Exploring Political Discourse Through Fairclough’s Lens: A CDA of Donald Trump’s Speech

Abstract

The research relies on the assumption that language is a potent social tool, and drawing from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis, it examines how Donald Trump's political rhetoric leverages discursive strategies to build authority, mold ideology, and shape public opinion within particular socio-cultural and political circumstances. Speech of former President Donald Trump at the House GOP Issues Conference on January 27, 2025, this research utilizes Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model. The methodology used is the qualitative approach with descriptive type. This study examines how, through examining the speech in terms of Fairclough's three dimensions, Trump's language choices construct a populist identity, win over his base and delegitimize his adversaries. The paper analyzes some of the rhetorical strategies that are techniques used in Trump's speeches to produce power and solidify political allegiance, leading to ideological means of persuasion. It contributes to the a still emergent field of political discourse analysis which demonstrates that language is more than a communication medium, at least to some extent it is a means of power and ideological domination. It indicates that most of Trump's rhetoric followed patterns of populist rhetoric with emotional, simplistic language when framing complex issues in binary oppositions. Subsequent studies may compare and contrast Donald Trump's discursive tactics with others from populist leaders like Jair Bolsonaro, Narendra Modi, or Boris Johnson to look for cross-cultural tendencies in populist discourse.