This study aims to describe President Donald J. Trump’s emergency communication onTwitter in relation to two cases of emergency: The Corona pandemic and the alleged voterfraud in the presidential election of 2020. By applying two different sets of theoreticalperspectives, one ideological and one rationalistic, to the president’s emergencycommunication, the study also aims to find ways to understand what kind of motivation laysbehind the president’s communication. The studies research questions are as follows: 1. Howdoes President Trump communicate on Twitter in relation to the two cases of emergency? 2.How can Trump’s emergency communication be understood from an ideological perspective?3. How can Trump’s emergency communication be understood from a rationalisticperspective?The study is based on an abductive approach but grounded in Rubenstein’s (2015) definitionof the emergency claim and emergency politics. A qualitative content analysis was applied tothe president’s Twitter communication in relation to the two cases of emergency. 10% of thetweets that related to four search terms (covid, coronavirus, voter fraud and election) wasanalyzed to search for patterns of meaning in relationship to the two theoretical perspectives.The study finds that President Trump’s emergency communication can be described asvarying between the cases but ultimately be seen as a consequence of the president’s relationto the emergency. By applying the two theoretical perspectives on the two cases the study alsofinds that the best way to understand President Trump’s emergency communication is asmotivated by rationalism but grounded in arguments that refer to the American version of theconservative ideology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:oru-90132 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Berggren, Dag, Dahlqvist, Anna |
| Publisher | Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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