Alexander Hiland

Senior Lecturer-Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ph.D. Comm Studies UofM. Book-Presidential Power, Rhetoric, and the Terror Wars: The Sovereign Presidency.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

More seriously-if you are looking for an academic text analyzing how presidential powers were used to pursue the war on terror and expand presidential power this is worth checking out.
https://t.co/4kbhp11IG4

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

@khan_abe @frankstec Their view is that not having the cracker means that it may no longer be their food, served their way, by people like them. Which as Abe put it, is insane.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

@khan_abe @frankstec Basically conservatives love Cracker Barrel because they think it is their food served their way by people like them and literally any change is going to be viewed as a departure from that, hence it must be woke.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

This is the kind of thing that a historian 30 years from now will discover is true and get called a revisionist historian for.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

The real winner tonight is debate. Tonight proved that it can be less painful to watch, and that reasonable candidates can be cordial.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

@BiellaColeman Loved my time there. 10/10 would recommend.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

@soudersmc And we will be stuck with him for the next 30 years or so.

[Michael Souders @soudersmc]

It's obvious that Vance's main goal in this debate is not winning the election. He's barely bothered to promote or defend Trump.

He's looking at the world post-Trump.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

Here is the problem. Given JD's performance he's good enough that he will be a persistent feature of conservative politics for the next 30 years. That's going to be incredibly annoying.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

JD's biggest problem is he decided to passively defend the painfully untrue absurdities of the Trump administration despite being educated enough to know what they are. So he can't break his brain enough to defend them and looks foolish every time they come up.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

@realgirl_fieri Oh I’m right there with you. I’m just saying that Walz doesn’t have that gear. He’s just got the “I want to help this poor fool who doesn’t get it” thing. That’s as emotional as he can get.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

@realgirl_fieri Walz just doesn't have it in him to be that direct. He's got the Minnesota nice thing where you might hate the other person, but you lack the tools to express that hatred so it comes out as condescending affection.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

He said semi-facetiously.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

If Walz really wanted to stick JD on the "build houses on Federal land" argument he'd point out that most of that unoccupied land is where the public hunting and grazing land is. Would be the one cross pressure that might motivate conservatives to vote democratic out west.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

@JosephPatrice Well sure, but I do really mean that watching some of those MNUDL debaters would really help Walz (and frankly even JD) quite a bit.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

Watching Walz answer gun control questions is like being thrown in a time machine and sent back to growing up in the Midwest circa 2000. Pretty sure I heard this same string of thoughts from a gym teacher about that time.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

@JosephPatrice Frankly, Walz could benefit from judging a few debates.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

I never thought I would say this as someone who grew up in Iowa. But after spending 6 years in Minnesota I approve this message.

[Jason Edwards @j3edwards]

We should make America more like Minnesota.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

@SamanthaEGodbey Frankly, if you don't like Vance or Walz' answers, you come by it honest as someone who has a difference of political opinion rather than objecting to their demeanor. Which means this debate is at least serving a social function.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

You may not like this debate, but by the standards of presidential debates for the last 8 years, this is peak performance.

[Alexander Hiland @xanderrhetoric]

Resolved: Candidate debates should adopt the model of the 1948 Dewey Stassen debate. Meaning one topic, long speech times, and an expectation that debaters make arguments given the affordances of the format.