المعيار
Volume 29, Numéro 4, Pages 195-206
2025-09-15
From Delegitimation To Insurrection: Framing Constitutional Procedures As Betrayal In Trump’s ‘stop The Steal’ Tweets (2020–2021)
Authors : Tamerabet Fatima Zohra .
Abstract
This paper analyzes how Donald J. Trump’s post-election rhetoric reframed constitutional procedures as obstacles to the popular will, effectively transforming fidelity to democratic institutions into personal loyalty. Drawing on Framing Theory (Entman, 1993; Snow & Benford, 1988), it examines a purposive corpus of 210 tweets posted between November 4, 2020, and January 6, 2021. The analysis identifies a tripartite pattern: diagnostic frames delegitimizing electoral institutions, prognostic frames prescribing resistance to legal outcomes, and motivational frames portraying insurrection as patriotic duty. These discursive strategies are interpreted through the frameworks of constitutional retrogression (Huq & Ginsburg, 2018) and norm erosion (Levitsky & Ziblatt, 2018), showing how institutional mistrust was constructed as moral obligation. A complementary rhetorical logic—rooted in Müller’s (2016) concept of exclusive moral representation—further blurred the line between institutional legitimacy and personal authority, converting constitutional loyalty into allegiance to the leader. The January 6 events are thus understood not as a rupture, but as the discursive endpoint of an elite-driven framing campaign amplified by digital platforms.
Keywords
Framing theory ; constitutional retrogression ; norm erosion ; populist rhetoric ; January 6
Les articles similaires
Bouakaz Sara
.
Bashar Ahmad
.
pages 346-359.
طبي سعيدة
.
ص 2149-2168.
بن أمزال لحسن
.
ص 353-371.
