Analyzing the Discursive Strategies of Polarization in Donald Trump's Tweets during the 2024 US Presidential Election

Abstract

Social media platforms stand at the forefront in this critical juncture of contemporary political communication, which took place during the 2024 United States Presidential Election; in which these platforms serve as the new sites in which political communication is shared and political polarization is encouraged. Having conducted this research, an in-depth critical discourse analysis of Donald Trump’s Twitter communications during the election cycle focuses on language and rhetorical mechanisms that drive political fragmentation. With a mixed-method approach drawing on quantitative content analysis and qualitative discourse examination, this study deconstructs the strategic communication techniques used to create political division. The research interrogates how Trump’s tweets systematically build antagonistic narratives, mobilize emotional responses, and initiate binary political identities. Through computational linguistic analysis and close textual examination, the research explores the sophisticated language strategies that polarize politically: othering, emotional manipulation, purposeful fragmentation of political debate, and so on. The study concludes that the complex dynamics among social media, political rhetoric, and sense of self, as exhibited in the political rhetoric of the study, are central to comprehending the workings of contemporary political communication that undermine prospects for democratic deliberation and social cohesion.