Cover not available

Article published In: Language and Dialogue
Vol. 10:2 (2020) ► pp.149–170

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Straight to the people

Donald Trump’s rhetorical style on Twitter in the 2016 U.S. presidential election

 | The Academic College at Wingate (Israel)
Published online: 4 September 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00064.kay
Abstract
Research has shown that Donald Trump’s rhetorical style on Twitter differs significantly during the time he was a citizen, a presidential candidate and a president (Ott, Brian L. and Greg Dickinson. 2019. The Twitter presidency: Donald J. Trump and the politics of white rage. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The aim of the current study is to characterize his rhetorical style on Twitter during the 2016 presidential race, in light of its potential to influence future campaigns in the U.S. and outside, and its implications on political and public discourse. The study presents a comprehensive analysis of Trump’s Twitter habits, using statistical analyses and a content analysis of all tweets posted on Trump’s Twitter account from the date he announced his presidential candidacy until he won the election. Analysing the results using framing theory reveals Trump’s main campaigning strategies on Twitter:(a) negative campaigning against his rivals and the establishment; (b) bypassing the traditional media; and (c) self-promotion. Trump used his Twitter far less frequently to express his vision or future plans.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research method
    • 2.1Statistical analysis
    • 2.2Content analysis
  • 3.Theoretical background
    • 3.1Political campaigns on Twitter
    • 3.2Twitter and “dialogism”
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Statistical analysis
    • 4.2Content analysis
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Selection
      • 5.1.1Negativity
      • 5.1.2Self-promotion
      • 5.1.3Direct communication
    • 5.2Emphasis
      • 5.2.1“One man show”
      • 5.2.2Slogans
    • 5.3Exclusion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
References (45)
References
Aharony, Noa. 2012. “Twitter use by three political leaders: An exploratory analysis.” Online Information Review 36(4): 587–603. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alang, Navneet. 2016, November 15. “Trump is America’s first Twitter president. Be afraid.” New Republic. Retrieved from [URL]
Bakhtin, Mikhail. 1986. “The problem of speech genres.” In Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, Vern W. McGee (trans.) Austin: Texas: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baragona, Justin. 2017, January 20. “Should I keep the Twitter going or not?: Trump asks crowd at Inaugural Ball.” Retrieved from: [URL]
Bennett, Lance W. 2012. “The personalization of politics.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 644(1): 20–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bonaccini, Nicola. 2016. “What Aristotle would say to Donald Trump.” Retrieved from: [URL]
Brookey, Robert Alan and Brian L. Ott. 2019. “Trump and Twitter 2.0.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 36(1): 92–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cogburn, Derrick L. and Fatima K. Espinoza-Vasquez. 2011. “From networked nominee to networked nation: Examining the impact of Web 2.0 and social media on political participation and civic engagement in the 2008 Obama campaign.” Journal of Political Marketing 10(1–2): 189–213. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Conway, Bethany Anne, Kate Kenski, and Di Wang. 2013. “Twitter use by presidential primary candidates during the 2012 campaign.” American Behavioral Scientist 57(11): 1596–1610. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cowell, Philip. 2017, March 2. “Culture – What overusing exclamation marks says about you.” Retrieved from: [URL]
Davis, Michael L. and Michael Ferrantino. 1996. “Towards a positive theory of political rhetoric: Why do politicians lie?” Public Choice 88 (1–2): 1–13. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Entman, Robert M. 1993. “Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm.” Journal of Communication 431: 51–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Evans, Heather K., Kayla J. Brown, and Tiffany Wimberly. 2017. “Delete your account: The 2016 presidential race in Twitter.” Social Science Computer Review 36(4): 500–508. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Evans, Heather K., Victoria Cordova, and Savannah Sipole. 2014. “Twitter style: An analysis of how House candidates used Twitter in their 2012 campaigns.” PS: Political Science and Politics 47(02): 454–462. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Francia, Peter L. 2017. “Free media and Twitter in the 2016 presidential election: The unconventional campaign of Donald Trump.” Social Science Computer Review, 36(4): 440–455. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gainor, Dan. 2016, December 7. “Trump the Twitter president: Social media gives him tweet revenge.” Fox News. Retrieved from: [URL]
Gainous, Jason and Kevin M. Wagner. 2014. Tweeting to power: The social media revolution in American politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goffman, Ervine. 1974. Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Golbeck, Jennifer, Justin M. Grimes, and Anthony Rogers. 2010. “Twitter use by the U.S. Congress.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 61(8): 1612–1621. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Graham, Todd, Marcel Broersma, Karin Hazelhoff, and Guido Van’t Haar. 2013. Between broadcasting political messages and interacting with voters.” Information, Communication and Society 16(5): 692–716. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Graham, Todd, Dan Jackson, and Marcel Broersma. 2014. “New platform, old habits? Candidates’ use of Twitter during the 2010 British and Dutch general election campaigns.” New Media and Society 18(5): 765–783. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gueorguieva, Vassia. 2007. “Voters, MySpace, and YouTube: The impact of alternative communication channels on the 2006 election cycle and beyond.” Social Science Computer Review 26(3): 288–300. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackson, Nigel and Darren Lilleker. 2011. “Microblogging, constituency service and impression management: UK MPs and the use of Twitter.” The Journal of Legislative Studies 17(1): 86–105. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jungherr, Andreas. 2015. “Twitter use in election campaigns: A systematic literature review.” Journal of Information Technology and Politics 13(1): 72–91. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Khan, Laeeq. 2016, November 15. “Trump Won Thanks to Social Media.” The Hill. Retrieved from: [URL]
Kreiss, Daniel. 2014. “Seizing the moment: The presidential campaigns use of Twitter during the 2012 electoral cycle.” New Media and Society 18(8): 1473–1490. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lilleker, Darren G. and Nigel Jackson. 2014, March 19. “Brand management and relationship marketing in online environments.” Retrieved January 02, 2018, from: [URL]
Livnat, Zohar. 2012. Dialogue, Science and Academic Writing. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Macnamara, Jim and Gail Kenning. 2011. “E-Electioneering 2010: Trends in social media use in Australian political communication.” Media International Australia 139(1): 7–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ott, Brian L. 2016. “The age of Twitter: Donald J. Trump and the politics of debasement.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 34(1): 59–68. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ott, Brian L. and Greg Dickinson. 2019. The Twitter presidency: Donald J. Trump and the politics of white rage. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pan, Zhongdang and Gerald M. Kosicki. 1993. “Framing analysis: An approach to news discourse.” Political communication 10(1): 55–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reisigl, Martin. 2008. “Analyzing Political Rhetoric.” In Qualitative Discourse in the Social Sciences, ed. by Ruth Wodak and Michal Kryzanowski: 96–120. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rozenberg, Paul. 2017, January 15. “Don’t think of a rampaging elephant: Linguist George Lakoff explains how the Democrats helped elect Trump.” Retrieved May 5, 2017, from: [URL]
Schultz, Friederike, Sonja Utz, and Anja Göritz. 2011. “Is the medium the message? Perceptions of and reactions to crisis communication via twitter, blogs and traditional media.” Public Relations Review 37(1): 20–27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Small, Tamara A. 2011. “What the hashtag?”. Information, Communication and Society 14(6): 872–895. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, Craig R. 2016. “Ronald Reagan’s rhetorical re-invention of conservatism.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 103(1–2): 33–65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Steudeman, Michael J. and Trevor Parry-Giles. 2016. “Redeeming the maverick McCain: Game change as hyperreal campaign history.” Communication Quarterly 64(5): 553–572. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, Kathleen. 2004. Brainwashing: The science of thought control. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, Maureen, Michael L. Kent, and William J. White. 2001. “How activist organizations are using the Internet to build relationships.” Public Relations Review 271: 263–284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tewksbury, David and Dietram A. Scheufele. 2007. Special issue on framing, agenda setting, and priming: Agendas for theory and research.” Journal of Communication 57(1): 8–8. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trump, Donald and Tony Schwartz. 2017. Trump the art of the deal. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vergeer, Maurice, Hermans Liesbeth, and Steven Sams. 2011. “Online social networks and microblogging in political campaigning.” Party Politics 19(3): 477–501. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yu, Roger. 2016, November 9. “How do you use the media to win? Just ask Donald Trump.” USA Today. Retrieved from: [URL]
Weigand, Edda. 2009. Language as Dialogue. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Meader, Aimee Pavia & Matthew Wood Hayes
2025. ‘Presidential’ is in the ear of the beholder. Journal of Language and Politics DOI logo
Kayam, Orly
2023. Trump’s Rhetorical Way to Presidency. In U.S. Democracy in Danger [Springer Studies on Populism, Identity Politics and Social Justice, ], ► pp. 277 ff. DOI logo
Makki, Mohammad & Andrew S. Ross
2023. “We were cocked & loaded to retaliate”. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 11:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue