Political Mythmaking and Threat Representation in Donald Trump’s Discourse on Iran: A Diachronic Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

The present study explores the construction of political myths and the representation of threat in Donald Trump’s discourse during his first presidency on Iran (2017-2020). The study used a qualitative diachronic Critical Discourse Analysis approach to examine a selection of presidential official speeches and statements where Iran had been a major foreign policy concern after the heightened tensions between the US and Iran. The analysis focused on how the lexical selection, evaluation, security framing and oppositional binary pairs helped create the image of Iran as a threat. The findings of the study have brought out three major discursive themes. The first one is that of existential threat of Iran, which is associated with nuclear threats, terrorism, regional destabilization and chaos and immorality. The second theme is that of political mythmaking of American exceptionalism and national protection, which portrays the United States as a powerful and moral nation that is supposed to protect global and national security. The third discursive theme was one of moral polarization and enemy creation, in which Iran is presented as a dangerous country and the US and its leader as morally right and necessary to protect from threats. The study concludes that the discourse about Iran by Trump is not just an account of foreign policy issues but is involved in active meaning-making that ties the issue of threat with national identity and legitimacy of leadership.