Inflating the Terror Threat Since 2001

Rubin, Gabriel

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-30167-5_1

Gabriel Rubin²

528 Accesses

Abstract

Presidential rhetoric serves a critical interpretive role in defining events, particularly the threat of terrorism. As Richard Neustadt argues, the power of the presidency lies in the leader’s power to persuade. Presidents frame the terror threat by setting the country’s policy agenda. They then try to sell policies to Congress and the public through the pressure they can employ using their rhetoric and their office. This study, based on content analysis speech data ranging from September 2001 to February 2019, delves into why presidents speak the way they do about terrorism looking both at the content and frequency of their speeches. This chapter lays out the main contours and theory of the book, while subsequent chapters present empirical findings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 54.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Softcover Book: USD 69.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Hardcover Book: USD 64.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

1.
Hocking, Lori, Terror Laws: ASIO, Counter-Terrorism and the Threat to Democracy (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2004).
2.
Sageman, Marc, Misunderstanding Terrorism (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017).
3.
Sageman, Misunderstanding Terrorism. See the case of Mohamed Mohamud on p. 85.
4.
Rubin, Gabriel, Freedom and Order: How Democratic Governments Restrict Civil Liberties After Terrorist Attacks—and Why Sometimes They Don’t (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011).
5.
DiMaggio, Anthony R., Selling War, Selling Hope: Presidential Rhetoric, the News Media, and U.S. Foreign Policy Since 9/11 (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2015).
6.
Rubin, Freedom and Order; Saunders, Elizabeth N. Leaders at War: How Presidents Shape Military Interventions (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011).
7.
Nacos, Brigitte L., Terrorism & the Media: From the Iran Hostage Crisis to the Oklahoma City Bombing (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994).
8.
Rubin, Freedom and Order; DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope; Mueller, John. Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them (New York: Free Press, 2006).
9.
Authors as far back as Neustadt in the 1950s have noted the antiquated nature of the practice of using the male pronoun when referring to our leaders (Neustadt, Richard E. Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents: The Politics of Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan (New York: The Free Press, 1990)). Of course, it is not a fact lost on anyone that all of the American Presidents from Washington to Trump have been male. Many quotes, for this reason, regarding presidents and the presidency coming from the extant literature use the male pronoun. When speaking of the presidency, wherever appropriate, I will avoid using the male pronoun referring instead to both female and male pronouns. This is meant to be both a nod toward gender egalitarianism and an acknowledgment that the chief executive position is not reserved for males. A byproduct of this practice will hopefully be that the book’s prose will not become suddenly stale upon the eventual (or forthcoming?) election of America’s first female President.
10.
The Gallup polling agency consistently has found that Americans perceive terrorism to be one of the top threats to the country. See Gallup News, “Terrorism,” https://news.gallup.com/poll/4909/terrorism-united-states.aspx, retrieved 5 July 2019.
11.
Brody, Richard A., The Media, Elite Opinion, and Public Support (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991), p. 9.
12.
Smith, Craig Allen and Kathy B. Smith, The White House Speaks: Presidential Leadership as Persuasion (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994), p. 230.
13.
Hodges, Adam, The “War on Terror” Narrative: Discourse and Intertextuality in the Construction and Contestation of Sociopolitical Reality (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 3–4.
14.
Hall, Stuart, “The Work of Representation” in Representation 1997: 44 cited in Hodges, The “War on Terror” Narrative, p. 6.
15.
Hodges, The “War on Terror” Narrative, p. 7.
16.
Ivie, Robert, “Fighting Terror by Rite of Redemption and Reconciliation,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 10: 2 (Summer 2007), p. 239; also see Astrada, Scott, and Marvin Astrada, “Truth in Crisis: Critically Re-examining Immigration Rhetoric & Policy Under the Trump Administration,” the Harvard Latinx Law Review (Summer 2019).
17.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 3; Edelman, Murray, Constructing the Political Spectacle (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988).
18.
Tulis, Jeffrey K., The Rhetorical Presidency (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017); Kernell, Samuel, Going Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2007), p. 188.
19.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 166.
20.
Mueller John E., War, Presidents, and Public Opinion (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1973), p. 185.
21.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 167.
22.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, pp. 169–170.
23.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 3.
24.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 4.
25.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, pp. 4, 7.
26.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 18.
27.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 27.
28.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, pp. 28, 33.
29.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 33.
30.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 34.
31.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 35.
32.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 40.
33.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 41.
34.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, pp. 46–47.
35.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 69.
36.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 125.
37.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 129.
38.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, pp. 138–139.
39.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 172.
40.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, pp. 146–147.
41.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 174.
42.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 176.
43.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 177.
44.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 182.
45.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 183.
46.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 183.
47.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 134.
48.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, pp. 158–159.
49.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 159.
50.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 138.
51.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, pp. 160–161.
52.
See McCabe, Andrew, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2019).
53.
Kingdon, John W., Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (New York: Longman, 2002), p. 23.
54.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, pp. 2–3.
55.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, p. 23.
56.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, pp. 24–25.
57.
Cohen, Jeffrey E., Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making: The Public and the Policies That Presidents Choose (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1997), p. 31.
58.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 55.
59.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 133.
60.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 164.
61.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 237.
62.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, p. 154.
63.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, p. 206.
64.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, p. 225.
65.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, p. 230.
66.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, p. 194.
67.
Sobel, Richard, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 5.
68.
Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam, p. 4.
69.
Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam, p. 21; Page, Benjamin I. and Shapiro, Robert Y., “Educating and Manipulating the Public,” in Margolis, Michael and Gary A. Mauser eds., Manipulating Public Opinion (Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1989), p. 306.
70.
Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam, p. 144; Berinsky, Adam, Silent Voices: Public Opinion and Political Participation in America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006).
71.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 23.
72.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 34.
73.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 21.
74.
Hodges, The “War on Terror” Narrative, p. 159.
75.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 179.
76.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 187.
77.
Mueller, John, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), p. 58.
78.
Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam, pp. 144–145; Mueller, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War.
79.
Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam, pp. 145, 149; Mueller, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War, p. 15.
80.
Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam, p. 151.
81.
Mueller, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War, p. 41.
82.
Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam, pp. 150–151.
83.
Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam, pp. 159, 163.
84.
Mueller, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War, p. 61.
85.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 229.
86.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 232.
87.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 233.
88.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 234.
89.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, pp. 246–247.
90.
Eshbaugh-Soha, Matthew, The President’s Speeches: Beyond ‘Going Public’ (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2006), p. 4; Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 181.
91.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 5.
92.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies; Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 44.
93.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 157.
94.
Edwards III, George C., On Deaf Ears: The Limits of the Bully Pulpit (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), p. 74.
95.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 127.
96.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 128.
97.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, pp. 153–154.
98.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 155.
99.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 159.
100.
Saunders, Leaders at War, pp. 216–217.
101.
Feaver, Peter D. and Christopher Gelpi, Choosing Your Battles: American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004), p. 101.
102.
Winkler, Carol, “Parallels in Preemptive War Rhetoric: Reagan on Libya, Bush 43 on Iraq,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 10: 2 (Summer 2007), p. 304.
103.
Saunders, Leaders at War, pp. 212–213.
104.
Similar arguments are John A. Thompson, “The Exaggeration of American Vulnerability: The Anatomy of a Tradition,” Diplomatic History 16 (Winter 1992): 23–44; John Schuessler, “Necessity or Choice? Securing Public Consent for War,” paper presented to the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, 15 April 2004; Michael Desch, “America’s Liberal Illiberalism: The Ideological Origins of Overreaction in U.S. Foreign Policy,” International Security 32 (Winter 2007–2008): 7–43.
105.
Winkler, “Parallels in Preemptive War Rhetoric,” p. 321.
106.
On the tendency of concentrated costs to cause political action, see Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy; Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965).
107.
Winkler, “Parallels in Preemptive War Rhetoric,” pp. 305–308.
108.
Winkler, “Parallels in Preemptive War Rhetoric,” p. 322.
109.
Winkler, “Parallels in Preemptive War Rhetoric,” p. 323.
110.
Winkler, Carol K., In the Name of Terrorism: Presidents on Political Violence in the Post-World War II Era (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2006), p. 198.
111.
Winkler, In the Name of Terrorism, p. 199.
112.
See Rubin, Freedom and Order, chapter 7.
113.
Zarefsky, “Presidential Rhetoric and the Power of Definition,” pp. 608–610.
114.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 160, italics mine.
115.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 167.
116.
Feaver and Gelpi, Choosing Your Battles, p. 97.
117.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 245.
118.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents.
119.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, pp. ix–x.
120.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 7.
121.
Brody, The Media, Elite Opinion, and Public Support, p. 115.
122.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 7.
123.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 191.
124.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 10.
125.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 29.
126.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 30.
127.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 50.
128.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 7.
129.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 231.
130.
Howell, William G. and Jon C. Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather: Congressional Checks on Presidential War Power (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007), p. xvi.
131.
Howell and Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather, p. xvii.
132.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 42.
133.
Kingdon, John, Congressmen’s Voting Decisions (New York: Harper, 1981), chapter 6; Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 42.
134.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, pp. 161–162.
135.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 166.
136.
Mueller, Presidents and Public Opinion, p. 120.
137.
Berinsky, Adam, In Time of War: Understanding American Public Opinion from World War II to Iraq (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), p. 108.
138.
Brody, The Media, Elite Opinion, and Public Support, pp. 169–170.
139.
Zaller, John R., The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 6.
140.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 11.
141.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, pp. 14, 24.
142.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 41.
143.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 42.
144.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 97.
145.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 101.
146.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, pp. 101, 104; Berinsky, In Time of War.
147.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 275.
148.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 311.
149.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 327.
150.
Howell and Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather, p. xxii.
151.
Howell and Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather, p. 3.
152.
Howell and Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather, p. 6.
153.
Howell and Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather, p. 8.
154.
Howell and Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather, p. 7.
155.
Howell and Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather, p. 9; Dahl, Ronald, Congress and Foreign Policy (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1983).
156.
Mueller, Presidents and Public Opinion, p. 128.
157.
Feaver and Gelpi, Choosing Your Battles, p. 145.
158.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 244.
159.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 245.
160.
Brody, The Media, Elite Opinion, and Public Support, p. 121.
161.
Brody, The Media, Elite Opinion, and Public Support, p. 3.
162.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 174.
163.
Mueller, Presidents and Public Opinion, p. 58.
164.
Mueller, Presidents and Public Opinion, p. 208.
165.
Mueller, Presidents and Public Opinion, p. 240; this is also proven in Rubin, Freedom and Order, chapter 3.
166.
Page, Benjamin and Robert Shapiro, “Presidents as Opinion Leaders: Some New Evidence,” Policy Studies Journal 12: 649–661 (1984).
167.
Sigelman, Lee and Carol Sigelman, “Presidential Leadership of Public Opinion: From ‘Benevolent Leader’ to ‘Kiss of Death’?” Experimental Study of Politics 7: 1–22 (1981); Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 58.
168.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 46.
169.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 285.
170.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 185.
171.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 159.
172.
Brody, The Media, Elite Opinion, and Public Support, pp. 74–77.
173.
Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam, pp. 64–65.
174.
Brody, The Media, Elite Opinion, and Public Support, p. 107.
175.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 4.
176.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 16.
177.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 103.
178.
Kernell, Going Public, pp. 103–104.
179.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 186.
180.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, p. 68.
181.
Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, pp. 67–68.
182.
Mueller, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War, p. 130.
183.
Mueller, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War, p. 133.
184.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, pp. 86–87.
185.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 245.
186.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 315.
187.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 4.
188.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 7.
189.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, pp. 78, 79.
190.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 76.
191.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 77; DiMaggio, Anthony, Mass Media, Mass Propaganda: Examining American News in the “War on Terror” (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008).
192.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 216.
193.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 75.
194.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, pp. 174, 177.
195.
Winkler, In the Name of Terrorism, p. 189.
196.
Nacos, Brigitte L., Terrorism & the Media: From the Iran Hostage Crisis to the Oklahoma City Bombing (New York: Columbia University Press), p. 14.
197.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. ix.
198.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, pp. 11–12.
199.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, pp. 4, 6.
200.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 8.
201.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 9.
202.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 12.
203.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 128.
204.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 160.
205.
Zaller, John R., The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 99.
206.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, pp. 14, 20.
207.
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, p. 97.
208.
Kuklinski, James H., Paul J. Quirk, Jennifer Jerit, David Schwieder, and Robert F. Rich, “Misinformation and the Currency of Democratic Citizenship,” The Journal of Politics, 62: 3 (August 2000), pp. 790–816.
209.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 174.
210.
Laloggia, John, “6 facts about U.S. political independents,” the Pew Research Center, 15 May 2019, Laloggia, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/15/facts-about-us-political-independents/.
211.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 75.
212.
See, for instance, NBC 12 News, “Student wearing BLM shirt says she was kicked out of Trump rally,” NBC 12 News, 2 October 2018, https://www.nbc12.com/2018/10/03/student-wearing-blm-shirt-says-she-was-kicked-out-trump-rally/ and ABC Action News, “Protestors get kicked out of Trump rally in Tampa,” 31 July 2018, posted to Youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS7YpoNPuUE.
213.
See Leetaru, Kalev, “Measuring the Media’s Obsession with Trump,” RealClearPolitics.com, 6 December 2018, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/12/06/measuring_the_medias_obsession_with_trump_138848.html.
214.
Kurtzleben, Danielle, “Study: News Coverage of Trump More Negative than for Other Presidents,” NPR.com, 2 October 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/10/02/555092743/study-news-coverage-of-trump-more-negative-than-for-other-presidents, and Bedard, Paul, “Pew: Trump media three times more negative than for Obama, just 5 percent positive,” The Washington Examiner, 27 December 2017, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pew-trump-media-three-times-more-negative-than-for-obama-just-5-percent-positive.
215.
DiMaggio, Anthony R., Selling War, Selling Hope: Presidential Rhetoric, the News Media, and U.S. Foreign Policy Since 9/11 (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2015), p. 187.
216.
See Berinsky, In Time of War.
217.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 303.
218.
Zarefsky, David, “Presidential Rhetoric and the Power of Definition,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 34: 3 (Sept. 2004), p. 608.
219.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope.
220.
Zarefsky, “Presidential Rhetoric and the Power of Definition,” p. 608.
221.
Zarefsky, “Presidential Rhetoric and the Power of Definition,” p. 612.
222.
Zarefsky, “Presidential Rhetoric and the Power of Definition,” p. 617.
223.
Zarefsky, “Presidential Rhetoric and the Power of Definition,” p. 618, italics mine.
224.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 229.
225.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 233.
226.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 5.
227.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 6.
228.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 133.
229.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 27.
230.
Lim, Elvin, “Five trends in presidential rhetoric: An analysis of rhetoric from George Washington to Bill Clinton,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 32: 2 (June 2002), p. 346.
231.
Lim, “Five trends in presidential rhetoric,” pp. 347–348.
232.
Kernell, Going Public, pp. 11–13.
233.
Neustadt, Richard E., Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents: The Politics of Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan (New York: The Free Press, 1990), p. 30.
234.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 46.
235.
Kernell, Samuel, Going Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2007).
236.
Kernell, Going Public, pp. 1–4.
237.
Kingdon, John W., Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (New York: Longman, 2002).
238.
Bourdieu, Pierre, Language and Symbolic Power (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991), p. 107.
239.
Hodges, The “War on Terror” Narrative, p. 159.
240.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 29.
241.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 1.
242.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 18.
243.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, pp. 18–19.
244.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 17.
245.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency; Kernell, Going Public.
246.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 40.
247.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 3.
248.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 2.
249.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 3.
250.
Huq, Aziz and Tom Ginsburg, “How to Lose a Constitutional Democracy,” UCLA Law Review 65: 78 (2018).
251.
Kernell, Going Public, pp. 192–193.
252.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 2.
253.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 3.
254.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 56.
255.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, p. 245.
256.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, pp. 248, 254.
257.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 5.
258.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 175.
259.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 5.
260.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 41.
261.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 216.
262.
Kernell, Going Public, p. 217.
263.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 1.
264.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 2.
265.
Edwards, On Deaf Ears, pp. 196–197; Edwards, George, The Public Presidency: The Pursuit of Popular Support (New York: St. Martin’s, 1983).
266.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 87; Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 163.
267.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 240.
268.
Cohen, Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy-Making, p. 248.
269.
Davis, Darren W., Negative Liberty: Public Opinion and the Terrorist Attacks on America (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2007); Nacos, Terrorism & the Media; Rubin, Gabriel and Christopher Salvatore, “Spitting Bullets: Anger’s Long-Ignored Role in Reactions to Terror: An Examination of College Students’ Fear and Anger Responses to Terrorism,” International Social Science Review 95: 2 (September 2019).
270.
Winkler, In the Name of Terrorism, p. 4.
271.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 283.
272.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 284.
273.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, p. 285.
274.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope; Rubin, Freedom and Order.
275.
Winkler, In the Name of Terrorism, pp. 6–7.
276.
Winkler, In the Name of Terrorism, p. 8.
277.
Winkler, In the Name of Terrorism, p. 9.
278.
Winkler, In the Name of Terrorism, p. 5.
279.
Widmaier, Wesley W., Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama: Constructing Crises, Fast and Slow (New York, NY: Routledge, 2015), p. 1.
280.
Widmaier, Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama, p. 15.
281.
Widmaier, Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama, p. 43.
282.
Widmaier, Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama, p. 41.
283.
Widmaier, Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama, p. 45.
284.
Widmaier, Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama, p. 46.
285.
Widmaier, Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama, p. 48.
286.
Widmaier, Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama, p. 54.
287.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, pp. 191–192.
288.
Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, p. 188.
289.
Eshbaugh-Soha, The President’s Speeches, p. 4; Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 181.
290.
Smith and Smith, The White House Speaks, p. 192.
291.
Widmaier, Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama, p. 9.
292.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 214.
293.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, p. 217.
294.
Mueller, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War, p. 72.
295.
Mueller, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War, pp. 74–75.
296.
Mueller, Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War, p. 105.
297.
Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, pp. 190, 197.
298.
DiMaggio, Selling War, Selling Hope, pp. 286–287.
299.
Please note that each empirical chapter presents relevant evidence so that not all themes are touched upon in each chapter.
300.
On this, see Rubin, Freedom and Order, chapter 7, and Widmaier, Presidential Rhetoric from Wilson to Obama.
301.
Totman, Sally-Ann, How Hollywood Projects Foreign Policy (New York: Palgrave, 2009), Appendix 1.
302.
See Hocking, Jenny, Terror Laws: ASIO, Counter-Terrorism and the Threat to Democracy (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2004); Hoffman, Bruce, Inside Terrorism, Revised and Expanded Edition (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006); Rubin, Gabriel, “Terrorism, Defined,” in Encyclopedia of Transnational Crime and Justice (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2012).
303.
Althaus, Scott and Devon Largio, “When Osama Became Saddam: Origins and Consequences of the Change in America’s Public Enemy #1,” PS: Political Science & Politics, 37: 4 (October 2004), pp. 795–799.
304.
Sunstein, Cass, Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
305.
See Scahill, Jeremy, The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA
Gabriel Rubin

Authors

Gabriel Rubin
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriel Rubin .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Rubin, G. (2020). Inflating the Terror Threat Since 2001. In: Presidential Rhetoric on Terrorism under Bush, Obama and Trump. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30167-5_1

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30167-5_1
Published: 22 March 2020
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-30166-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-30167-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics