TARNISHING THE IMAGE OF A POLITICAL OPPONENT AS A COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGY OF DONALD TRUMP’S TWITTING

Abstract

Purpose. At present when modern political leaders use the Internet service Twitter for strategic purposes, analysis of tarnishingthe image of a political opponent as a communicative strategy becomes especially important. The aim of this article is to reveal cognitive(motivational and intentional), stylistic and rhetorical features of the communicative strategy of tarnishing the image of a politicalopponent in Donald Trump’s twitting.

Methods. This research is based on the inferential, definitional, and stylistic-rhetorical analyses.

Results. The study analyzes the concepts of image, communicative strategy, and rhetorical technique. It makes a case forthe negative evaluation as the key characteristic of the communicative strategy of tarnishing the image of a political opponent. Theanalysis of the strategic organization of Trump’s Twitter-based Internet discourse has determined the strategy of tarnishing the imageof a political opponent as a local one. This local strategy is subordinate to the global strategy of Trump’s twitting that aims to exertcommunicative influence in order to seize and retain political power. Within this local strategy, I further specify the sub-strategiesof disqualification, discrediting, and discrimination, which are differentiated according to the type of the evaluation they rest on. Thedisqualification sub-strategy is based on the negative teleological evaluation of a political opponent, which highlights the incompatibilityof his/her business, professional, and intellectual features with the image of the ideal politician. The discrediting sub-strategy is rooted in the negative ethical evaluation of a political opponent as being incompatible with the image of the ideal politician according tohis/her moral/ethical features. The discrimination sub-strategy is based on the negative normative evaluation of a political opponentas belonging to a negatively assessed socio-political category, which indicates that he/she does not qualify for the ideal politician.These sub-strategies are implemented by the rhetorical techniques of influencing the addressee, which are differentiated according tothe influence on different spheres of the human psyche they impact on: argumentation (the sphere of rational reasoning), declaration,and emotive contagion (emotions and feelings), and instruction (volition).

Conclusions. The analysis of cognitive (motivational and intentional) characteristics of the communicative strategy of tarnishingthe image of a political opponent allows to define it as a local one in the strategic organization of Trump’s twitting. This local strategyis realized through the sub-strategies of disqualification, discrediting, and discrimination, which are further implemented by rhetoricaltechniques of influencing the addressee. The analysis of the disqualification sub-strategy showed that Trump uses several rhetoricaltechniques simultaneously within one tweet, exerting communicative influence on different spheres of the addressee’s psyche.