Grandstand. The contrast is striking. Last Friday [May 29], in response to racial riots in Minnesota, Donald Trump threatened the black majority protesters in a chilling Tweet: "When the looting begins, the shooting starts. " Several weeks earlier in the same state, several groups of armed activists, mostly white, challenged local authorities in protest against the confinement. Trump then displayed his support by tweeting: "Free Minnesota. "
These two Tweet alone symbolize the insidious way in which Trump attempts to hysterize the political debate to divide the United States. As if he wanted to keep the country in a state of constant political stress, since he occupied the White House, he has been constantly stirring up the flames of discord. As soon as a controversy emerges, rather than appeasing it, Trump seeks to polarize.
"Son of a bitch"
In 2017, several African American football players decided to protest against police brutality against blacks by kneeling before each match in the league. The debate ignites the United States. Trump takes it by calling these professional players "Motherfucker", who should be "Fired".
By essentializing his discourse, constantly sliding out of the political arena to play on the fears and resentments of his voters and injecting a strong dose of anxiety into his narration, Trump chose to activate identity mechanisms to consolidate his mobilization electoral. No president had dared to do it before him.
Trump’s political singularity is that he wanted to embody from the White House a disruptive political offering articulated around a controversial concept: “whiteness”.
"Whiteness" is not opposed to negritude. "Whiteness" is opposed to well-meaning multiculturalism, politically correct, affirmative action, inclusive progressiveness. The “whiteness” brings together a set of symbols and referents which goes beyond the field of politics and activates among voters a reflex of identity protection. Trump's semantics and semiotics, like his political action and his electoral positioning, only take on their meaning in the context of this "whiteness".
Systematically “anti” rhetoric
Trump is the first president to make cultural homogeneity the foundation of his electoral offering. He is the first president to have addressed only his constituents by justifying his behavior, his program and his action by the need to embody their exasperations. His " Make America Great Again " is part of this meta-narration. Returning America to size implies going back in time.
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