FASCIST RHETORIC IN THE WHITE HOUSE? A qualitative text analysis of rhetoric used by high-ranking officials within the U.S. government.

Sammanfattning

The emergence of far-right politics and authoritarianism globally in recent years has given further focus to the debate on what fascism is and is not. Previous research has aimed to create a definition of fascism, which can be used to ascertain how and where it can be distinguished.Historian Robert Paxton has established a definition explaining the nine central motivations behind fascist mobilization, called “mobilizing passions”. The current American administration led by Donald Trump has increasingly been affiliated with fascism both by political opposition and experts. Furthermore, this narrative has been accelerated by the rising influence of Christian nationalism within the United States. With this situation as backdrop, this study aims to use a qualitative text analysis methodology to analyze whether fascist rhetoric can be found. Six different units of public communication by two prominent members of Trump’s Cabinet are subject to analysis, three by Vice President J.D. Vance, and three by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Paxton’s nine “mobilizing passions” are used as analytical framework. As a result of this study, varying degrees of fascist rhetoric could be distinguished in all units of public communication analyzed. Out of the six remarks included in the study, one included elements of fascist rhetoric, three included partially fascist rhetoric and two included explicit fascist rhetoric. This result, that representatives of USA, historically the leading advocate for liberalism and democracy, systematically use rhetoric including multiple fascist mobilizing passions is most worrying for the future of democracy