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Article In: Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict: Online-First Articles

Constructing the Other

A discourse-historical analysis of othering in Trump’s populist discourse

ORCiD logo with link | Xi’an International Studies University, China
ORCiD logo with link | Chang’an University, China
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Abstract
This study examines how the construction of the Other evolves in Donald Trump’s right-wing populist discourse across his three U.S. presidential campaigns. Using a corpus-assisted Discourse-Historical Approach, it traces shifting targets of exclusion in campaign speeches and the discursive strategies through which they are constructed. Findings reveal three trajectories of othering: opposition to establishment elites in 2016 evolves into an anti-left stance in 2020 and an anti-institutional position in 2024; moral panic is sustained through shifting scapegoating targets framed as sources of social, moral, or epistemic disorder across campaigns; and antagonism shifts from external threats toward internal Others, drawing diverse Others into a convergent logic of exclusion. These shifts channel racial, partisan, and cultural tensions into symbolic antagonists, narrowing the imagined boundaries of the “true” people, reinforcing authoritarian tendencies, and contributing to the erosion of trust in democratic institutions. The study highlights othering as an adaptive discursive resource through which right-wing populist mobilization and antagonistic alignments are mutually reinforced, thereby sustaining the dynamic construction of the Other.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Othering in populist discourse
    • 2.2Othering in Trump’s right-wing populist discourse
    • 2.3The discursive construction of the Other in Trump’s campaign discourse
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Data
    • 3.2Theoretical framework
    • 3.3Procedure of analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Thematic changes across three campaign cycles
    • 4.2Diachronic construction of various Others
      • 4.2.1From anti-establishment outsider to anti-left strongman and institutionalized victim
      • 4.2.2From shifting targets to enduring scapegoats in sustained moral panic
      • 4.2.3From external threats to internal Others and convergent exclusion
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
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