Manipulating the Masses: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Rhetorical Strategies in Donald Trump’s 2024 Nomination Acceptance Speech

Abstract

The use of rhetorical devices in public discourse is a powerful and indispensable tool for changing recipients' future behavior and shaping their perception of the social world around them. This paper seeks to investigate the use of manipulative persuasion strategies that influence public perception and consolidate political power and hegemony in Trump's 2024 presidential nomination acceptance speech. Donald Trump always tries to expose his audience to a wide range of rhetorical devices, whether they are verbal or non-verbal; in addition, he makes use of diverse linguistic resources such as rhetorical devices in his public discourse. These verbal and nonverbal cues, along with different linguistic resources, are meant to enhance persuasive communication, frame others, and mobilize the masses. His discourse heavily relies on devices such as emotiveness, dysphemism (the purposeful exaggeration of bad qualities of his opponents), hyperbole, the intensive use of rhetorical questions, among others. Used strategically, these powerful linguistic resources operate as influential tools for shaping audience interpretations and guiding anticipated responses. Furthermore, these tools are used by Trump as powerful and hegemonic devices to influence and control others. He perceives them not merely as ornamentations or tools for enhancement but as means to evince effectiveness and persuasive impacts and to manipulate recipients' emotions and shape and reshape public opinion.