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In:Practising Stylistics: Essays in Honour of Paul Simpson
Edited by Clara Neary, Simon Statham and Peter Stockwell
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 45] 2026
► pp. 24–35

Chapter 2
Trump’s superlatives, his discursive absolutism, and the changing character of the public sphere

 | University of Macau | University of Strathclyde
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Abstract
Building on work by Simpson (2003, 2023) and Montgomery (1999, 2017, 2020), in this chapter Martin Mongomery analyses the language of Donald Trump as a means of developing the application of validity claims to specific public utterances. Montgomery argues for the ongoing relevance of work by Habermas (1979, 1984, 1989), particularly his ideas on the normative character of the public sphere, by examining the connection between superlative absolutism and validity claims in how Trump sets the tone of his posts to the Truth Social platform and in his public speeches. In so doing, Montgomery demonstrates that the linguistic focus and contextual awareness of stylistics can expose how Trumpian discourse is effectively instituting a further deformation of the public sphere.
Article outline
  • The public sphere
  • Trump’s use of superlatives on Truth Social
  • Superlative absolutism and validity claims
  • Drawing conclusions: Superlatives, absolutes, validity claims and the public sphere
  • References
References (14)
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