Legitimized Fear : Donald Trump's January 6 Rhetoric as a Narrative of Crisis
May, Emily Catherine (2023)
2023
Master's Programme in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-12-21
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2023122011058
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2023122011058
Tiivistelmä
This thesis serves analyzes the public rhetoric of former US President Donald Trump on the infamous day of the US Capitol Riots: January 6, 2021. It does so with the purpose of answering the following research question: How does Trump provoke a reaction to the ontological insecurity felt by his supporters through his January 6, 2021 narrative, and could it be seen as justification for the ensuing riots? The hypothesized answer is that Trump employs a narrative of crisis which capitalizes on the anxieties felt by his supporters by legitimizing their fears and implicitly and explicitly calling for action to prevent his 2020 election loss.
In order to test the above hypothesis and answer the research question, this thesis employs a twofold strategy: (1) conducting two methods of narrative analysis to analyze the dataset, and (2) attempting to find evidence which supports the hypothesis that Trump’s narrative is one of crisis. This is done using a dataset containing three parts: (1) Trump’s speech from his Save America Rally, (2) Tweets Trump published on Jan. 6, and (3) A video message from Trump to the rioters.
The conducted narrative analyses create results which confirm the hypothesis. TA reveals two key themes: (1) that the election was rigged, and (2) something must be done to fix it. MCA reveals Trump uses strong “Us versus Them” language in order to bolster his narrative. Both of these analyses show that Trump’s rhetoric legitimizes his supporters’ ontological insecurity by giving evidence of a great misdeed and clearly labeling those responsible (“them”). By also establishing those on the right side (“us”) and calling for future action, he legitimizes and justifies the need for something to be done. Several aspects of Trump’s narrative align with theories of crisis and crisis communication, establishing it as one of crisis. These results confirm the hypothesis with the conclusion that the Capitol Riots were a clear response to his rhetoric.
This research is conducted within the field of peace and conflict research and draws on theories from the fields of crisis management and communication. It furthers previous scholarly research on ontological security, Trumpism, and crises by combining them with the case study of the US Capitol Riots.
In order to test the above hypothesis and answer the research question, this thesis employs a twofold strategy: (1) conducting two methods of narrative analysis to analyze the dataset, and (2) attempting to find evidence which supports the hypothesis that Trump’s narrative is one of crisis. This is done using a dataset containing three parts: (1) Trump’s speech from his Save America Rally, (2) Tweets Trump published on Jan. 6, and (3) A video message from Trump to the rioters.
The conducted narrative analyses create results which confirm the hypothesis. TA reveals two key themes: (1) that the election was rigged, and (2) something must be done to fix it. MCA reveals Trump uses strong “Us versus Them” language in order to bolster his narrative. Both of these analyses show that Trump’s rhetoric legitimizes his supporters’ ontological insecurity by giving evidence of a great misdeed and clearly labeling those responsible (“them”). By also establishing those on the right side (“us”) and calling for future action, he legitimizes and justifies the need for something to be done. Several aspects of Trump’s narrative align with theories of crisis and crisis communication, establishing it as one of crisis. These results confirm the hypothesis with the conclusion that the Capitol Riots were a clear response to his rhetoric.
This research is conducted within the field of peace and conflict research and draws on theories from the fields of crisis management and communication. It furthers previous scholarly research on ontological security, Trumpism, and crises by combining them with the case study of the US Capitol Riots.