POLITENESS STRATEGIES in Donald Trump's Inaugural Speech as the 45th

president of the United States: to soften the criticism and condemnation directed
towards previous American leaders and administrations

Negative politeness: Impersonalize speaker and hearer.

In sentences 37-39, author uses inclusive “we”: We’ve defended other nations’ boarders
while refusing to defend our own. And (we have) spent trillions overseas while
America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We’ve made other
countries rich, while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipate
over the horizon.

 Trump employs the pronoun "we" throughout sentences 37-39 to encompass both himself
and the American people. By using "we," he creates a sense of unity and shared
responsibility, implying that both he and the audience are part of the same collective entity,
the United States. This inclusivity helps to mitigate the directness of the criticism by
spreading the blame across a broader group rather than singling out specific individuals or
administrations. By framing the criticism as a collective failure of "we," Trump avoids
directly accusing any particular past leaders or administrations. Instead, he generalizes the
failure as a broader issue affecting all Americans. This generalization diminishes the severity
of the criticism by diffusing accountability among the populace rather than targeting specific
individuals or groups. It also allows Trump to distance himself from directly attacking his
predecessors while still conveying his message of dissatisfaction with past policies and
actions. Using "we" instead of "you" avoids directly confronting or blaming specific
individuals or groups. Directly addressing previous leaders with "you" could be perceived as
confrontational and could potentially escalate tensions. By using "we," Trump adopts a more
inclusive and conciliatory tone, inviting cooperation and shared responsibility rather than
placing blame.

Negative politeness: nouns/noun phrases

Trump also employs the device of indirection to denigrate them as egocentric and selfish.
This is demonstrated by the he refers to the accused leaders using parallel nouns / noun
phrases: a small group (sentence 9), Washington (sentence 10), politicians (sentence 11)
and the establishment (sentence 12). They are used in order to avoid mentioning the names
of the people sitting before him or their regimes. Indirection is achieved in different ways in
the cited phrase.
 - Trump's use of the indefinite article "a" in "a small group" (sentence 9) serves to
depersonalize and generalize the criticism. By referring to the accused leaders as "a
small group," Trump avoids specifying individuals or administrations directly, thus
softening the critique. This indefinite article suggests that the failure or ineptitude is
not attributed to any specific individuals but rather to a vague collective entity,
reducing the potential for offense or confrontation.
- By using "Washington" (sentence 10) as a metonymic representation of the political
establishment or government, Trump employs part-whole generalization. This allows
him to critique the broader political system without singling out individual actors.
Referring to "Washington" as the source of the perceived failures implies a systemic
issue rather than blaming specific individuals or administrations directly. It also
creates a sense of distance from personal attacks, making the criticism less
confrontational.
- Trump further employs indirection by using vague terms like "politicians" (sentence
11) and "the establishment" (sentence 12) to refer to those he criticizes. These terms
lack specificity, allowing Trump to criticize without directly naming or accusing
particular individuals or groups. "Politicians" and "the establishment" are broad
categories that encompass various figures and entities within the political sphere,
allowing Trump to criticize without singling out specific targets. This vagueness helps
to depersonalize the criticism and reduce the risk of direct confrontation.

Negative politeness: personification and agent-less passive

The speaker accuses his immediate predecessor and several former American leaders of
mismanaging the country's resources over time. He uses personification and agent-less
passive, as demonstrated below, in an effort to lessen this: One by one, the factories
shuttered and left our shores... The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from
their homes... (sc 40-41).

- Trump utilizes personification by attributing human-like qualities to non-human

entities, such as factories. By stating, "One by one, the factories shuttered and left
our shores," (sentence 40) Trump personifies the factories, portraying them as active
agents capable of making decisions. This personification serves to indirectly blame
the closure of factories on the economic policies of previous administrations without
 explicitly accusing them. Instead of directly blaming past leaders, Trump shifts the
focus to the consequences of their policies, making the criticism less confrontational.
- In the following sentence, Trump employs agent-less passive voice by stating, "The
wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes" (sentence 41). By
using the passive voice and omitting the agent responsible for ripping away the
wealth, Trump avoids directly accusing any specific individuals or administrations.
This ambiguity allows for interpretation of the action without assigning direct blame,
thus reducing the threat posed by the criticism.
- Both personification and agent-less passive voice serve to reduce the threat posed by
the criticism of previous administrations. By attributing actions to abstract entities like
factories and using passive constructions without explicit agents, Trump avoids
directly confronting or blaming specific individuals or administrations. This indirect
approach softens the tone of the criticism, making it more palatable to the audience
and reducing the risk of backlash.

The speech prominently contains several avoidable face threats that were mainly caused by
heavy criticism and accusations. The negative politeness strategy used to lessen the impact of
his critique, however, makes them inevitably tolerable but regrettably unforgettable.