Trump and Muslims: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Islamophobic Rhetoric in Donald Trump’s Selected Tweets

The emergence of Donald Trump as an anti-Muslim-Islam presidential candidate and victory over Hillary Clinton is issue debate division in the United States’ political sphere. Many commentators pundits criticize for his disparaging rhetoric on Twitter present him example how can be effective tool construction extension polarization. current study analyzes selected tweets by posted to unmask he uses language construct Islamophobic discourse structures attempts form ideological along with. researchers hypothesize that Islamophobia a marked feature Trump’s career realized specific rhetorical discursive devices. Therefore, purposively takes 40 most controversial against Islam Muslims carried out critical analysis with help macro-strategies given Wodak Meyer van Dijk’s referential strategies discourse. findings reveal rhetorically exclude people different ethnic identities, especially Muslims, through demagogic create difference “us” vs. “them” making this way “America Great Again”.