Critical Text Analysis of Fascist Features in Donald Trump’s Social Media Posts

doi:10.18627/jslg.41.3.202511.367

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Research Article

Critical Text Analysis of Fascist Features in Donald Trump’s Social Media Posts: Kim, Chul-Kyu^1*; ¹Kyungsung University

30 November 2025. pp. 367-381

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Abstract

This study examines the presence of fascist discourse in Donald Trump’s 2025 Truth Social posts through using Umberto Eco’s (1995) fourteen features of Ur-Fascism. One hundred posts were collected and qualitatively analyzed to identify linguistic and ideological traits characteristic of fascist rhetoric. The analysis identified 275 instances of Eco’s fascist discourse features, with “Life is Permanent Warfare,” “Selective Populism,” “Cult of Tradition,” and “Fear of Difference” appearing most frequently. Collectively, these findings suggest a sustained rhetorical pattern of authoritarian and ultranationalist expression in the analyzed corpus. The findings indicate that Trump’s rhetoric shows substantial correspondence with Eco’s model of fascist discourse, suggesting that certain rhetorical patterns associated with Eco’s framework persist within contemporary digital populism.

Keywords

Donald Trump

fascism

social media discourse

Umberto Eco

critical text analysis

References

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Beasley, V. B. 2004. You, the People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press.
Campbell, K. K. and Jamieson, K. H. 2008. Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Clarke, I. and Grieve, J. 2019. Stylistic Variation on the Donald Trump Twitter Account: A Linguistic Analysis of Tweets Posted between 2009 and 2018. PLoS ONE 14.9, e0222062. 10.1371/journal.pone.0222062 31553740 PMC6760825
Eco, U. 1995. Ur-Fascism: Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt. https://dn710109.ca.archive.org/0/items/umberto-eco-ur-fascism/umberto-eco-ur-fascism.pdf
Gabets, A. and Gené, A. B. 2016. Pragmalinguistic Features of American Presidents’ Inaugural Addresses of the Last Century (1913-2013). Journal of Language and Education 2.3, 22-31. 10.17323/2411-7390-2016-2-3-22-31
Luo, X., He, M., and Yu, Z. 2022. An Ideological Analysis of the Former President Donald Trump’s Tweets During COVID-19. Corpus Pragmatics 6, 23-38. 10.1007/s41701-021-00113-4 34926980 PMC8665714
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Mudde, C. and Kaltwasser, C. R. 2017. Populism: A Very Short Introductions. New York: Oxford Academic. 10.1093/actrade/9780190234874.001.0001
Ross, A. and Caldwell, D. 2019. ‘Going Negative’: An APPRAISAL Analysis of the Rhetoric of Donald Trump on Twitter. Language & Communication 70. 10.1016/j.langcom.2019.09.003
Savoy, J. 2017. Analysis of the Style and the Rhetoric of the American Presidents Over Two Centuries. Glottometrics 38.1, 55-76.
Svetonosova, T. A. 2022. Intertextuality as a Rhetorical Device in American Politicians’ Inaugural Addresses: Functional- Linguistic Analysis. Professional Discourse and Communication 4.2, 18-30. 10.24833/2687-0126-2022-4-2-18-30
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Zernetska, O. V. and Zernetskyi, P. V. 2023. Comparative Communicative and Semantic Discourse Analysis of American Presidential Inaugural Speeches of Early 21st Century. Scientific Journal of Mykhailo Dragomanov State University of Ukraine. Series 9. Current Trends in Language Development 26, 77-92. 10.31392/NPU-nc.series9.2023.26.08

Information

Publisher :The Modern Linguistic Society of Korea
Publisher(Ko) :한국현대언어학회
Journal Title :The Journal of Studies in Language
Journal Title(Ko) :언어연구
Volume : 41
No :3
Pages :367-381
DOI :https://doi.org/10.18627/jslg.41.3.202511.367

[1] Al-Khawaldeh, N. N., Rababah, L. M., Khawaldeh, A. F., and Banikalef, A. A. 2023. The Art of Rhetoric: Persuasive Strategies in Biden’s Inauguration Speech. A Critical Discourse Analysis. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 10.936. 10.1057/s41599-023-02450-y

[2] Beasley, V. B. 2004. You, the People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press.

[3] Campbell, K. K. and Jamieson, K. H. 2008. Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

[4] Clarke, I. and Grieve, J. 2019. Stylistic Variation on the Donald Trump Twitter Account: A Linguistic Analysis of Tweets Posted between 2009 and 2018. PLoS ONE 14.9, e0222062. 10.1371/journal.pone.0222062 31553740 PMC6760825

[5] Eco, U. 1995. Ur-Fascism: Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt. https://dn710109.ca.archive.org/0/items/umberto-eco-ur-fascism/umberto-eco-ur-fascism.pdf

[6] Gabets, A. and Gené, A. B. 2016. Pragmalinguistic Features of American Presidents’ Inaugural Addresses of the Last Century (1913-2013). Journal of Language and Education 2.3, 22-31. 10.17323/2411-7390-2016-2-3-22-31

[7] Luo, X., He, M., and Yu, Z. 2022. An Ideological Analysis of the Former President Donald Trump’s Tweets During COVID-19. Corpus Pragmatics 6, 23-38. 10.1007/s41701-021-00113-4 34926980 PMC8665714

[8] Minot, J. R., Arnold, M. V., Alshaabi, T., Danforth, C. M., and Dodds, P. S. 2020. Ratioing the President: An Exploration of Public Engagement with Obama and Trump on Twitter. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.03526 10.1371/journal.pone.0248880 33852612 PMC8046224

[9] Mudde, C. and Kaltwasser, C. R. 2017. Populism: A Very Short Introductions. New York: Oxford Academic. 10.1093/actrade/9780190234874.001.0001

[10] Ross, A. and Caldwell, D. 2019. ‘Going Negative’: An APPRAISAL Analysis of the Rhetoric of Donald Trump on Twitter. Language & Communication 70. 10.1016/j.langcom.2019.09.003

[11] Savoy, J. 2017. Analysis of the Style and the Rhetoric of the American Presidents Over Two Centuries. Glottometrics 38.1, 55-76.

[12] Svetonosova, T. A. 2022. Intertextuality as a Rhetorical Device in American Politicians’ Inaugural Addresses: Functional- Linguistic Analysis. Professional Discourse and Communication 4.2, 18-30. 10.24833/2687-0126-2022-4-2-18-30

[13] Webber, J. 2023. Understanding Populism. Social and Legal Studies 32.6, 849-876. 10.1177/09646639231156144 38028321 PMC10651414

[14] Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (eds.) 2015. Methods of Critical Discourse Studies (3rd ed.). London: SAGE Publications.

[15] Zernetska, O. V. and Zernetskyi, P. V. 2023. Comparative Communicative and Semantic Discourse Analysis of American Presidential Inaugural Speeches of Early 21st Century. Scientific Journal of Mykhailo Dragomanov State University of Ukraine. Series 9. Current Trends in Language Development 26, 77-92. 10.31392/NPU-nc.series9.2023.26.08

The Journal of Studies in Language ISSN:1225-4770(Print) 2671-6151(Online) 언어연구

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