Confronting Political Intimidation and Public Bullying (New Edition): Table of Contents

Table of Contents

New Edition

PREFACE XIII

The Organization and Flow of Chapters and Topics XIV

INTRODUCTION

Our Current Predicament 1

Public Bullying as Political Violence 4

The Purpose of This New Edition 8

Historical Roots 10

From Trump 1.0 to Trump 2.0 11

International Crises and Their Domestic Fallout 15

The Value of This Book 18

CHAPTER ONE Political Violence, or They Meant What They Said 21

Traumatic Lessons: CEO Trump's Hostile Takeover 21

Looking Back: They Meant It 28

9/11, the Iraq Invasion, and the War on Terror 30

The Rise of Attack Ads in Political Campaigns 32

New York City as Laboratory of Intimidation and Fear 34

CHAPTER TWO Intimidation and Bullying in the Wider Culture: The Workplace and the Media 39

Harsh Climate, or, the Way We Live Now 39

Ground Zero: Financial and Managerial Revolution in the Workplace 41

The Bullying Boss 45

Short-Term Greed, Long-Term Insecurity 47

The Media Sphere 49

Reality TV and Social Media 52

New Media, Far-Right Extremism, and Donald Trump 54

CHAPTER THREE Enter Trump: The Tyrannical CEO and White Entrepreneur as Capitalist Folk Hero 59

The Question 59

Trump the Entrepreneur 60

Trump's Negative Identity Politics: From Cold War Smearing to Entrepreneurial Bullying 63

The Defiant White Man: The Method is the Message 69

Government as Family Business 73

The Political Synergy of Trump's Multiple Identities: Then and Now 75

After Trump: Entrepreneurialism and Authoritarian Political Rule 77

CHAPTER FOUR Political Thuggery and Party Identities 81

A Restructured Democratic Party and Its Cautious Strategies 81

The Advent of Obama and the Rise of the Tea Party 85

2010: Demobilizing Democrats 87

Party Loyalty, Social Identity, and Cultures of Governing 90

Bullying Their Own: Bernie Sanders and Other Insurgent Candidates 98

The Case of Elizabeth Warren 101

The Destructive Legacy of the Cold War Era 103

Donald Trump's Identity and Aggression: He Meant What He Said 105

CHAPTER FIVE Playing for Keeps: The 2016 Elections 109

The Abusive Entrepreneur Enters Politics 109

Hillary Clinton's Unflinching Campaign 111

CHAPTER SIX Learning from the Dynamics of Political Intimidation and Bullying: A Practical Guide 119

Preemptive Strike: Creating Public Facts on the Ground 119

The Power of Public Bullying and Intimidation 127

The Politics of Destruction 132

Snares and Traps: Denial 135

Snares and Traps: Blind Revenge 137

Snares and Traps: Nostalgia for the Theater of Moral Shaming 139

Snares and Traps: Media Frenzies 141

CHAPTER SEVEN Confronting Physical Political Violence and Armed Domestic Terrorism 145

Civilian Physical and Armed Violence 147

Call It by Any Other Name: The Legal Void 149

Relying on the First Amendment 152

Psychologizing Armed Political Violence and Domestic Terrorism 160

State Armed Violence 162

CONCLUSION On Our Own 169

Old Wine, New Bottles 169

The Israel-Hamas War and Genocide and Its Domestic Fallout 170

Joe Biden and the 2024 Election: Dysfunctional Loyalty 173

Trump 2.0 and Mobilizing Right-wing Support 176

Democratic Resistance 178

A New Political Script 181

The Long View 181

The Short View: The Time Is Now 184

A POLITICAL GLOSSARY FOR THE TRUMP ERA AND BEYOND 191

NOTES 197

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 245

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 249

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Preface: New Edition