Authority (de)legitimation in the border wall Twitter discourse of President Trump

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 831-856
Author(s):  
Damian J. Rivers ◽  
Andrew S. Ross
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Us History ◽  
The Us ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Presidential Election Campaign ◽  
Us Mexico Border ◽  
Government Shutdown

Abstract The construction of a wall along the US/Mexico border was one of the main political platforms upon which the 2016 US presidential election campaign was fought. Ahead of the upcoming 2020 US presidential election, and with the border wall still not yet built or funded, this article uses the authorisation component of Van Leeuwen’s (2007) framework for the discourse of legitimation to show how President Donald J. Trump has sought legitimacy for the construction of the border wall. Data is taken from Trump’s @realDonaldTrump Twitter postings between October 18th, 2018 and February 3rd, 2019, a period inclusive of the longest federal government shutdown in US history. We show how Trump’s Twitter language is frequently accompanied by evidence-less attacks on sources of rival opinion or information, while the president tends to reaffirm himself as the exclusive source of credible and truthful information.

Russia’s Hybrid War on the West

2019 ◽  
pp. 8-46
Author(s):  
Mitchell A. Orenstein
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
The West ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Hybrid War ◽  
Presidential Election Campaign

Russia’s hybrid war on the West started in 2007, but was only widely recognized in the West after President Putin’s return to the presidency of Russia in 2012, Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, and its meddling in the US presidential election campaign in 2016. For five years, Western leaders failed to recognize or to believe that Russia was engaged in an all-out struggle to undermine Western institutions through funding extremist, anti-EU, and anti-NATO political parties, spreading disinformation and propaganda, hacking and releasing information, and using a wide variety of covert means to influence elections and undermine democratic governance. Since the very existence of this hybrid war has been questioned and politicized, this chapter lays out the basics and addresses the question of what led Russia to launch its hybrid war on the West.

“Did Obamacare create new jobs?” – An analysis of Mitt Romney’s use of rhetorical questions in the 2012 US presidential election campaign

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Ming-Chiu Wong ◽  
Foong Ha Yap
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Question Type ◽  
Presidential Candidate ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Us States ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Rhetorical Questions ◽  
Presidential Election Campaign ◽  
New Jobs

AbstractThis paper examines how Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s use of rhetorical questions (RQs) in the 2012 US presidential election varies depending on the target audience. We first classify the US states into: (i) Democrat-safe states, (ii) Republican-safe states, and (iii) swing states. We then examine Romney’s use of RQs in his 48 speeches in terms of their (i) frequency, (ii) question type, (iii) topic, and (iv) function. Our findings reveal that Romney tended to ask more RQs in the swing states and the Democrat-safe states in comparison to the Republican-safe states. Moreover, in the swing states, most of Romney’s RQs were yes/no questions, which tended to be more direct, while in the Democrat-safe states, Romney used both yes/no and

US election raises doubts over Japan-US alliance

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Campaign Rhetoric ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
East Asia Region ◽  
Presidential Election Campaign

Subject The implications for Japan of the US presidential election. Significance US presidential election campaign rhetoric has sparked serious concerns in Japan about Washington's commitment to the East Asia region in the context of a long-term rise in geopolitical tensions. Republican candidate Donald Trump has publicly questioned the value of the US-Japan alliance, while Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton has muted her previous support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, seen as the economic component of the US 'rebalance' to Asia under President Barack Obama's administration. Impacts Doubts about the US commitment to the region work to Beijing's advantage. The US government's likely failure to ratify the TPP will damage perceptions of Washington's commitment to the region. Though occasionally mooted, the idea of developing nuclear weapons is a non-starter in Japan.

US shutdown deal by February 15 is possible

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Political Capital ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Content Type ◽  
State Of The Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The Government ◽  
Us Mexico Border

Significance President Donald Trump wants to use DHS money to build a wall on the US-Mexico border to improve security and tackle crime. Yet Democrats say a wall is ineffective and ‘immoral’, partly as they disagree with Trump that there is any border crime or security crisis or emergency. This disagreement caused the longest federal government shutdown in history (35 days), which ended when Trump signed a Continuing Resolution to fund the government to midnight on February 15-16. Impacts Federal workers (but not contractors) will be fully reimbursed, benefitting consumption, and social spending will resume. Recently re-elected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership acumen will be further boosted among House Democrats. Trump will likely give his State of the Union Address to Congress on February 5, where he can bolster his political capital.

scholarly journals Role of alternative media in the US 2016 presidential election campaign.

nauka.me ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Denis Yaremov
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Alternative Media ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
The Us ◽  
Political Praxis ◽  
Presidential Election Campaign

This article examines the phenomenon of modern alternative media being used during US presidential elections in 2016 as a propaganda tool in order to mobilize widespread political support from groups previously considered fringe. It also aims to clearly define terms such as "alternative media" and "new media" in the context of modern political praxis.

scholarly journals Managing political content in the online space of modern states: how twitter prevented D. Trump from winning the 2020 presidential election?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.A. Ryabchenko ◽  
O.P. Malysheva ◽  
V.V. Katermina
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Graph Visualization ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Networked Society

The networked society is permeated with processes generated within numerous horizontal structures of the public sphere in the online space. An empirical study based on network analysis and graph visualization methodology allowed us to understand why D. Trump, using the same political communication strategy on Twitter that allowed him to win in 2015, lost the 2020 US Presidential Election. Who and how transformed the political content created by D. Trump's team; who became the influencer that changed and destroyed the discourse field originally created to support D. Trump in the second term campaign? The empirical data (a continuous sample of network data amounted to 2 million messages), which we used to constructs and analyze the discourse fields, comprises the messages published by ordinary users, supporters, opponents and D. Trump's team on Twitter within the period from March 1, 2020 to October 30, 2020. The study showed that D. Trump's second election campaign in 2020 was also based on network populism. However, the “negative information background” (Covid-19, Black Lives Matter) split the discursive fields he formed, which eventually resulted in ban from online platforms and election defeat. The technologies D. Trump used in his first election campaign, and which led him to the US presidency, actually became a potent weapon in the hands of his opponents in the second election campaign.

California

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Social Cartography ◽  
Family Network ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Us ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Police Surveillance ◽  
Us Mexico Border

I utilize my situated position as anthropologist, academician, and citizen to argue not only that we should “think” California, but also that we should “rethink” our state—both its condition and its social cartography. To be clear, I see all my research and endeavors—my research on the US/Mexico border; my time among the markets and entrepreneurs I have worked and lived with; my focus on those places in which I was raised: Lemon Grove, Logan Heights; the family network and my community ethnographic work—as personal. I am in this academic game and the telling of our story because it is personal. When Lemon Grove was segregated, it was about my family; when Logan Heights was split by the construction of Interstate 5 and threatened by police surveillance, it was about our community; when the border was sanctioned and militarized it again was about the communities of which I am a part. A rethinking California is rooted in the experience of living California, of knowing and feeling the condition and the struggles we are experiencing and the crises we have gone through. We need to rethink California, especially the current failure of the state. This too is ultimately personal, because it affects each and every one of us, especially those historically unrepresented folks who have endured over the decades.

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