DONALD J. TRUMP’S POLITICAL SLOGAN, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN: A BLENDING OF POPULISM, NOSTALGIA, AND NATIONALISM
- Akofena, Revue Scientifique des Sciences du Langage, Lettres, Langues et Communication , 2 (20) : 35-50
Résumé
This paper addresses the lack of a comprehensive analysis of the ideological components of Donald J. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) slogan by
examining how it served as a rhetorical tool to win the 2016 presidential election. In this paper we qualitatively and conceptually analyze Trump’s campaign materials from 2015–2016 using Cas Mudde’s populism (2004), Svetlana Boym’s restorative nostalgia (2001), and Rogers Brubaker’s exclusionary nationalism (1992). The obtained results
demonstrate that Trump’s MAGA entailed a synthesis of three key elements: an exclusionary nationalism embodied in “America First” policies and America’s border
strict control; a restorative nostalgia for an idealized post-WWII past to counter anxieties about deindustrialization and American demographic change; and a Manichean populist struggle between what Trump calls “forgotten Americans” and a corrupt “swamp” elite. The analysis concludes that MAGA changed American political
discourse and identity by skillfully fusing these three currents into an engaging story of national collapse and salvation.
Mots-clés
American identity, Nationalism, Nostalgia, Political rhetoric, Populism