Mapping the Trump-Harris First Presidential Debate: Narratives of Trumpism Propagation Rattle Voters' Ontological Security

Following the first-ever face-to-face Trump-Harris presidential debate in Philadelphia, broadcast by ABC News from the National Constitution Center and attracting an audience exceeding 67 million viewers, this analysis delves into the backdrop of the emergence of Trumpian rhetoric, the crystallized existential concerns and insecurities of American voters. In particular, the design of this research, based on a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of Donald Trump's political discourse, revealed that his language communication is characterized by a series of crisis narratives and a distinct "Us vs. Them" mentality, suggesting a nuanced perspective on the relationship between political narratives, threat, and fear. This article also delineates different modes of ontological security theory and demonstrates how Trump perpetuates and radicalizes a populist-nationalist electoral environment. In contrast, Kamala Harris's narrative approach seeks to foster unity and mutual respect and bring to the spotlight the real issues that torment the US. Accordingly, by focusing on how Donald Trump discursively promotes a strong conflictual ideological identity, a crucial question arises: How do his narratives influence the fearfulness and perceptions of American voters? The initial findings reveal that voters who make a significant effort to uphold established political narratives often feel a high level of insecurity, which Trumpism imperatives skillfully manipulate. Particularly, it appears that "Trump-speak" (Homolar & Scholz, 2019) effectively stoked broad hostility towards Kamala Harris by depicting her as both vulnerable and perilous. Simultaneously, the story-discussion between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris unfolds in the paradoxical context of an evolving hero-Trumpian narrative, which tends to incite an ontological "insurrection" among Trump's supporters.