Article published In:
Journal of Language and PoliticsVol. 19:6 (2020) ► pp.869–893
I, Trump
The cult of personality, anti-intellectualism and the Post-Truth era
This paper contextualizes Donald Trump’s political “Message” (Lempert and
Silverstein 2012) 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” (ibid.), 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.
Keywords: Trump, anti-intellectualism, Post-Truth Era, political discourse, populism
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
-
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