In January, a study commissioned by the NBC channel showed that a dividing line quite clearly divides the concerns of Democratic and Republican voters. If the economy is the priority of the former, terrorism is the number one concern of the latter. And on foreign policy in general, Republicans are also more observant than Democrats. Donald Trump understood this well. « Make America great again », its slogan, applies both to the perception that Americans have of themselves and to the image that they project on the international scene.
The Republican candidate devoted a large part of his – meager – program to strong proposals to redefine the role of the United States on the international scene. He developed a vision that observers considered very dated of international relations and the balance of power. We find this “speech” in a series of video clips, which, by emphasizing security one-upmanship, are aimed at angry white men (“angry white men”), whose specialists have pointed to the key role in the formation of opinion.
- Establish yourself as a strong man
In the majority of clips produced by the Trump camp, it appears as a strong man against the “weak”, in this case Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, accused of not having taken the measure of the problem. In his first campaign spot, at the beginning of January, Donald Trump appeared as the only candidate without illusions in the face of threats: ” The politicians” [“politicians” est un terme généralement péjoratif aux Etats-Unis] may well pretend it’s something else, but Donald Trump calls it the terrorism of radical Islam. » And to recommend “a temporary ban on the entry of Muslims into the territory, until we understand what is happening”.
The spot lists seemingly simple solutions to succeed where others have, according to him, failed: “He will quickly chop off the head of ISIS and take their oil. » “He will stop illegal immigration by building a wall on the southern border, which the Mexicans will finance. » However, the means of fulfilling these commitments are not explained. The important thing is not there, it is a question of making an impression.
To do this, the spot links deliberately anxiety-provoking black and white images without finesse: the terrorist couple of San Bernardino, Islamic State propaganda videos, drone bombings, a crowd of immigrants supposedly crossing the Mexican-American border (the media will note that these are in fact images of African migrants trying to enter Melilla, a Spanish enclave in Morocco)…
- Present yourself as a protector
In this video, broadcast at the height of the duel between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump for the nomination, in December 2015, the businessman denounces his opponent’s compromises on immigration and considers it necessary to close the borders:
“People want their country back, they want to do it humanely, but we have to have a country, we don’t have a country right now. What we have are people flooding in and doing a lot of harm, if you look at crime, if you look at the economy. We want borders, and now we don’t have any. »
While illegal immigration to the United States is at its lowest for twenty years, Donald Trump wants to believe that the world order disadvantages the United States, and that his mission is to restore the balance. “The president must always give the impression that he is in control and that he is protecting Americans from outside dangers”, recalls Jeremy Shapiro, researcher attached to the European Council on Foreign Relations (London) and the Brookings Institution (Washington), and former adviser to Hillary Clinton.
In another clip, without words, intended to mock its Democratic opponent, the Trump team points to two such dangers: Russia, in the form of a smirking Vladimir Putin, knocking an opponent down in a judo match, and the state organization Islam, through the image of a hooded jihadist pointing a gun at the camera. To answer it, Hillary Clinton is caricatured as a pug only able to bark. “We don’t have to be the turkey of the stuffing!” », can we read at the end.
- Use a simple, even simplistic vocabulary
In this video, facing the camera, broadcast on March 16, the Republican candidate explains that “when it comes to negotiating with Congress or other countries, you need a certain amount of common sense, you have to have personality, you have to be up to the adversary… Negotiating with Russia can be different from negotiate with China.
“When you’re dealing with Congress, you have to put everyone in the same room and say ‘guys, let’s go’, it’s for the good of the people. You have to take care of people. It has been a long time. It hasn’t happened for decades. We will take care of people. We are going to do things. We will reduce your taxes. We’re going to get the economy back on its feet. And, of course, the army and all the rest, it will be done. »
Beyond the absence of mention of the means to keep the promises, the linguistic poverty of the candidate was pointed out by the press. For Politico, “Trump talks like a third grader” : the words he uses the most are vague − « very », « great » −, he abuses the ” me I “, qualifies all his enemies as « losers » and is decked out with a binary vision of life: “Everything in his line of sight is either great or rotten”, writes the American news site.
” The problem, explique Jeremy Shapiro, it’s that Trump thinks ignorance is an advantage. » In fact, for a number of political scientists, the Republican candidate’s sweeping formulations, his anti-elitism and his rejection of political correctness “inspire confidence” to the angry white men, this middle class which thinks it is the big loser of the system, and makes it the ultimate guardian of the American way of life.
For an in-depth analysis of the “Trumpian” language, see the decryption (below) du youtubeur Evan Puschak (« The Nerd Writer »).
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