Continental Commonplaces in the Rhetoric of Enrique Tarrío, Quarterly Journal of Speech (Forthcoming, Fall 2026)

How does Afro-Cuban Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrío rhetorically combine aspects of MAGA with liberal multiculturalism to persuade diverse audiences? This essay analyzes the strategies that he and his mother, Zuny Duarte, utilize across multiple interviews (e.g., J-Six deposition, CNN, America Noticias USA, independent podcasters). Tarrío disarms the multicultural through the multiracial, nationalizes gender (camouflages patriarchal norms as essential rootholds of national culture) and punishes his political opponents. Yet, this canopy of rhetorical strategies reveals shared roots. Édouard Glissant describes this as “continental” thought, a rubric of Western culture which regulates difference to maintain an authentic “root identity.” I juxtapose Glissant with scholarship on rhetorical commonplaces and contextually relevant histories to coin continental commonplaces, common-sense ideas which emanate from this shared root identity. Tarrío’s strategies reflect three continental commonplaces: constitutive genesis, nationalist filiation, and carceral justice. These three roots stabilize Tarrío’s experimental appeals to multiracial conservatism, and he, in turn, adapts them to camouflage the violence of the American nation building project. Tarrío re-frames himself as agreeing with aspects of Black Lives Matter, the No Dakota Access Pipeline movement, and, at times, ostensibly liberal narratives concerning women, gay marriage, and prisoner’s rights. Consequently, Tarrío invites marginalized communities to imagine these commonplaces as the solution to systemic discrimination rather than being the root of the problem. The uncanny resonance between Tarrío’s rhetorical strategies and those of liberal multicultural co-option suggests the need for a deeper uprooting.