Trump's Weaponized Language: A Populist's Strategy

The Populist's Tool of Choice

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

This article is the third part (2nd chapter) of a 5-part series on media manipulation and its effects/strategies. You will get a deeper insight into Donald Trump's framing and deception efforts, with many examples and sources to look through.

To fully capture Trump's manipulative rhetoric, I would have to write a book and probably buy some server space somewhere. The sources used are a small sample to show specific examples where framing, priming, and agenda setting are used to reshape narratives and opinions. This part is about language, while the upcoming part 4 will look at Trump's push to storm the US Capitol on January 6th.

If you're new here, the previous parts are linked just below this brief introduction. While Part 1 outlines the power of communication as a whole, Part 2 offers a rich, research-based understanding of the specific mechanisms the media landscape uses to shape narratives and public opinion.

This third part is also divided into three parts. Trump, Harris, and Musk will be presented separately to avoid confusion or misinterpretation.

Hidden Dangers of Manipulative Communication

How Media Manipulation Works

Inside Elon Musk’s Web of Disinformation

Table of Contents

Weaponizing Language

Deep State

Deceptive Sources

Exploiting Immigrants

Polarizing Language

Resources

Weaponizing Language

A good example of the weaponization of language to advance an agenda is the Agenda 47 videos that President-elect Donald Trump has uploaded about his future plans for the domestic and international direction of the United States. These plans rely heavily on executive orders and expanded executive power. I don't have to be for or against him to see that almost every word is carefully chosen to represent a point of view.

For this part, I will briefly show how the choice of words can lead to a particular framing of issues (see Part 2 for definitions of priming, framing, and agenda setting). Over time, this leads to a shift in perspective for its supporters and even the opposition.

Here's what I mean:

Deep State

Trump has released a series of videos addressed to the people, outlining his various plans and approaches to problems he wants to eradicate and change. One of them is the Deep State, which refers to a secret network of members of the federal government, especially within the FBI and CIA, who work to control the government and protect their interests.

This theory has been used for anti-government interest groups in other countries, such as Turkey, or within the U.S. military to keep foreign conflicts alive in order to profit from them.¹ You can refer to the resources at the end of this article to read more about this, or any of the other topics discussed here.

Trump has used the term "deep state" in 2018 to portray malicious actors within the Democratic Party as part of an organized group working against the interests of the public.²

Back to Trump's Agenda47 video, in which he outlines his intention to "dismantle the deep state."³

While Trump deliberately simplifies his language as much as possible, he chooses his words carefully and intends to paint (or frame) a very specific narrative.

Here's my plan to dismantle the deep state and reclaim our democracy from Washington corruption.

The deep state, an open enemy of democracy in desperate need of rescue, is being dismantled, systematically deconstructed by Trump. And the target?

Washington.

Trump uses this concept often, always positioning himself in opposition to it. If he's doing well, he's defeated the deep state. If he loses, it's because of the deep state's involvement.

This is how I will shatter the deep state and restore a government that is controlled by the people and for the people.

This is a reference to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.⁴

Lincoln is addressing the nation as a whole here, referencing the Declaration of Independence, remembering the Union Dead, and honoring their sacrifice for America after the Civil War. By framing it this way, Trump is pointing to the necessary support of the nation as a whole to fight against a power that is suppressing the independence and freedom of the people.

Be that as it may, constantly pointing out that the country is in danger and democracy is being undermined not only validates an uprising, but encourages it.

It's important to note that deep state, corruption, false narratives, and appropriate criminal charges are not specified when reading the 10-step plan below the video.

Deceptive Sources

While there are elaborations on the arguments surrounding rogue bureaucrats and government corruption, the linked sources and referenced studies are sometimes either barely related to the topic at hand or come from sources that are heavily biased or one-sided, such as the Heritage Foundation.⁵

One study found that over a ten-year period, federal employees were fired at a rate of less than one in one thousand per year.

Trump's verbal deception doesn't stop there. He intends to protect only Republicans, Christians, and the political right.

Exploiting Immigrants

In his new push against illegal immigration, Trump equates asylum-seeking with illegal immigration, misrepresenting the real issues and inciting his voters against minorities.⁶⁷⁸

Ignoring that the problem lies in the speed⁹ of the asylum process and the massive backlog¹⁰ of applications. The shortage of agents, asylum officers, and judges certainly does not help. Which is why there is an executive order from the Biden-Harris administration to restrict the process.¹¹

Polarizing Language

Let's go back to 2018. Trump's public speech to his supporters in Montana.¹²

Today's Democrat Party is held hostage, by haters, absolute haters. Left-wing haters. Angry mobs, deep state radicals, and their fake news allies.

If we ignore the content of his speech and focus only on the wording, it's obvious how desperate he is to frame his opponents, the Democrats. By setting this very specific agenda over and over again, he also primes his supporters and manages to create a specific narrative over months and years that cannot be removed by civil discussion. This is the most effective way to create a segmented political playing field where polarization reigns and echo chambers flourish like never before.

I mean you look at the Washington Post or the New York Times, I can never get a good story.

This point is used to emphasize the influence of the left-wing radical deep state, which, according to Trump, is tied to the (opposing) news media, which sows the seeds of control and misinformation.

The New York Times, you remember, it was very famous [...], they apologized for their bad coverage of me. they apologized to their subscribers

The New York Times did not apologize to Trump or acknowledge any misrepresentation. In fact, they clearly stated their belief that their coverage during the presidential campaign was fair.¹³

After the publisher and executive editor came under fire for saying in the letter, "We believe we covered both candidates fairly during the presidential campaign," they later removed the sentence because, according to NYT statements to the New York Post, they didn't want it to sound defensive.¹⁴

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The next chapter of Part 3.2 is about Elon Musk, the unofficial Vice President-elect, and his approach to disinformation.

Feel free to check out the reference list below.

Resources

1. https://www.cfr.org/blog/deep-state-mirage-turkey

2. Trump: 'Deep state' is a threat to democracy

3. https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-president-trumps-plan-to-dismantle-the-deep-state-and-return-power-to-the-american-people

4. https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm

5. https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/firing-bad-federal-workers-the-answer-better-government?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ncl_amplify&utm_campaign=230321-agenda47_president_trumps_plan_to_dismantle_the_deep_state_and_return_power_to_the_american_people&utm_content=ncl-x7UtrJqhBK&_nlid=x7UtrJqhBK&_nhids=M6wCyn2

6. Trump's proposed immigration plan for second term

7. https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-no-welfare-for-illegal-aliens

8. https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-day-one-executive-order-ending-citizenship-for-children-of-illegals-and-outlawing-birth-tourism

9. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1158&num=0&edition=prelim

10. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/practice_advisory/delay-actions-asylum-context-avoiding-dismissal-and-proving-case

11. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2024/06/04/fact-sheet-presidential-proclamation-suspend-and-limit-entry-and-joint-dhs-doj

12. Trump: 'Deep state' is a threat to democracy

13. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/us/elections/to-our-readers-from-the-publisher-and-executive-editor.html

14. https://nypost.com/2016/11/15/new-york-times-edits-its-election-apology-letter/