Research Interests

Dr. Skinnell is an expert in political rhetoric and public discourse, especially as they relate to authoritarianism, demagoguery, and extremism. He is also an SJSU faculty media expert in political speech, politics, and rhetoric and an OpEd Project Public Voices Fellow.

Dr. Skinnell has published six books, including Faking the News: What Rhetoric Can Teach Us About Donald J. Trump (2018) and Rhetoric and Guns (2022). He has also published more than 80 articles, book chapters, and op-eds for academic and non-academic audiences on topics ranging from demagoguery, fascist rhetoric, and contemporary political discourse to American education, bureaucracy, and faculty development. In 2019, he guest edited a special issue of Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Rhetoric’s Demagogue | Demagoguery’s Rhetoric, which considers the effects of demagogic rhetoric on contemporary world politics. He also regularly presents and runs workshops about rhetoric and writing for academic and non-academic audiences.

Books & Edited Special Issues

Current Projects

Hitler’s Rhetoric examines Adolf Hitler’s use of recognizable rhetorical practices to persuade Germans to support, or at least acquiesce to, Nazism. This book considers the historical conditions and contemporary relevance of Hitler’s rhetoric for non-specialist audiences.

Rhetorical Monsters is a podcast series that discusses people in history who have used good rhetoric to terrible, damaging, sometimes deadly ends. Planned episodes include Adolf Hitler; patron saint of yellow journalism, William Randolph Hearst; arms-dealer, “The Angel of Death,” Basil Zaharoff; and propaganda virtuoso Edward Bernays.

Recent Publications

Academic

“Deceiving Sincerely: The Embrace of Sincerity-as-Truth in Fascist Rhetoric.” In The Rhetoric of Fascism. Ed. Nathan Crick. (University of Alabama Press) [accepted, forthcoming 2022]

Rhetoric and Guns. Ed. Lydia Wilkes, Nate Kreuter, and Ryan Skinnell. (Utah State University Press, 2022)

“Octalog IV: Bad People Speaking Effectively in the History of Rhetoric.” Rhetoric Review 40.4 (2021): 337-40.

“Rewriting Demagogic Discourses.” In Teaching Demagoguery & Democracy, ed. Michael Steudeman, Intermezzo, 2021.

“Teaching Writing in the (New) Era of Fake News.” College Composition and Communication 72.4 (2021): 546-69.

“Coalition-Building in the Creeping Shadow of Fascism.” Spark: A 4C4Equality Journal 3 (2021).

(for more)

Public

“History Tells Us Forged Pro-Trump ‘Election Documents’ Should Sound Alarm Bells.” Made by History, Washington Post, 18 Jan. 2022.

“How Praise and Blame Rhetoric are Poisoning American Democracy.” The Globe Post, 2 Nov. 2021.

“Trump Praised Hitler’s “Economic Miracle” — And That’s Even Worse Than It Sounds.” Salon, 7 Aug. 2021. Reprinted in RawStory, 7 Aug. 2021.

“A Sweaty Hitler Is a Sincere Hitler, and Sincerity Is Profoundly Persuasive.” Medium, A History of Yesterday, 6 Aug. 2021.

“Only the Strong Will Survive? American Echoes of a Dark Past.” Newsweek, 16 Mar. 2021.

(for more)

Recent MEdia

Television interview (live) about January 6th rhetoric, Stephanie Lin, KRON 4 News at 3:00, 6/9/2022

Radio interview (live) about January 6th rhetoric, Patti Reising and Jeff Bell, KCBS All News 106.9FM and 740AM, 6/9/2022

“Demagoguery, Authoritarian Politics, and Public Discourse,” Rotary Club of San Jose, 4/27/2022

“Experts Dissect Beijing Olympics Boycott.” Evan Reinhardt, SJSUNews, 2/17/2022

“Two Truths and a Big Lie: The ‘Honest’ Mendacity of Fascist Rhetoric,” University Scholar Series lecture, San José State University, 9/22/2021 (event description)

(for more)