The Representation of America and China in Trump's Press Conferences Concerning COVID-19: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This study explores the construction of “Self” and the “Other” in President Donald Trump’s political discourse concerning COVID-19. The study is based on two Critical Discourse Analysis approaches which are van Dijk’s ideological square and Fairclough’s three-dimensional approach. Van Dijk’s ideological square is utilized to investigate the representation of the “self” and the “other” throughout Trump’s conferences. Fairclough’s three-dimensional model is utilized to reveal the lexical items that are used in Trump’s political discourse to construct the “self” and the “other”. Fourteen press conferences of Trump are used for the analysis. The data is selected between periods from February 2020, until September 2020. This period represents the period of appearance and the spreading of COVID-19. The results of the study revealed that before the spreading of COVID-19, China was represented in a positive portrayal, while after the spreading of COVID-19; China was represented in a negative portrayal. On the other hand, America was represented in a positive and noble portrayal after and before the outbreak of COVID-19. Furthermore, lexical items, such as “China virus, Wuhan virus, Wuhan labs, Kung flu, got out of control, etc.” are associated with China, to hold it responsible for creating and spreading COVID-19.