‘The former guy’ versus ‘Sleepy Joe’ – why Biden and Trump are loathe to utter each other’s name

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Roger J. Kreuz, University of Memphis

(THE CONVERSATION) During his 2024 State of the Union Address, President Joe Biden mentioned his presumptive challenger, Donald Trump, 15 times – but never once by name.

Instead, Biden referred to him as “my predecessor” 13 times. He also called him a “former Republican president” and a “former American president.”

These weren’t mistakes or memory lapses – the circumlocutions appeared in the president’s prepared remarks provided by the White House.

Instead, Biden was employing a rhetorical tactic in which politicians do everything except use their opponent’s actual name. In doing so, they subtly deprive their opposition of equal standing or legitimacy.

‘He who must not be named’

Biden’s predilection for avoiding Trump’s name is an example of what political activist Majid Nawaz dubbed the “Voldemort effect.”

Nawas recycled the term from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter universe, in which wizards employ phrases like “you know who” and “he who must not be named” to refer to Lord...