WAR, POWER, AND IDEOLOGY: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF DONALD TRUMP'S RHETORIC ON IRAN

Abstract

In this paper, the concept of the "discourse" of the former United States President, Donald Trump is explored with a critical focus on his discourse on Iran, with a particular emphasis on the interrelated aspects of war, power and ideology. The study explores the context of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) where the role of language as a tool of government to shape political narratives, legalize military interventions and ideologically consolidate. The study examines the selected speech samples of presidential rhetoric as well as some of the public statements and press briefings concerning tensions between Iran and the United States from the theoretical prism of both the 3-D Model of the Norman Fairclough and the Teun A. van Dijk's Ideological square. An analysis of Trump's rhetoric shows that he regularly frames Iran as an existential threat, using fear-inducing lexical options, militaristic analogies, binary oppositions (like “us” and “them”) and other linguistic strategies. This means that such a linguistic move validates the choices made by USA policy makers on the one hand and communicates the messages of "U.S. superiority," "security," and "global leadership" on the other. The study also reveals that power is manifested not only in formal political statements but one can also instrument it subtly through ideologic inference within language. Furthermore, the findings indicate that rhetoric from Trump will lead to the normalisation of conflict oriented ideologies as notions about war come across as a tool for national security, and not a political decision. This research seeks to underline the fact that political language can determine public perception and relationship between nations by bringing the underlying ideas of the selected discourse to the fore. Finally, the paper highlights how CDA is relevant to shed light on language as a battleground and the product of ideology, in current geopolitical skirmishes.