Donald Trump’s Aggressive and Offensive Language Before and After His Inauguration Speeches: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores selected aggressive and offensive spoken or written discourse material used by the American ex-president Donald Trump at different periods of time during his rule as the United States of America president. The data analysis model will be mainly conducted within the terminology and framework of Van Dijk’s model of critical discourse analysis (henceforth CDA). The research has adopted ten ideological categories to reveal the extent of power, racism and racial discrimination. The current study has mainly investigated how language is structured to show various meanings that indicate the relation of power used in social contexts. The study also tries to show the role of CDA in analyzing elements of power and hegemony and how language users operate them to achieve the goal of successful communication among participants. The abuse is resulted from the use of power as exercised by language users. The way language is perceived and manipulated can identify ideologies imposed by speakers, resulting in controlling addressees through power dominance. The primary objective of this research is to demonstrate the extent to which social power, abuse, and other unpleasant expressions are used in Trump’s political speeches. The research indicates that the majority of Trump’s spoken or written speech methods contain aspects of language that violate social norms and convey a sense of authority and superiority over other addressees.