1887
Volume 8, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2210-4119
  • E-ISSN: 2210-4127
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

The paper explores the rhetorical strategies Donald Trump employed during the 2016 U.S. presidential primary campaign. The study shows that Trump aimed at garnering public support by defining himself as an anti-politician or anti-political establishment candidate. His rhetorical strategies were aimed at building the depiction of his character as a successful businessman who came from outside the political realm to save America and restore it to its former greatness. He denounced the traditional rules of politics, avoided calculated, logical and politically correct utterances, and modeled himself as the only candidate who was fit for the presidency. The analysis reveals Trump’s prominent rhetorical strategies, and shows how each one of them fulfilled what I refer to as the ultimate “Anti-Political Rhetorical Strategy”, from an strategy, which is by nature anti-political, to more common strategies such as , and .

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ld.00012.kay
2018-10-12
2024-12-09
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Albertazzi, Daniele and Duncan McDonnell
    (eds) 2008Twenty-First Century Populism: The Spectre of Western European Democracy. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9780230592100
    https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230592100 [Google Scholar]
  2. Aristotle
    Aristotle 1982Rhetoric. Trans. John H. Freese . Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Barr, Robert R.
    2009 “Populists, Outsiders and Anti-Establishment Politics”. Party Politics15(1): 29–48. doi: 10.1177/1354068808097890
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068808097890 [Google Scholar]
  4. Bonaccini, Nicola
    2016 “Rhetoric – What Aristotle would say to Donald Trump”. Retrieved fromwww.academia.edu/18954715/Rethoric_-_What_Aristotle_would_ ​say_to_Donald_Trump
  5. Bos, Linda , Wouter van der Brug , and Claes H. de Vreese
    2012 “An Experimental Test of the Impact of Style and Rhetoric on the Perception of Right-Wing Populist and Mainstream Party Leaders”. Acta Politica48(2): 192–208. doi: 10.1057/ap.2012.27
    https://doi.org/10.1057/ap.2012.27 [Google Scholar]
  6. Braet, Antoine C.
    1992 “Ethos, Pathos and Logos in Aristotle’s Rhetoric: A Re-examination”. Argumentation6(3): 307–320. doi: 10.1007/BF00154696
    https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00154696 [Google Scholar]
  7. Brown, Gwen
    1997 “Deliberation and its Discontents: H. Ross Perot’s Antipolitical Populism”. The End of Politics?115–148. doi: 10.1007/978‑1‑349‑25251‑0_6
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25251-0_6 [Google Scholar]
  8. Campbell, Colin
    2015, May 12 “Donald Trump Trademarked a Ronald Reagan Slogan and Would Like to Stop Other Republicans from Using It”. Retrieved fromwww.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-trademarked-make-america-great-again-2015-5
  9. Canon, Scott
    2016, January 20 “Breaking Down A Trump Speech: His Words Show The Power of A New Politics”. Retrieved fromwww.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article55604110.html
  10. Claridge, Claudia
    2011Hyperbole in English: A Corpus-Based Study of Exaggeration. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Clift, Eleanor
    2016, July 12 “Pat Buchanan Celebrates Donald Trump’s Win, Has the Last Laugh”. Retrieved fromwww.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/07/pat-buchanan-celebrates-donald-trump-s-win-has-the-last-laugh.html
  12. Colvin, Geoff
    2016, April 27 “Explaining Donald Trump’s Massive Branding Power”. Retrieved fromfortune.com/2016/04/28/donald-trump-branding-power/
  13. Davis, Michael L. and Michael Ferrantino
    1996 “Towards a Positive Theory of Political Rhetoric: Why Do Politicians Lie?” Public Choice88: 1–13.10.1007/BF00130405
    https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00130405 [Google Scholar]
  14. De Bruijn, Hans
    2016, March 22 “Donald Trump’s rhetoric: An analysis of his frames”. Retrieved fromhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/299403760_Donald_Trump’s_Rhetoric_an_analysis_of_his_frames.
  15. Gangel, Jamie and Eric Bradner
    2016, November 3 “Bush Family Mum on Voting for Clinton or Trump”. Retrieved fromedition.cnn.com/2016/11/02/politics/bush-family-voting-clinton-trump-2016/
  16. Gass, Nick
    2015, September 23 “Trump: I’m so tired of this politically correct crap”. Retrieved fromwww.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-politically-correct-crap-213988
  17. Geer, John G.
    2006In Defence of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226285009.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226285009.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  18. Goffman, Erving
    1981Forms of Talk. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Haberman, M.
    2016, October 25 Colin Powell Says He’ll Vote for Hillary Clinton. Retrieved fromhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/us/politics/colin-powell-hillary-clinton.html
  20. Hindess, Barry
    1997 “Antipolitical Motifs in Western Political Discourse”. The End of Politics?21–39. doi: 10.1007/978‑1‑349‑25251‑0_2
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25251-0_2 [Google Scholar]
  21. Jaffe, Alexandra
    2016, October 11 “Sen. John McCain: I can’t vote for Trump or Clinton”. Retrieved fromwww.aol.com/article/news/2016/10/11/sen-john-mccain-i-cant-vote-for-trump-or-clinton/21578835/
  22. Jones, Oliver
    2016Donald Trump: The rhetoric. Marylebone, London, United Kingdom: Eyewear Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Johnson
  24. Kayam, Orly
    2013Obama’s Message: An Examination of Political Rhetoric. Lambert Academic Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. 2017 “The Readability and Simplicity of Donald Trump’s Language in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign”. Political Studies Review1–16. doi: 10.1177/1478929917706844.
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929917706844 [Google Scholar]
  26. Krupnikov, Yanna
    2011 “When Does Negativity Demobilize? Tracing the Conditional Effect of Negative Campaigning on Voter Turnout”. American Journal of Political Science55(4): 797–813. doi: 10.1111/j.1540‑5907.2011.00522.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2011.00522.x [Google Scholar]
  27. Lim, Elvin T.
    2008The anti-intellectual presidency: The decline of presidential rhetoric from George Washington to George W. Bush. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342642.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342642.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  28. Lord, Jeffrey
    2016What America Needs: The Case for Trump. Washington DC: Regnery Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Luntz, Frank I.
    2007Words that Work: It’s Not what You Say, It’s what People Hear. New York: Hyperion.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Martin, Paul S.
    2004 “Inside the Black Box of Negative Campaign Effects: Three Reasons Why Negative Campaigns Mobilize”. Political Psychology25(4): 545–562. doi: 10.1111/j.1467‑9221.2004.00386.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00386.x [Google Scholar]
  31. McCarthy, Michael and Ronald Carter
    2004 “‘There’s millions of them’: Hyperbole in everyday conversation.” Journal of Pragmatics36(2): 149–184. doi: 10.1016/S0378‑2166(03)00116‑4
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(03)00116-4 [Google Scholar]
  32. Mudde, Cas
    2004 “The Populist Zeitgeist”. Government and Opposition39(3): 542–564.10.1111/j.1477‑7053.2004.00135.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.2004.00135.x [Google Scholar]
  33. Obama, Barack
    2008, January 8 “Primary speech presented at New Hampshire.” Retrieved fromwww.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html
  34. Oppenheim, Maya
    2016, October 9 “Arnold Schwarzenegger: ‘I will not vote for the Republican candidate for president’.” Retrieved fromwww.independent.co.uk/news/people/arnold-schwarzenegger-not-supporting-donald-trump-us-election-a7352671.html
  35. Perelman, Chaim
    1984The Realm of Rhetoric [in Hebrew]. Hebrew University Jerusalem: Magnus Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Peretz, Gil and Nili Peretz
    2011Obama’s Secrets: How to Speak and Communicate with Power and a Little Magic. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Reyes, Antonio
    2015 “Building Intimacy through Linguistic Choices, Text Structure and Voices in Political Discourse”. Language and Communication43: 58–71. doi: 10.1016/j.langcom.2015.05.002
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2015.05.002 [Google Scholar]
  38. Riker, William H.
    1986The Art of Political Manipulation. Yale University Press.‏
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Rothman, Lily
    2016, March 28 “The Long History behind Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ Foreign Policy”. Retrieved fromtime.com/4273812/america-first-donald-trump-history/
  40. Rozenberg, Paul
    2017, January 15 “Don’t Think of a Rampaging Elephant: Linguist George Lakoff Explains How the Democrats Helped Elect Trump”. Retrieved fromwww.salon.com/2017/01/15/dont-think-of-a-rampaging-elephant-linguist-george-lakoff-explains-how-the-democrats-helped-elect-trump/
  41. Sabato, Larry J.
    2015, July 16 “Sabato’s Crystal Ball: Is Donald Trump the New Ross Perot? Or the Next Pat Buchanan?” Retrieved fromwww.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/is-donald-trump-the-new-ross-perot-or-the-next-pat-buchanan/
  42. Sanchez, Ray and Amanda Wills
    2016, June, 25 “Anti-establishment tsunami sweeps Europe”. The CNN. Retrieved fromedition.cnn.com/2016/06/24/europe/europe-anti-establishment/
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Săftoiu, Răzvan and Adrian Toader
    2018 “The Persuasive Use of Pronouns in Action Games of Election Campaigns”. Language and Dialogue8(1): 21–42.10.1075/ld.00003.saf
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00003.saf [Google Scholar]
  44. Schedler, Andreas
    1996 “Anti-Political-Establishment Parties”. Party Politics2(3): 291–312. doi: 10.1177/1354068896002003001
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068896002003001 [Google Scholar]
  45. 1997 “Introduction: Antipolitics. Closing and Colonizing the Public Sphere.” The End of Politics?, 1–20. doi: 10.1007/978‑1‑349‑25251‑0_1
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25251-0_1 [Google Scholar]
  46. Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger and David M. Farrell
    2002 “Studying political campaigns and their effects”. InDo Political Campaigns Matter?, ed. by David M. Farrell and Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck , 1–21. doi: 10.4324/9780203166956_chapter_1
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203166956_chapter_1 [Google Scholar]
  47. Shogun, Colleen J.
    2007 “Anti-Intellectualism in the Modern Presidency: A Republican Populism”. Perspectives on Politics5: 295–303.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Shuster, Simon
    2016, June, 24 “The Brexit Vote Is a New Milestone in the Global War on Elites”. Time. Retrieved fromtime.com/4381313/brexit-vote-david-cameron-elites/
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Stewart, Julianne , Mazzoleni Gianpietro , and Bruce Horsfield
    (Eds.) 2003 “Conclusion: Power to the media managers”. The Media and Neo-Populism: A Contemporary Comparative Analysis, 217–237. Westport, CT: Praeger.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Taggart, Paul A.
    2000Populism. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Taylor, Kathleen
    2004Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Trump, Donald J. and Tony Schwartz
    1987Trump: The Art of the Deal. New York: Random House.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Wright, William A.
    1993 “Negative Campaigning.” Journal of Social Philosophy24(1): 103–113.10.1111/j.1467‑9833.1993.tb00498.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.1993.tb00498.x [Google Scholar]
  54. Walker, Hunter
    2015, August 6 “Donald Trump praises his own ‘great’ debate performance: ‘I am a winner’.” Retrieved fromwww.businessinsider.com/trump-praises-his-own-great-performance-2015-8
  55. Weigand, Edda
    2008 “Rhetoric in the Mixed Game.” InDialogue and Rhetoric, ed. by Edda Weigand , 3–22. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/ds.2.03wei
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.2.03wei [Google Scholar]
  56. 2015 “Persuasion or the Integration of Grammar and Rhetoric.” InPersuasive Games in Political and Professional Dialogue, ed. by Răzvan Săftoiu , Ionela Neagu and Stanca Măda , 3–18. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/ds.26.01wei
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.26.01wei [Google Scholar]
  57. Weyland, Kurt
    2001 “Clarifying a Contested Concept: Populism in the Study of Latin American Politics.” Comparative Politics34(1): 1–22.10.2307/422412
    https://doi.org/10.2307/422412 [Google Scholar]
  58. Wolman, Moshe
    1990Demagoguery and Rhetorics [in Hebrew]. Tel Aviv University: Papyrus Publication.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Yourish, Karen , Larry Buchanan , and Alicia Parlapiano
    2016, August 29 “More Than 160 Republican Leaders Don’t Support Donald Trump. Here’s When They Reached Their Breaking Point.” Retrieved fromwww.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/29/us/politics/at-least-110-republican-leaders-wont-vote-for-donald-trump-heres-when-they-reached-their-breaking-point.html
  60. Zarefsky, David
    2004 “Presidential Rhetoric and the Power of Definition.” Presidential Studies Quarterly34(3): 607–619. doi: 10.1111/j.1741‑5705.2004.00214.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5705.2004.00214.x [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ld.00012.kay
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/ld.00012.kay
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): anti-establishment; anti-politics; politically correct; rhetoric; Trump
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error