Selected Persuasive Tools in the First and the Last State of the Union Addresses by Donald Trump, on the Background of the Tradition of Presidential Speeches to Congress: Continuity, Evolution, or a New Quality?

Abstract

The 2016 Donald Trump’s electoral victory was a surprise to many commentators – the winning candidate is an undoubtedly controversial, unorthodox figure, clearly standing apart among other politicians. The qualitative change – whether positive or negative – embraces such aspects as the employed instruments of political marketing and the narrative on values, political differences and social divisions. After the 2016 elections, the new rhetoric influenced the everyday execution of Presidential duties, including the widely-commented speeches to Congress, mostly known as “State of the Union Addresses”. In order to provide at least a rudimentary description of D. Trump’s persuasive tactics and their evolution, the authors characterize the background of such speeches and analyze two selected addresses – the first one (from 2017), and the last one (from 2020). The analysis allows the authors to conclude that D. Trump did not abandon all of the traditional qualities and persuasive tools of Presidential speeches in Congress. On the other hand, he also did not adopt all of them directly. Instead, he reinterpreted them, thus creating his own, unique style.