualitative-quantitative analysis of tweets and campaign speeches by Trump and Ocasio-Cortez; and in-depth qualitative interviews with former and current MAGA activists.