ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the patterned use of particular interactional devices in Donald Trump's speech and examines how these operate on multiple levels of discourse structure. It considers how they serve as contextualization cues that allow the audience to interpret the language of Donald Trump as emanating from a particular brand of presidential persona. The chapter addresses the use of Trump's use of interruption in debates, his use of constructed dialogue and other types of double-voiced discourse in both speeches and debates, and his use of idiosyncratic co-speech gestures, which work together to consolidate Trump's style and presidential identity. It considers Trump's use of constructed dialogue in a monologic context, but as other scholars have noted, constructed dialogue plays an important role in dialogic political discourse contexts like debates and interviews as well. The chapter highlights the importance of constructed dialogue in political discourse.
