ABSTRACT
Donald Trump's performance in the Republican primaries, and the subsequent election, changed the face of politics for generations to come. This chapter wrestles with Trump's pugnacious and truculent use of Twitter throughout the Republican primaries in constructing identity, fear, and emotion. A total of 3,252 tweets are analysed using thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis, enquiring about the meaning, power, and ensuing effect of such tweets. The role of space and place helped Trump situate his tweets contextually, building on the imaginative geographies of his followers and reaffirming an American identity juxtaposed with an unknown and hostile “Other.” Trump's construction of such an identity through nationalist discourses adopted the Mexico/U.S. border as a material and metaphorical boundary for patriotism and the “true” American. The “silent majority” of Trump supporters embody the tensions between identity and fear, tapped into by Trump through authoritarian tweets and demonising discourses.
