Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Racism and the "Least Racist [Leader]:" An Exploration of Donald J. Trump’s Racial Dialect

Hilling, Alexis Paige
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1626520502963276

Abstract Details

2021, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology.
Former President Donald J. Trump fell under constant criticism for his racial rhetoric. In Trump’s case, racism emanated strongly from both his speeches and endless Tweets. This included his expression of overt racism directed toward specific people of color and even other political leaders such as United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. What is missing from these examinations of Trump is how he also strategically exhibits colorblind rhetoric. Given that the new racism of colorblindness is the hegemonic form over overt racism, a fuller analysis of how the two coexist and work together to create various leader’s racial dialects is necessary. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the racial dialect, or strategic switching from overt racism to colorblind racism employed by Trump, which works to perpetuate the white racial frame. I conduct a qualitative content analysis of Donald Trump’s 2016 election speeches, starting with the announcement of his candidacy in 2015 and ending with his election victory in November 2016. My findings show that Trump, in his rally speeches, consistently drew upon the utilization of the white racial frame. Specifically, within my sample, I saw that he used a combination of hard (overt) and soft (colorblind) racial framing to create his racial dialect. The overall rhetoric utilized by Trump fell into an "us versus them" dichotomy, which deemed United States citizens the "us" while all others became the "them." He drew heavily upon the hard racial frame when discussing “illegal immigrants,” Syrian refugees, and others deemed as “undeserving.” However, when talking about citizens of color or Black Americans, Trump switched to the soft racial framing of colorblindness in a nationalist appeal to rally white voters and voters of color, specifically token Americans of color and honorary whites.
Tiffany Taylor, PhD (Advisor)
Katrina Bloch, PhD (Committee Member)
Carla Goar, PhD (Committee Member)
53 p.
Sociology
race; whiteness; nationalism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hilling, A. P. (2021). Racism and the "Least Racist [Leader]:" An Exploration of Donald J. Trump’s Racial Dialect [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1626520502963276

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hilling, Alexis. Racism and the "Least Racist [Leader]:" An Exploration of Donald J. Trump’s Racial Dialect. 2021. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1626520502963276.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hilling, Alexis. "Racism and the "Least Racist [Leader]:" An Exploration of Donald J. Trump’s Racial Dialect." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1626520502963276

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1626520502963276
200
© 2021, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.