The link between climate change denialism and misogyny: a comparative linguistic analysis of Donald Trump's tweets on environment & women

This dissertation explores the entrenched link between climate change denialism and misogyny. While ecofeminist perspectives have drawn connections between the domination of women and environmental degradation, the overlapping rhetorics of denialism and misogyny remain underexplored in discourse studies. This study study aims to shed light on the intersection between climate denialism and misogyny through a linguistic analysis by investigating the linguistic and rhetorical patterns that mutually reinforce these patriarchy-based rhetorics. Fundamentally, these anti-environmentalist and anti-feminist rhetorics overlap in viewing societal shifts such as climate action and feminist movements as threat to stability, dominance, and continuity of patriarchal systems.With this context in mind, the study examines Donald Trump’s Twitter discourse, characterized by his anti-environmental stance on climate issues and controversial comments about women, covering the period from 2009 to 2021 and data sourced from the Trump Twitter Archive (https://www.thetrumparchive.com/). Following the methodology of Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), the study examines the themes, discursive strategies and linguistic devices employed in both discourses and compares them with the help of an eclectic model adapted from Van Dijk’s (1995) concept of discourse analysis as ideology analysis and Sara Mills’ (2008) model of sexism. The findings identify shared discursive patterns—such as the portrayal of women and environmental advocates as secondary or as threats to traditional power structures—affirming ecofeminist arguments that patriarchal ideologies are central to both environmental harm and gender-based oppression.In conclusion, the study enriches discussions on climate change and gender equality by illustrating the crucial role language plays in shaping patriarchal ideologies that feed denialist and misogynist rhetoric on social media. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s (2015) concept of the Chthulucene, it advocates for inclusive, interconnected approaches to addressing both climate and gender crises.