Humorous political rhetoric in the US

Over the last decade, humour has undergone a metamorphosis, becoming a rhetorical weapon for—what appears to be—primarily right-wing populist politicians (Beck and Spencer, 2024; Kuipers, 2026). Unfortunately, empirical research has not yet fully explored the extent to which politicians use humour, with some notable exceptions (e.g., Mendiburo-Seguel, 2022). In critical theory and sociology, on the other hand, much has been said about the destructive force of political laughter, albeit without much empirical backing (e.g., Giamario, 2022). These theoretical debates about political humour often end in despair. Michael Billig (2005) and Nick Butler (2024) have both concluded that leftist humour will never trump the immense transgressive power of right-wing laughter. Research on the futility of Saturday Night Live parodies of Trump also evinces this sentiment (Becker, 2020). Nonetheless, not much has been said about how right-wing politicians use humour precisely nor has it been researched if only right-wing politicians utilise humour as a rhetorical weapon. This essay will provide empirical and philosophical tools to better comprehend how humorous political rhetoric is manifested. To do this, I analyse the humorous rhetoric of President Donald Trump and progressive U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. By providing a rigorous data analysis of humour in 498 tweets and 3 campaign speeches with an intercoder agreement combined with a close theoretical reading of selected texts, I argue how humorous political rhetoric (HPR) works both as a means of persuasion and—as philosophical research already suggested—that HPR primarily functions as an aggressive, deceptive, and unconstructive deliberative tool.