Donald Trump and the 2016 Presidential Election: An Adornian Analysis

• In Event: 3412 - Section on Marxist Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Trampling on Trump: Sociological Examinations of Trump, U.S. Expansion, and Inequality

Abstract

There has been a renewed interest in the sociology of the Frankfurt School as well as the oeuvre of Theodor W. Adorno since the election campaign of Donald Trump. The work of the Frankfurt School has to some extent been revisited and reworked in making sense of contemporary socio-political phenomena. The objectives of this study are to both illustrate the continued importance of Adorno and to provide an important theoretical framework in making sense Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Using Adorno’s understudied discourse analysis of the radio addresses of Martin Luther Thomas – a far-right, anti-Semitic, and Christian “demagogue” in California during the 1950s – we extract a variety of rhetorical devices that Adorno uses to characterize Thomas and his discourse. Then, using data from Trump at the primary and presidential debates, as well as his presidential announcement speech inaugural address, we analyze Trump’s discourse using these same rhetorical devices. We find that many of the rhetorical devices outlined by Adorno are applicable to Trump, particularly those devices which self-characterize the speaker (in this case Trump). However, theological or religious devices play a smaller influence on Trump’s discourse. This study hopes to provide a useful sociological framework in making sense of contemporary far-right politics. Future directions for critical theory may benefit through a comparative discourse study of leading far-right demagogues.

Authors

• Timothy Haverda, University of Texas-San Antonio

• Jeffrey A. Halley, University of Texas-San Antonio