Political rhetorical force: analyzing the dynamics of threat in President Biden’s speeches

This study investigates the strategic use of threatening language in President Joe Biden’s speeches, introducing the concept of ‘diplomatic impoliteness’. This rhetorical style combines coercive language with institutional legitimacy, transcending the traditional binary of polite diplomacy and aggressive populism. Applying Muschalik’s framework, we conducted a qualitative analysis of 13 key speeches from 2021 to 2022, examining linguistic features such as conditionality, futurity, and violent verbs. The findings reveal a nuanced reliance on indirect threats, primarily realized through markers of conditionality and futurity, which project power while maintaining a diplomatic frame. Consequently, this research contributes to the field of political discourse and pragmatics by reframing the interplay between language, power and impoliteness in liberal democratic leadership.