Looting leads to shooting: A pragma-dialectical analysis of President Trump’s argumentative discourse on Floyd’s death

Gibreel Sadeq ALAGHBARY

doi:https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.851011

Makale detayları

Looting leads to shooting: A pragma-dialectical analysis of President Trump’s argumentative discourse on Floyd’s death

Yazarlar:

Gibreel Sadeq ALAGHBARY

Yayıncı:

Hacettepe University

Ana Başlıklar:

Sosyoloji & antropoloji

Dergi:

Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies 2020 Vol.16 Issue 4, pp.1854-1868

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

12/2020

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2000769355

Sıklık:

Üç Aylık

pISSN:

1305-578X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.851011

Özet:

 

This study aims at problematizing President Trump’s argumentation in response to the protesters’ demands for justice, racial equality and police reforms over the killing of George Floyd. In his first reaction, Trump used mild rhetoric that frustrated and galvanized the angry mobs. In response to escalating protests, Trump escalated his own rhetoric. Calling into question the character and credibility of the protesters, Trump labelled the protesters “thugs” and “terrorists”, alluded to the deployment of the Military, and tweeted “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”. Pragma-dialectical analysis of Trumps’ response reveals that rational argumentation yields to derailed strategic maneuvering involving name-giving, ad baculum and ad hominem fallacies. Trump makes a dialectical shift from persuasive logic to fear arousing and threat making tactics in order to coercively hold up demonstrations and enforce compliance, and later shifts from persuasion to eristic discourse. He politicizes his response by accusing the media of fomenting hatred and anarchy, and by blaming the mayhem on his democratic rival, who is ridiculed and personally abused. These are irrelevant argumentative moves in the socio-political context as well as in the context of the persuasion discourse.

Makale detayları

Looting leads to shooting: A pragma-dialectical analysis of President Trump’s argumentative discourse on Floyd’s death

Yazarlar: Gibreel Sadeq ALAGHBARY

Yayıncı: Hacettepe University

Ana Başlıklar: Sosyoloji & antropoloji

Dergi: Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies 2020 Vol.16 Issue 4, pp.1854-1868

Belge Tipi: Makale

Yayın Tarihi: 12/2020

Belge Dili: İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.): 2000769355

Sıklık: Üç Aylık

pISSN: 1305-578X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.851011

Sayı

Yazarlar:

Gibreel Sadeq ALAGHBARY

Yayıncı:

Hacettepe University

Ana Başlıklar:

Sosyoloji & antropoloji

Dergi:

Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies 2020 Vol.16 Issue 4, pp.1854-1868

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

12/2020

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2000769355

Sıklık:

Üç Aylık

pISSN:

1305-578X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.851011