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Experts explain how Trump’s language shifted in the weeks leading up to the Capitol riot
January 19, 2021
On Jan. 6, the world witnessed how language can incite violence.
One after another, a series of speakers at the "Save America" rally at the Ellipse in Washington redoubled the messages of anger and outrage.
<p>This rhetoric culminated <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/09/three-key-factors-that-drive-far-right-political-violence-two-that-dont/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">with a directive</a> by the president to go to the Capitol building to embolden Republicans in Congress to overturn the results of the 2020 election.</p><p>"Fight like hell," President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/trump-speech-riot.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">implored his supporters</a>. "And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/12/us/capitol-mob-timeline.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shortly thereafter</a>, some of Trump's supporters breached the Capitol.</p><p>Throughout his presidency, Trump's unorthodox use of language <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/two-linguists-use-their-skills-to-inspect-21-739-trump-tweets/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has fascinated linguists and social scientists</a>. But it wasn't just his words that day that led to the violence.</p><p>Starting with <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?506975-1/president-trump-statement-2020-election-results" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a speech he made on Dec. 2</a> – in which he made his case for election fraud – we analyzed six public addresses Trump made before and after the riot at the Capitol building. The others were <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-rally-speech-transcript-dalton-georgia-senate-runoff-election" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the campaign rally</a> ahead of the runoff elections in Georgia, <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the speech</a> he made at the "Save America" rally on Jan. 6, the videotaped message that aired later that same day, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/politics/video-trump.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">his denouncement of the violence on Jan. 7</a> and <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trumps-first-comments-since-capitol-riots-says-he-wants-no-violence" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">his speech</a> en route to Texas on Jan. 12.</p><p>Together, they reveal how the president's language escalated in intensity in the weeks and days leading up to the riots.</p><p><strong>Finding patterns in language</strong></p><p>Textual analysis – converting words into numbers that can be analyzed as data – can identify patterns in the types of words people use, including their syntax, semantics and vocabulary choice. Linguistic analysis can reveal latent trends in the speaker's <a href="https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/31333" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">psychological, emotional and physical states</a> beneath the surface of what's being heard or read.</p><p>This sort of analysis has led to a number of discoveries.</p><p>For example, researchers have used it to identify the authors of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2283270?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Federalist Papers</a>, the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/08/22/545122205/fbi-profiler-says-linguistic-work-was-pivotal-in-capture-of-unabomber" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Unabomber manifesto</a> and a novel written by <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-a-computer-program-helped-show-jk-rowling-write-a-cuckoos-calling/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym</a>.</p><p>Textual analysis continues to offer fresh political insights, such as its use to advance the theory that social media posts attributed to QAnon are actually written by <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qanon-is-two-different-people-shows-machine-learning-analysis-from-orphanalytics-301192981.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">two different people</a>.</p><p><strong>The "official" sounding Trump</strong></p><p>Contrary to popular thinking, Trump does not universally use inflammatory rhetoric. While he is well known for his <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/11/14238274/trumps-speaking-style-press-conference-linguists-explain" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">unique speaking style</a> and his once-frequent social media posts, in official settings his language has been quite similar to that of other presidents.</p><p>Researchers have noted how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2015.1010191" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">people routinely alter their speaking</a> and writing depending on whether a setting is formal or informal. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17467586.2015.1038286" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">formal venues</a>, like the State of the Union speeches, <a href="https://rogerkreuz.com/SOTU.png" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">textual analysis</a> has found Trump to use language in ways that echo his predecessors.</p><p>In addition, a <a href="https://businessfinancing.co.uk/leader-vocabulary/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recent study</a> analyzed 10,000 words from Trump's and President-elect Joe Biden's campaign speeches. It concluded – perhaps surprisingly – that Trump and Biden's language was similar.</p><p>Both men used ample emotional language – the kind that aims to persuade people to vote – at roughly the same rates. They also used comparable rates of positive language, as well as language related to trust, anticipation and surprise. One possible reason for this could be the audience, and the persuasive and evocative nature of campaign speeches themselves, rather than individual differences between speakers.</p><p><strong>The road to incitement</strong></p><p>Of course, Trump has, at times, <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-inaugural-speech-is-it-morning-or-mourning-in-america-71656" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">used</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/21506029/trump-violence-tweets-racist-hate-speech" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">overtly dire and violent language</a>.</p><p>After studying Trump's speeches before the storming of the Capitol building, we found some underlying patterns. If it seemed there was a growing sense of momentum and action in his speeches, it's because there was.</p><p>From early December to early January, there was an increase in the use of words that convey <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X09351676" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">movement and motion</a> – terms like "change," "follow" and "lead."</p><p>This is important, because it signals that the undertone of the speeches, beyond the overt directives, was goading his supporters to take action. By contrast, passive voice is often used to distance oneself from something or someone. In addition, research on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029005010" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">linguistic indicators of deception</a> has found that people who are lying often use more motion words.</p><p>We also looked at Trump's use of presidential language during the same time frame. Researchers have identified the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2006.01.006" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hallmark features of presidential language</a>. These include using more articles – "the," "an," "a" – prepositions, positive emotion, long words and, interestingly, swear words.</p><p>Trump used the most presidential language <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnSNvtqUuqc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">in the video recorded the day after the riots</a>, in which he denounced the violence, and in his Dec. 2 election fraud speech. His other four speeches more closely match the level of presidential language reflected in his State of the Union speeches.</p><p>The violence at the Capitol building and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/13/us/trump-impeachment" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">impeachment of the president</a> have only added fuel to a contentious period marked by a pandemic, an economic crisis, widespread protests over racial inequality, a heated presidential election and citizens divided over real and fake news.</p><p>In this context, the role of language to calm, reassure and unify is more important than ever – and in this task, Biden has a steep challenge ahead of him.</p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roger-j-kreuz-817382" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Roger J. Kreuz</a>, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-memphis-2147" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">University of Memphis</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/leah-cathryn-windsor-1187912" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Leah Cathryn Windsor</a>, Research Assistant Professor, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-memphis-2147" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">University of Memphis</a></em></p><p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license.</p>
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How William Barr's work 'laid the groundwork' for the Capitol siege
January 19, 2021
In December, then-Attorney General William Barr infuriated many diehard supporters of President Donald Trump when he acknowledged Joe Biden as president-elect and told the Associated Press that he saw no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. And following the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Barr was sharply critical of Trump's role in inspiring his followers, saying he orchestrated "a mob to pressure Congress" and calling it a "betrayal of his office."
Commentators should be careful before giving Barr too much credit, though. Barr was long among Trump's most vigorous defenders, and journalist Marcy Wheeler — in an article published on her Empty Wheel blog this week — argues that he has a great deal of "complicity" in the violence that occurred in Washington, D.C. on January 6.
<p>Barr, according to Wheeler, promoted "policies that laid the groundwork for the January 6 insurrection" — for example, he spent "months prioritizing the criminalization of Antifa and Black Lives Matter, even as his own department showed that right-wing terrorism was a far more serious problem and the Boogaloos were deliberately attempting to launch false flag operations pinned on Antifa."</p><p>The former U.S. attorney general, according to Wheeler, made "speeches arguing that progressive politics were a threat to the nation" and treated "overt threats against a judge from the Proud Boys as a technicality unworthy of a sentencing enhancement" in the Roger Stone case. Moreover, Wheeler writes, Barr "repeatedly" claimed that "mail-in ballots were prone to fraud in defiance of the evidence — a key part of Trump's later attempts to undermine the outcome of the election."</p><p>Journalist Jonathan Swan, in an <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-barr-relationship-off-the-rails-b33b3788-e7e9-47fa-84c5-3a0016559eb5.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">article published by Axios</a> this week, reports that Trump was quite disappointed when Barr described the president's belief in a "stolen election" as "bullshit." But Wheeler strongly disagrees with media accounts of a "wise old Attorney General Bill Barr who stood up against the president's worst instincts, wisely resisting the urge to politicize investigations, trump up claims of voter fraud, chase the theories of Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, and back a violent crackdown against Trump's opponents."</p><p>That description of Barr, according to Wheeler, is a "fictional character" now being promoted in the mainstream media — and the fact remains that Barr spent months defending Trump at every turn, she stresses.</p><p>"The reality is that (for) over two years…. Billy Barr helped to create this monster — even though he was one of the people with the obligation to stop it," Wheeler writes. "With his corruption as attorney general, Bill Barr fostered this monster. He should get no credit for skipping out before the predictable outcomes of his own actions blew up on January 6."</p>
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Maria Bartiromo, a Fox Business and Fox News host who has falsely claimed that – according to an “intel source” – President Donald Trump won the November election, will be among six rotating hosts as Fox News expands its evening lineup of extremist opinion shows into the 7 PM hour. Fox is moving its “straight news” show, “The Story with Martha MacCallum," to 3 PM.
“Maria Bartiromo has been the source of some of the most destructive conspiracy theories at Fox Business and Fox News…particularly in the past few months,” tweeted Yashar Ali, a New York Magazine and HuffPost freelance journalist who’s broken major stories about public figures in the media and politics.
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</div><p>“But what is Fox going to do…fire her?” he added. “They allowed her to book guests like Sidney Powell.”</p><div class="ncrm_ad_block story_page_incontent_p3" style="margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; max-width: 728px;">
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</div><p>Powell is the pro-Trump conspiracy theorist attorney who is being sued for $1.3 billion for alleged defamation by Dominion, the voting machine manufacturer.</p><p>Washington Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1351226121476575242" rel="noopener" target="_blank">noted</a> that Bartiromo “has spent the last two months unquestioningly parroting Trump’s voter fraud allegations.”</p><div class="ncrm_ad_block story_page_incontent_p5" style="margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; max-width: 728px;">
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</div><p>“She also recently cited an unnamed ‘intel source telling me that President Trump did in fact win the election.'”</p><p>Bartiromo last month in fact did claim that, according to an “intel source,” Trump actually won, which is false. Here’s video of that false claim:</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Why does she have a show? Why is she still broadcasting? Fox Anchor Maria Bartiromo actually says an 'intel source' told her Trump did in fact win the election. Okay, that's it, it's over, Trump won. <a href="https://t.co/ESLFZlm3Lq">pic.twitter.com/ESLFZlm3Lq</a><br/>
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1339286624278986752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2020</a><br/></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><div class="ncrm_ad_block story_page_incontent_p8" style="margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; max-width: 728px;">
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</div><p>The Daily Beast’s media reporter Max Tani <a href="https://twitter.com/maxwelltani/status/1351265714712109056" rel="noopener" target="_blank">adds</a>, “If I were Trish Regan, I'd be pretty upset that I got pushed out of Fox for doing one little COVID conspiracy theory while Maria Bartiromo has spend months entertaining election fraud theories and got a promotion!”</p><p>Vox’s Aaron Rupar notes that “Bartiromo lets Trump lie with impunity” in this clip from late November, but that allegation is actually true for most of Trump’s appearances with Bartiromo.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
Trump’s own lawyers conceded in court that the claim he makes here about poll watchers is a lie — but Maria Bartiromo lets Trump lie with impunity <a href="https://t.co/5nyfc4XnsF">pic.twitter.com/5nyfc4XnsF</a><br/>
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1333069551756599298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2020</a><br/></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p>Last August Bartiromo lied, telling President Trump there was “a coup” against him.</p><div class="ncrm_ad_block story_page_incontent_p12" style="margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; max-width: 728px;">
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“There was still a coup against you!” Maria Bartiromo tells Trump. (Narrator: there was no coup against him)<br/>
“The fact was President Obama knew everything. Vice President Biden, as dumb as he may be, he knew everything,” Trump replies. <a href="https://t.co/DlAICqV43U">pic.twitter.com/DlAICqV43U</a><br/>
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1293914614367834115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a><br/></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p>Just this past Friday James Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch who owns the multi-national media empire that includes Fox News, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/media/james-murdoch-election-disinformation/index.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">decried “media property owners” and their news outlets for spreading dangerous disinformation</a>.</p>
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