Political Discourse Analysis of Donald Trump’s Rhetoric: A Linguistic Study of Cognition and Discursivity

Abstract

To elucidate the deliberate use of Islamophobia in the political sphere, this study carefully examines Donald Trump's presidential campaign speeches using political discourse analysis (PDA). Trump’s Islamophobic position in political discourse has sparked a global discussion. His divisive political language during the 2016 elections contributed to an overall rise in incidents showing hatred for Muslims in the America by painting a poor picture of the Muslim world. The present study employs the theoretical framework of Van Dijk (1998) to examine the socio-political contexts of the discourse: participants’ insight (their goals, relevant knowledge and their belief system), group organization, power dynamics, as well as favourable and unfavourable perceptions of “us” against “them”. The purpose of the work is to highlight the processes by which Islamophobia is created, propagated, and normalised in public discourse. The nature of the current investigation involves heterogeneous techniques. It analyzes the text using PDA methods. Additionally, it computes word frequency to determine the proportion of positive to negative terms in Donald Trump's political speech. The analysis reveals that political leaders use language as a tool to serve their own political ends. This study focusses on understanding the complex interplay between language, power, and ideology in contemporary political communication. By shedding light on the pervasive influence of Islamophobia as a political strategy, it underscores the imperative of critically engaging with political discourse to challenge hegemonic narratives, and to foster all-inclusive and democratic societies. Political leaders frequently employ language as a weapon to further their agendas. This research work highlights the necessity of critically interacting with political discourse to challenge dominant narratives and promote inclusive and democratic societies by bringing to light the pervasive influence of Islamophobia as a political strategy.