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“We’re led by stupid people”: Exploring Trump’s use of denigrating and deprecating speech to promote hatred and violence [1]
['Valcore', 'Jace.Valcore Denvergov.Org', 'Denver Sheriff Department', 'Denver', 'Asquith', 'Nicole L.', 'Nicole.Asquith Utas.Edu.Au', 'Tasmanian Institute Of Law Enforcement Studies', 'University Of Tasmania', 'Hobart']
Date: 2023-10-14
In applying the VTH framework to Trump’s campaign speeches, three new categories of speech were identified that expressed anger, resentment, and other forms of hostility: deprecation, denigration, and domination. One of these themes—denigration—was previously identified by Asquith in her revised taxonomy (2013), but only as a cluster of speech acts that exceeded the other defined categories of hate speech and that was labeled “Other.” Perhaps as an artefact of the data, or of the categories of hate crime recognized in crime reporting, these “other” speech acts coalesced in Trumpian language as ableist and ageist denigration.Footnote 3 In addition to the newly recategorized speech act of denigration, we found two authoritative illocutions rarely used in hate speech incidents, perhaps due to the exercitive force needed to empower both domination and deprecation. Domination, as noted above, was analyzed separately in Valcore et al. (2021), but its connection to deprecation and denigration is explored here.
Deprecation
Trump was a unique politician in many ways, some of which endeared him to US voters who felt disenfranchised. Almost without equivalence before Trump—but now a familiar tool in political speech—deprecation was commonplace throughout his campaign speeches. To deprecate means to “plead earnestly against; to express an earnest wish against (a proceeding); to express earnest disapproval of (a course, plan, purpose)” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2021), “to belittle, disparage, or to withdraw official support for” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2021). While seeming to have no immediate and obvious relationship to VTH, we show how deprecation is used as a political tool, and explore the relationship to harm in the discussion. In this context, deprecation refers to statements where Trump claims that the United States is performing poorly, is less than other countries, is not the best, or is inadequate. For example,
They're tired of a country that has horrible trade deals, that has no borders, that has taxes that are through the roof, highest taxed nation just about in the world, that has regulations that don't allow you to start a business and destroy your business if you do start. (New York City, New York – July 16, 2016) We have enough problems. We've got big problems. We have problems like you wouldn't believe. (Colorado Springs, Colorado – October 18, 2016)
As with so much to do with Trump, hyperbole and exaggeration—rather than earnestness—enhances the power of his deprecation. In the context of deprecation, common topics included the economy, labor force and production, infrastructure, trade deals, military strength, and border security. Biegon (2019) argued that Trump’s electoral success was aided by the rhetorical exploitation of declinist themes, as seen in these deprecating comments:
Today, Detroit has a per capita income of under $15,000 dollars, about half of the national average. 40 percent of the city's residents live in poverty, over two-and-half times the national average. The unemployment rate is more than twice the national average. Half of all Detroit residents do not work. (Remarks to the Detroit Economic Club – August 8, 2016) Home ownership is at its lowest rate in 51 years. (Remarks to the Detroit Economic Club – August 8, 2016). And in many cases, they're working two and three jobs, OK? But they're making less money now than they made 18 years ago. And those stats come right out, real wages. They're working harder, they're getting older. (Wilmington, North Carolina – August 9, 2016) Our national debt has doubled in eight years, and our infrastructure throughout our country is crumbling, bad shape. Our airports, our roads, our bridges, our tunnels, our schools, our hospitals. (Springfield, Ohio – October 27, 2016)
Biegon (2019, p. 525) states there is a discursive element to “decline” as
… a complex, contested political phenomenon, which can be understood in a number of ways—from the “high politics” of global leadership to more mundane concerns experienced by the US population; from deteriorating hegemonic legitimacy and the perceived loss of status to dwindling economic output, deindustrialization and associated social ills.
Concerns with loss of status and hegemonic legitimacy echo strongly in Trump’s repeated discussion of winners and losers, which he sees a strict binary necessary for defining success (Biegon, 2019; see also, Çinar et al., 2020; Jamieson & Taussig, 2017)
We don't win at any level with anything. (Green Bay, Wisconsin – August 5, 2016) Our country doesn't win anymore. We don't win anymore. (Colorado Springs, CO, October 18, 2016)
According to communication scholars, deprecation is commonly used to frame the speaker as a savior (Biegon, 2019; Gamsa, 2017), which is how it was applied by Trump. While he framed America as currently losing, he pitched himself as the one to turn it around:
We need — we need somebody — we need somebody that literally will take this country and make it great again. We can do that. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America safe again. And we are going to make America great again. (New York City, New York – June 16, 2015)
By using ‘we’ in the summation and plans to restore the country, Trump simultaneously interpellated the audience and implicitly presented himself as the solution to the audience’s perceived woes. Deprecation’s strength is in its reference to the failure of past, current, and possible future leaders; albeit, at times, an implicit authoritative illocution.
Deprecation is an outlier in VTH in part because what we know of this speech act is largely linked to the psychological concept of self-deprecation. Self-deprecation “is widely understood within social psychology and popular culture as a form of self‐talk that reflects a cognitive state, such as low self‐esteem or negative self‐regard” (Speer, 2019, p. 806). Self-deprecation involves the disparagement of one’s own efficacy (Owens, 1994). Feelings of self-blame may be associated with self-deprecation (Owens, 1993), which is linked to depression and anxiety (Bakhtiari et al., 2017; Owens, 1994; Speer, 2019), and is a form of self-sabotage leading others to believe the negative statements (Speer, 2019).
Trump’s deprecation of the nation may have negative effects on the esteem of the audience, but it is not without utility as a communication practice. Speer (2019) identified a disconnect between the linguistic and psychological analysis of self-deprecation, noting their contrasting perspectives have not been reconciled. She argued that self-criticism and self-enhancement can simultaneously exist and “individuals can enhance their present selves by disparaging their past selves” (Speer, 2019, p. 807). This is clear in Trump’s use of deprecation—he exploited the human tendency to disparage and persuaded his audience that he could do better and fix the numerous failings of past administrations. Disparaging the past self, that is, the past nation/government, allowed Trump to place the blame on predecessors who, for instance, partnered in international trade deals:
Erie, has lost one in three manufacturing jobs. You know that, all I—you do—I flew over, you're looking at the plants, plants that 25 years ago, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, some two years ago, were vibrant. (Erie, Pennsylvania – August 12, 2016) This state has lost more than 40 percent of its manufacturing jobs since Bill Clinton signed NAFTA, and it's lost one in four manufacturing jobs since he put China into the World Trade Organization, both deals supported by Hillary Clinton. Horrible deals, destructive deals, what those deals have done to our jobs and to our country. (Jackson, Mississippi – August 24, 2016)
Flaws in trade deals were made more tangible for the audience by linking them to employment:
Ohio has lost nearly 1 in 3 manufacturing jobs since NAFTA, and nearly 1 in 4 manufacturing jobs since China entered the World Trade Organization. (Wilmington, Ohio - September 1, 2016, Canton, Ohio – September 14, 2016) According to the Economic Policy Institute, Michigan ranks first for jobs lost as a share of workforce due to the trade deficit with TPP members, and the country lost 740,000 manufacturing jobs as a result of that deficit last year. (Novi, Michigan – September 30, 2016)
This foments negative perspectives of previous governments and his opposition candidate. Here, the deprecation also induces a clear “other” for comparison, namely China in this context. As noted by Valcore et al. (2021), nationalist discourses focus on the threat to employment and resources from the other, and fear and hatred of the other is a key element of right-wing populism.
Gamsa (2017) found self-deprecation used in reference to the nation and its people by Lenin in Russia and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Nationalist Party (NP) in China. Critiquing Russian populism in 1898, Lenin stated that ideas of this previously progressive movement now only embodied “stagnation and Asiatic backwardness” (Lenin, 1960–1970 in Gamsa, 2017, p. 404). In 1912, he saw China’s economic program as another form of populism criticizing that and stating that Russia was “undoubtedly an Asian country and, what is more, one of the most benighted, medieval and shamefully backward of Asian countries” (Lenin, 1960–1970 in Gamsa, 2017, p. 404). Reference to the people of China as Zhina / Zhinaren (Chinamen) by the Japanese (and utilized in this manner by various Chinese literary figures) was seen to signify China as a backwards country or the Chinese people as victims. Gamsa (2017, p. 413) states the CCP drew “massively on this rhetorical resource” to emphasize the humiliation China had suffered, but also by the NP to position themselves as saviors from the humiliation enacted by foreigners. Government efforts towards state remembrance of humiliation suffered in the hands of foreigners was very important for nationalism and faith in the government (Cohen, 2003). Both these examples draw on a defined “other” as a threat to the self, while deprecating the self, to assert the strength of current or campaigning governments.
Another topic common in the deprecation theme was military efficacy and strength, seemingly employed as a tool to warn his audience of current or impending national humiliation. Trump claims both that the US military is weak and outdated, and that ongoing military campaigns across the globe are negatively impacting homeland security.
Right now, we have the smallest air force since 1947, the smallest army since 1939, and one of the smallest Navies since 1917. (Greenville, North Carolina – September 6, 2016) Our Army is the smallest it has been since before World War II. (Phoenix, Arizona – October 29, 2016) We're spending $6 trillion on wars in the Middle East while our own country falls into total disrepair. (Springfield, Ohio – October 27, 2016) They've dragged us into foreign wars that have made us less safe. (Orlando, Florida – November 2, 2016) Our rivals no longer respect us. In fact, they are just as confused as our allies, but an even bigger problem is that they don't take us seriously anymore … Our enemies are getting stronger and stronger by the way, and we as a country are getting weaker. Even our nuclear arsenal doesn't work. (Washington, DC – March 21, 2016)
Trump makes false claims and notes perceived failures of past leadership while invoking the “other” as stronger and more powerful in order to instill fear and garner support. Describing perceived failures of previous leadership and making claims for improvement is hardly unique to Trump, but others noted that Trump’s speech was “unusually bleak” (Biegon, 2019, p. 526) and that his rhetoric “disrupted political and discourse norms” (Jamieson & Taussig, 2017, p. 649). Trump used these themes to position others as a threat to American greatness, and himself as the savior (Edwards, 2018; Jamieson & Taussig, 2017; Kiely, 2017), which forms part of his signature rhetorical style (Jamieson & Taussig, 2017) and aligns him with right-wing populist and nationalist leaders.
Deprecation of the nation was a useful political tool for Trump as he imbued it with elements of domination in order to unite the audience in support for his candidacy. Notably, deprecation was not a common theme in Trump’s speeches post-election; as President, it may be assumed that Trump became responsible for the state of the nation and could no longer utilize deprecating speech to assert the need for his leadership.
Denigration
In the community (1995–2000) and police reports (2003–2007) that underpin her original and revised taxonomy of verbal-textual hostility, Asquith (2008, 2013) analyzed hate speech in hate crime. The datasets she accessed only related to homophobic, racist, Islamophobic and antisemitic hate crimes. In those datasets, many speech acts were recorded as “other” speech acts but the underlying pattern of those “other” speech acts was opaque until her taxonomy was applied to Trumpian political speech. Denigration, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED, 2022), means to “blacken” the character of a person, and disturbingly, when written with a hyphen—de-nigration—means to “whitewash.” With its clear linguistic links to a racial order, denigration may be dismissed as yet another form of racism given its Latin and French etymology to dusty, sooty, black and blacken. However, its earlier form from the sixteenth century, also links this speech act to mental illness and to the darkening and obscuring of “the spirit and sences” (Stubbes, 1583, cited in OED, 2022).
Whether ableism is used to deepen the offence of racism, or vice versa, there is a eugenicist link between the hated bodies of others (Thorneycroft & Asquith, 2021b). While most denigration goes unnoticed because it is embedded in social and political rhetoric, its foundation lies in the revulsion of bodies and minds that fail to meet the standards of those capable of speaking authoritatively on what and whose bodies and minds matter. Çinar et al. (2020) notes, in their comparative analysis of candidate speeches over time, that Trump’s denigration of other candidates was abnormally extreme, which enabled Trump to forge alliances with voters by pitching everyone else as “blackened”, “stained”, “sullied” (OED, 2022) and, as such, their common enemy.
In Trumpian speech acts, he links ableist terms (such as failure, loser, and fools, stupid and moron, and weak and tired) to the inefficacy of his political opponents, other countries, and racial and religious minorities. He also framed his adversaries as nasty, vicious, and horrible. In a single speech delivered in October 2016 in Colorado Springs, six percent of the corpus was coded as denigration. Importantly, most of his denigrating speech acts came in the early days of his campaign and by November 2016, he rarely deployed this form of VTH to make his point. It is unclear from the corpus whether denigrating rhetoric was removed from his arsenal as an explicit campaign choice, or whether he found other forms of VTH to be more powerful.
While Trump deployed denigration in his attacks against immigrants and immigration—such as when he stated that “… they're [Mexico] not sending their best … They're sending people that have lots of problems” (NYC, New York, June 16, 2015)—for the most part he preferred to criminalize immigrants as rapists and thugs (see Valcore et al., 2021). The main target for his denigration was Hilary Clinton and other political opponents:
he's [Biden] not a very bright guy. (Doral, Florida – July 27, 2016) she [Clinton] will be a disaster for our country, a disaster in so many other ways … And you see what bad judgment she has. She has seriously bad judgment. (Phoenix, Arizona – August 31, 2016) The Hillary Clinton campaign is so small, so petty, so tired. (Prescott Valley, Arizona – October 4, 2016) Anthony Weiner is a proven loser. (News Conference in Doral, Florida – July 27, 2016)
Trump also reserved his denigrating comments about intelligence (or lack thereof) to his predecessors, and more generally to the American government and its decision makers.
I mean, you looked at Bush, it took him five days to answer the question on Iraq. He couldn't answer the question. He didn't know. I said, "Is he intelligent?" (New York City – June 16, 2015) We're led by stupid people. (Doral, Florida – July 27, 2016) They are dancing in the streets of Iran saying how stupid the Americans are. (Green Bay, Wisconsin – August 5, 2016) Congratulations, folks. I hope you're doing well. OK? I hope you're doing well … But you know what? You can't do well. When you have a government that is so stupid, that is so—that is so incompetent… (Erie, Pennsylvania – August 12, 2016) The man who killed her [Sarah Root] arrived at the border, entered Federal custody and then was released into the US, think of it, into the US community under the policies of the White House Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Weak, weak policies. Weak and foolish policies. (Phoenix, Arizona – August 31, 2016) There's no common sense, there's no brain power in our administration by our leader, or our leaders. None, none, none. (Phoenix, Arizona – August 31, 2016) The architect of Obamacare, Jonathan Gruber, admitted that the whole sales pitch was a lie – he called it the "stupidity of the American voter." But the only stupidity was the stupidity of our leaders who passed this disaster into law … (in Prescott Valley, Arizona - October 4, 2016) The only stupidity was that incredible stupidity shown by our politicians when they forced this bill through over the furious objection to many politicians. (Springfield, Ohio – October 27, 2016)
It is easy to dismiss denigration as the rhetoric of a school-yard bully. However, the power of denigration comes in making its target seem smaller, less intelligent, less attractive, and as such, less capable of leading the nation. In framing his opponents as smaller, weaker, and inept, and deprecating his opponents’ actions and the nation itself, Trumpian political speech, again, sets up the “bait and switch” to laud his capacity and intelligence as the answer to the country’s supposedly damaged reputation.
Denigration and domination
Trump’s deprecating speech was implicitly nationalist, while his denigrating speech was often explicitly so. The following quotes were coded for both denigration and domination, which makes the connection between denigrating, ableist speech and right-wing nationalism (domination) clear.
You know, the politicians say, you'll never, ever be able to get Mexico to allow you to build a wall. I say trust me. Now, they don't say that anymore. Now they say, they won't put the money up to build a wall. So easy. Mexico—our trade deficit is massive, massive. They make a fortune off the stupidity of the United States. Mexico will 100 percent—you hear—100 percent pay for the wall, 100 percent. (Erie, Pennsylvania – August 12, 2016) We're not going to be the stupid people anymore. We're not going to be the stupid, weak people anymore. We are going to rebuild our country. Our country is going to be a country where you can be proud of again. We're going to use American steel, we're going to use American labor, we are going to come first in all deals. … We're not going to make the trade deal where we come in fifth and sixth and seventh and other countries laugh at our stupidity. We are going to build great companies. We are going to expand companies that are now doing poorly. (Ocala, Florida – October 12, 2016) Attack after attack, including the recent terror strikes in New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, as well as the mall shooting in Washington, were made possible by our extremely open immigration system that's meant only to protect fools, and we're not fools. (Ocala, Florida – October 12, 2016)
Here, Trump makes repeated claims about “stupidity” and loss of international status in order to gain support for his nationalist and racist “America First” agenda, including the building of a wall on the Southern border to prevent migration by non-white “others.” Trump is claiming that the country has been damaged by globalization and diversification, and that in order to be “proud,” borders must be closed and international partners must be discarded.
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