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In a time when people claim language "has no preference to facts, truths, or realities," the power of rhetoric is both vilified and lauded in the strongest possible terms. According to some, rhetoric is responsible for the dismissal of everything from political dissent to science as a species of "fake news". By contrast, others argue public life cannot be repaired without a "restoration" of rhetoric. What are these people talking about? This cousre will help us figure this out. Students will be introduced to the art of persuasive speech, writing, and visual media so as to be prepared to critically examine and evaluate the claims made for and about the role of language in contemporary politics. Topics will include informal logic, appeals, fallacies, figures and tropes. Among others, we will read texts by Aristotle, Austin, Barthes, Foucault, Freud, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Zizek. In addition to a number of short exercises and writing assignments throughout the semester, there will be a mid-term and a final paper.