Discourse Representation of Self and Other in the 2020 Trump-Biden Presidential Debates

Presidential aspirants in the United States engage in debates during campaigns as a medium of enlightening the electorate. Existing studies on the American presidential debates have largely focused on politeness, rhetoric, syntax, and gender, with little attention to the strategies employed to construct the self and opponent(s). Therefore, this research investigates the discourse representation in the presidential debates between Trump and Biden using van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis. Ten excerpts were purposively selected for their relevance in illustrating representation strategies. The analysis revealed positive self-representation and negative other-representation. Positive self-representation featured the self as competent, honest, altruistic, diplomatic, and preferred, whereas negative other-representation presented the opponent as corrupt, wicked, racist, irresponsible, and incompetent. The findings indicate that debates function not only as a medium to inform audiences but also shape opinions, underscoring their role in constructing ideological representations and influencing how both the electorate and global viewers perceive aspirants.