Protestors, rioters or terrorists? A discourse analysis and comparison on Donald Trump’s portrayal of violence in the 2020 George Floyd protests and the storming of the Capitol

Sammanfattning

This essay discusses the notion of populist leaders using securitization to describe domestic political movements. The analysis consists of all speeches, remarks and interviews made by Trump one month after the first George Floyd protest in 2020, and one month after the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 respectively. By using the securitization theory, especially focusing on existential threats and securitizing moves, this essay examines Trump’s portrayal of the use of violence by the Black Lives Matter movement, and by the Proud boys, respectively and how they differ. This essay finds that, similarly, both events are portrayed to constitute security threats against the United States and its values. The left is being demonised in both cases while the groups are not mentioned explicitly by name in the portrayal. However, the portrayal of the George Floyd protests are generalised to be more violent and left-wing extremist, and to constitute a threat against American’s citizens personal security. On the other hand, the portrayal of the storming of the Capitol is more nuanced, with some actors’ actions being described as violent, and the security threat mostly consisting of contributing to an already existing securitization of the left, the media and big tech.