The 2025 Inaugural Address of Donald Trump as a Tool of Political Public Relations: Rhetorical Strategies of Persuasion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/CIMC.2025.38.08-17Keywords:
inaugural address, Donald Trump, PR strategy, political communication, image, strongman leader, populism, narrative, rhetoric, messianism, brand, public opinion, frameAbstract
The article examines the 2025 inaugural address of Donald Trump as a significant PR tool in the process of political communication. Special attention is given to the analysis of strategies for constructing the image of a “strong leader”. The study explores the main rhetorical techniques, narratives, and mechanisms for shaping public opinion through communicative tactics. The aim of the research was to identify the key PR strategies and instruments used in Donald Trump’s 2025 inaugural address and to assess their effectiveness in shaping the image of a strongman leader. The article applies content analysis of the U.S. President’s address of January 20, 2025, to explore the most frequent narratives, frames, and core messages; discourse analysis to examine how Donald Trump uses language to construct the image of a strongman leader; and rhetorical analysis to trace the linguistic means of persuasion and emotional influence on the audience. Additionally, the study includes media analysis of selected American and British media outlets, such as “The New York Times”, “The Washington Post”, “Bloomberg”, “The Wall Street Journal”, “Newsmax”, “CNN”, “BBC News”, “The Guardian”, and “Fox News” among others — to assess the media reaction to Trump’s speech. To support the hypotheses with sociological data, the author refers to findings from the Pew Research Center. Conclusions. Donald Trump’s 2025 inaugural address was not merely a ceremonial political statement but a well-calculated PR tool that positioned the U.S. president as a strongman leader with messianic undertones. The rhetoric, carefully tailored to the target audience, contributed to anchoring his political messages in the public consciousness.
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