ABSTRACT This article explores the rhetorical life and times of “the Manchurian candidate” in America’s rhetorical/political culture. It specifically addresses the lasting capacity of the “Manchurian candidate” to operate as a political trope, a signifier divorced fully from its original signified, yet still filled with meaning and power, particularly for ordering conspiracy rhetorics in contemporary political campaigns as an emblem of the “paranoid style” in American politics. The essay examines the conversion of the “Manchurian candidate” into a political trope, from its initial expression in its Cold War context and the subsequent rearticulations of the “Manchurian candidate” for audiences living in varied non–Cold War contexts. Ultimately, the migration of this narrative and its conversion over time into a political trope for active use in U.S. political discourse is a compelling example of the lasting influence of Cold War culture in the American consciousness as well as the malleability, the flexibility, of Cold War characters, cultural themes, and rhetorics.

中文翻译：

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构想回忆的未来：满族候选人的修辞生活和时代

摘要本文探讨了美国修辞/政治文化中“满洲候选人”的修辞生活和时代。它特别强调了“满洲候选人”作为政治论调的持久能力，这是指与最初的标志完全脱离，但仍然充满意义和力量的标志，特别是在当代政治运动中订购阴谋论作为其象征。美国政治中的“偏执风格”。本文考察了“满洲候选人”向政治论调的转变，从其在冷战时期的最初表达到后来对各种非冷战时期的观众对“满洲候选人”的重新阐述。最终，这种叙事的迁移及其随着时间的流逝转变成政治上的叙词，在美国得到了积极的运用