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Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 19:6 (2020) ► pp.869–893

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I, Trump

The cult of personality, anti-intellectualism and the Post-Truth era

ORCiD logo with link | Washington and Lee University
Published online: 4 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20002.rey
Abstract
This paper contextualizes Donald Trump’s political “Message” (Lempert, Michael, and Michael Silverstein. 2012. Creatures of Politics: Media, Message, and the American Presidency. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) within the current anti-intellectualism phenomenon in the Post-Truth era. Trump’s Presidential Announcement Speech marks the beginning of the Trump era, as it introduces critical traits of his persona, message and political agenda to the general audience. From a Discourse Analysis approach, this paper considers Aristotelian modes of persuasion and the multimodal concept of “Message” (Lempert, Michael, and Michael Silverstein. 2012. Creatures of Politics: Media, Message, and the American Presidency. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), to contribute to the literature on Trump’s political communication by focusing on the cult of personality and self-representation (i.e. non-politician, overachieving businessman, great leader). Trump built his candidacy and presidency around his persona, distancing himself from the Republican Party and traditional politicians. These strategies allowed Trump to evoke an Ethos capable of saving America. His personal fight against every enemy and threat encapsulates a simple and ingenuous dichotomy “I vs. them” with the populist intention of completing a hyperbolic task: Make America great again.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Post-Truth Era, anti-intellectualism and, right-wing populism (RWP)
  • 3.The discourse of Donald Trump
  • 4.Trump’s presidential announcement speech 2015
  • 5.Theoretical concepts: Ethos, Pathos and the Message
  • 6.Analysis: Ethos and the construction of a leader
    • 6.1The cult of personality: I, Trump
    • 6.2Trump vs. issues
      • a.Trump vs. facts
      • b.Trump vs. domestic threats (Politicians)
      • c.Trump vs. Foreign threats: Mexico, China, migration
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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