“…Scholars have examined the rise of populism, crisis talk, racially charged discourse, as well as arguably unprecedented degrees of partisanship and polarisation (Chernobrov, 2019; Homolar and Scholz, 2019; Jacobson, 2017; Lacatus, 2019; MacWilliams, 2016; Oliver and Rahn, 2016; Trubowitz and Harris, 2019). Others have focused on Trump’s (and the Trump administration’s) rhetorical style and modes of communication (Appel, 2018; Bostdorff, 2017; McDonough, 2018; Savoy, 2018; Wang and Liu, 2018). The COVID-19 pandemic and the United States’ response to it have put the interlinkage, including many puzzling divides, between elections, rhetoric and policy (including foreign policy) into particular focus.…”