A master thesis from Aalborg University
Trump and DACA on Collision Course: A Study of Argumentative Strategies
Author(s)
Term
4. term
Publication year
2018
Submitted on
2018-05-28
Pages
76 pages
Abstract
The following study examines President Donald Trump’s argumentative strategies in the discussion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In this study, Trump’s speeches, as well as his personal Twitter account, are the sources the arguments that will be investigated throughout the analysis. Borne out of four separate theories, a theoretical framework has been produced for the sake of this study, and this frame for analysis has proven to be exceedingly beneficial for this type of argumentative analysis. Thus, this study seeks to uncover how Trump uses his arguments to promote his political agenda and attempts to explain the results through theoretical concepts. Trump promised, before his presidential election, that he would terminate the DACA program, however, when he became president, he backtracked that promise. Trump converted his political standpoint to a more pro-DACA stance and decided to allow the program to continue, however, only if a bipartisan agreement, which included funding for a border wall between Mexico and the United States, was made. Such a deal was not obtainable, and DACA recipients faced uncertainties as Trump then moved to terminate the program. Throughout the process of trying to reach a bipartisan agreement, Trump made an overwhelming amount of public statements on his personal Twitter account. These statements contain a number of self-contradictory elements, and thus, the truth behind Trump’s statements will be discussed in a broader political context.
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