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Joe Biden’s Skilful Rhetoric: A Critical Discourse Analysis

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Ali Haif Abbas

Department of English Language and Literature, College of education for Humanities,

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University of Wasit, Wasit, Iraq
ahaif@uowasit.edu.iq

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Abstract
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This article presents a study in Joe Biden’s election campaign speeches. US versus THEM
discourse or the discourse of SELF and OTHERS or the positive-good representation of certain
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groups and the negative-bad representation of others are widely used in political discourse,
especially when two political groups, parties, or members are in competition. This article aims to
show how Biden uses and employs the image or discourse of US (the good and the positive) and
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the image or discourse of THEM (the bad and the negative) in his election campaign speeches.
Using Van Dijk’s ideological square (positive self-representation versus negative-others
representation) for the analysis of the selected data, data analysis showed that Biden skillfully
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used the discourse of positive US and the discourse of negative THEM in almost all of his
speeches.
Keywords: discourse, critical discourse analysis, ideology, Biden, Trump
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3830027
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1. Introduction

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The positive discourse of US and the negative discourse of THEM are widely used in
political discourse. Politicians use the good discourse of US (SELF) when they talk about
themselves and the group or party they belong to, while they use the bad discourse of THEM

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(OTHERS) when they talk about others, especially their rivals from other group, party, and even
country. In other words, politicians talk about themselves in a good and positive way. They
emphasize and highlight their good traits and their positive actions clearly and repeatedly on one
hand, and at the same time, they emphasize and highlight others’ bad qualities and negative

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actions on the other. This positive emphasis of the self and the negative emphasis of the other are
widely happened when we have two incompatible persons, political parties, groups, societies,
and countries. Each one emphasizes the positive and good qualities of the self and the negative

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and bad qualities of the other. This positive – negative emphasis even happens among ordinary
people and in our daily life.
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Ideology and discourse are two interrelated terms which cannot be used separately. In other
words, politicians cannot use ideology without discourse. Politicians cannot express their
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ideological beliefs, opinions, and actions without the help of discourse. People, groups, societies,
and countries have their own ideological beliefs and actions which cannot be conveyed and
expressed without discourse. Now, we understand that ideology of certain groups or political
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parties cannot be expressed and communicated to the public without discourse. The question is
which term can uncover such ideological beliefs and actions?! The answer to this question is
simple: the term which can uncover such ideologies, especially political ideologies is critical
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discourse analysis (henceforth CDA). Fairclough (1995) defines CDA as:

By CDA I mean discourse analysis which aims to systematically explore often opaque
relationships of causality and determination between (a) discursive practices, events
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and texts, and (b) wider social and cultural structures, relations, and processes: to
investigate how such practices, events and texts arise out of and are ideologically
shaped by relations of power and struggles over power, and to explore how the opacity
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of these relationships between discourse and society is itself a factor securing power
and hegemony (132).
Wodak &Meyer (2001) demonstrate that CDA aims to critically analyse and investigate
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obscure and hidden notions such as social inequality, power, control, discrimination, and
dominance as manifested and expressed in language. According to Jorgensen &Philips (2002),

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discourse functions ideologically. Through the use of discourse, unequal power relations can be

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created and produced among different social groups, social classes, men and women, majorities
and minorities. From CDA perspective, such unequal power relations are ideological. CDA
purpose is to make such inequalities clear to ordinary people. CDA served as a powerful

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framework to uncover obscure discourses and make them clear to the public. Its job is to make
ideology, manipulation, inequality, power, control, and persuasion obvious to lay people. CDA
has the best analytical tools that can be used to show people examples of ideologies in discourse.
CDA, thus, equips people with new critical awareness (Fowler, 1991; Batstone, 1995; Hart,

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2010).
This article aims, through the help of CDA, to analyse Joe Biden’s election campaign
speeches.

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2. Van Dijk’s Ideological Square

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According to Van Dijk (2000), ideology plays an important role in the positive
representation of certain groups and the negative representation of others. The good image of the
SELVES (US) and the bad image of OTHERS (THEM) are always used by politicians. The in-
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group (SELVES – US) members are represented positively, while the out-group (OTHERS –
THEM) members are represented negatively. In other words, the overall ideological strategy in
discourse can be summarized as follows:
• Say positive things about us.
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• Do not say negative things about us.

• Say negative things about them.
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• Do not say positive things about them.

In order to analyse some selected speeches of Biden’s election campaign, we have selected
different discursive strategies which can be invested ideologically by language users. The
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ideological strategies are taken from Van Leeuwen’s (1996) and Van Dijk’s (1991, 1995, 2006).
The selected strategies are illustrated as follows:
1. Actor description: The way actors are represented whether positively or negatively.
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2. Blame (Burden): politicians always put the blame or the burden of a negative act on the
others (them).
3. Comparison: politicians often used this strategy to make a comparison between their positive
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acts and the others’ negative acts.

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4. Empathy: compassion move or empathy is used to show sympathy and emotions for the

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victims of others’ negative actions.
5. Examples: politicians always mention examples and illustrations to emphasize their positive
actions and others’ negative actions.

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6. Inclusion/exclusion: politicians always include themselves when they talk about good and
positive things and they exclude themselves when they talk about negative things. They also
include others when they talk about negative things and exclude others when they talk about
positive things.

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7. Lexicalisation: this strategy is a powerful ideological tool which can be used in the positive
and negative representation of actors.
8. Metaphor: this figure of speech is widely used in political discourse. It plays a crucial role in

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the positive – negative discourse.

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9. National self-glorification: politicians employ various forms of national glorifications such as
praising one’s country, its wonderful history, traditions, and civilization. Politicians also
repeatedly refer to different heroic and prominent figures, leaders, and scientists of their
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countries.
10. Number game: numbers and statistics are crucial in supporting one’s actions and stories
which are related to different social, political, and economical problems. Numbers are also
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important in persuasion as they are used to convince people about a specific problem in society.
11. Repetition: is a useful ideological strategy that can be used to emphasize the positive actions
of the self and the negative actions of the others.
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We also use Voyant Tools for the analysis of Biden’s selected speeches. Voyant Tools is a
web based text reading and analysis. The web based application consists of different tools used
for reading and analysing corpus or documents. Voyant Tools analyse the text with five textual
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tools: they are namely, Cirrus, Reader, Trends, Summery, and Context. We only use Cirrus in
this study. Cirrus provides a word cloud view of the most frequently occurring words in the
corpus or document. This provides a convenient (though reductive) overview of the content
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(Sinclair & Rockwell, 2016).

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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3830027
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3. Data Analysis

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This section is concerned with the analysis of (4) of Biden’s election campaign speeches.
The speeches are analysed according to the (11) ideological strategies which are illustrated
clearly in section (2) and Voyant Cirrus Tool.

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Table (1): Biden’s first selected speech
First Speech

Title Joe Biden Speech Transcript on Minneapolis Protests, George Floyd

May 29, 2020

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Length 736 words
Key features The speech talks about the killing of George Floyd which Biden describes as
“an act of brutality”. Then the speech emphasizes the suffering of the black

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people in the U.S. which dated back to more than 400 years ago. Biden also

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stressed the need of justice for Floyd and the need for police reforms. The
speech ends with Biden promising Floyd’s family to achieve justice for Floyd.
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Biden’s speech on the killing of Floyd is full of sad emotional feelings. The report is full of
empathy or compassion move strategy. Biden is so sympathetic towards the killing of Floyd and
the suffering of other black people which dated back to more than 400 years ago. Biden’s
response to the killing of Floyd is represented by his emotional and angry language. Biden’s
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language is full of emotional and angry lexical items, phrases, and sentences such as act of
brutality, so elemental, so brutal, cried, pain, horror, suffering hearts, wound, I can’t breathe,
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victims, anxiety, trauma, feared, bad actors, bad police, abuse, anger, frustration, exhaustion,
violence, crisis, systemic racism, uncomfortable truths, deep open wound, injury. Biden mentions
the inclusive pronoun ‘we’ 25 times in the speech. He inclusively invites the people to act
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positively against the systemic racism and elemental brutality committed against the black
people. Biden’s excludes bad police and incendiary tweets. The word ‘incendiary’ is used to
refer to someone or something that excites factions, quarrels or sedition. The lexical phrase
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“incendiary tweets” is ironically used to refer to Trump’s administration which, according to

Biden, has nothing to do than igniting tensions and quarrels. There is a tendency from Biden to
make a comparison between his positive future response towards the killing of Floyd and
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systemic racism with the negative response of Trump’s administration (This is no time for

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incendiary tweets. It’s no time to encourage violence. This is a national crisis. We need real

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leadership right now, leadership that will bring everyone to the table so we can take
measures to root out systemic racism).

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Figure 1. Cirrus analysis of Biden’s George Floyd speech
Eric Garner, Aubrey, Brianna Taylor, and Floyd are described as victims of systemic
racism and elemental brutal acts. The repetition of the statements “the same thing happened
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with Aubrey, the same thing happened with Brianna Taylor, the same thing with George
Floyd” is used to emphasize the continuous racial killing of black people as Biden describes
it “They’re the latest additions to the endless list of stolen potential wiped out
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unnecessarily. It’s a list that dates back more than 400 years; black men, black women,
black children”. The repetition of sentences such as “none of us can turn away, none of us
can be silent, none of us can any longer can we hear the words h can’t breathe and do
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nothing” is used to emphasize the immediate need of justice for Floyd which cannot be
achieved through “incendiary tweets”. Biden uses metaphor in the sentences “we’re a
country with an open wound, that deep open wound we have in this nation, we simply allow
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this wound to scab over once more without treating the underlying injury, we’ll never truly
heal”. The wound metaphor here is used to refer to Biden’s emotional pain, feeling of
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sadness and anger which are caused by systemic racism in his nation. According to Biden,
the Nation is bleeding, America is bleeding. The wound cannot be healed by a dry blood

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cover that forms over the wound to cover and protect it as it heals. This is a disease and the

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infection is still under the surface. A simple scab cannot heal it, and as time goes by, the
wound becomes active infecting all other parts of one’s life. Because you have not treated
the wound correctly, your blood is poisoned and starts negatively influencing your entire

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body. Then, you decide to seek medical help after it is too late. Now, the wound becomes
even worse. This is what Biden wants to convey to the public that “without treating the
underlying injury, we’ll never truly heal”. How could such injury be healed? The repetition
of the sentences “we got to stand up, we got to move, we got to change” is the proper treat

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for this injury: stand up, move, and change. The proper treat for this deep wound is by
standing up, moving directly to the ballot boxes, and change.
Table (2): Biden’s second selected speech

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Second Speech

Title
Length
Key features
3,215 words
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Joe Biden’s full 2020 Democratic National Convention Speech, Aug 21, 2020

The speech focuses on America’s darkness under the current presidency.

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According to Biden, the current president has cloaked America in darkness with
too much anger, too much fear, and too much division. Then, the speech shifts
to the more optimistic atmosphere that will happen under Biden’s presidency
and together with the American people.
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The second speech is full of comparisons, positive us representation and negative other
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representation. The speech is also full of blaming, inclusion and exclusion, lexicalisations,
national self-glorification, number game, metaphor, actor descriptions, and repetitions. In terms
of comparison, Biden describes America, under the current president, as being cloaked in
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darkness with too much anger, too much fear, and too much division. Then, his negative speech
changed to positive when he uses inclusive “we” to inclusively share with the audience the
responsibility of overcoming darkness, making a hopeful and lovable America (United we can,
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and will, overcome this season of darkness in America. We will choose hope over fear, facts over
fiction, fairness over privilege). Lexicalization is a powerful strategy in the positive
representation of some people and groups and the negative representation of others. Biden’s
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speech is full of negative and positive lexical items. Negative lexis such as darkness, anger, fear,

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division, the most difficult moments, the worst pandemic, the most compelling call for racial

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justice since the 60’s, accelerating threats of climate change, less hopeful, shadow, suspicion,
deaths, struggle, tragedy, failed, threatening, inequity, injustice, economic injustice, racial
injustice, environmental injustice, extremism, failure, the stain of racism, systemic racism, are

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full of blames (burden) associated with the mistakes of the current administration. Such negative
lexical items and phrases are clearly used to refer to the negative acts of the current
administrations. Positive lexis such as light, hope, love, generous, strong, humble, develop, safe,
effective, patriotic duty, promise, protect America, opportunity to all Americans, save our

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democracy, men and women are created equal, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, jobs, dignity,
respect, community, rebuild, protect social security and Medicare, our values of human rights
and dignity, more secure, peaceful and prosperous world, wipes the stain of racism from our

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national character, better future, hope and history rhyme, are full of light, hope, optimism, and a

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better future for the American people, a bright future that will be achieved under Biden’s
administration. According to Biden, America is in complete darkness, division, fear, and anger.
Negative Trump administration is widely used in the report. The speech is full of blaming others
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strategy. Consider this quotation (A president who takes no responsibility, refuses to lead, blames
others, cozies up to dictators, and fans the flames of hate and division). In terms of actor
description, Biden assigns positive qualities when mentioning himself, his family, and influential
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officials such as Ella Baker, Franklin Roosevelt, Obama, Kamala Harris, and Gianna Floyd,
while he assigns negative qualities when he talks about Trump and his administration. In Biden’s
rhetoric, Ella Baker is described as a giant of the civil rights movement. Roosevelt is described as
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a powerful agent who was able to overcome the massive unemployment, uncertainty, fear, and
virus making a better America. Obama is described as a great president (a man I was honored to
serve alongside for 8 years as Vice President, A president our children could – and did – look up
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to). Kamala Harris is described as a powerful and great actor for the American nation, knowing
all the obstacles of the country. Consider this quotation: She’s overcome every obstacle she’s
ever faced. No one’s been tougher on the big banks or the gun lobby. No one’s been tougher in
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calling out this current administration for its extremism, its failure to follow the law, and its
failure to simply tell the truth. Biden describes Floyd’s daughter as incredibly brave. Biden
describes himself as a powerful actor who is an ally of the light not the darkness. He identified
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himself as a powerful actor who will protect America and the American people and defend them

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from every attack seen and unseen always without exception every time. The positive actor

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description is changed into negative description when Trump is mentioned in Biden’s rhetoric.
Trump is described as a negative actor who has cloaked America in darkness. According to
Biden, Trump has failed in his most basic duty to this nation. Consider this negative description:

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(A president who takes no responsibility, refuses to lead, blames others, cozies up to dictators,
and fans the flames of hate and division).

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Figure 2. Cirrus analysis of Biden’s Democratic National Convention Speech

National self-glorification is another discursive strategy which is skillfully employed by
Biden. Biden nationally glorifies and praises heroic figures such as Ella Baker, Roosevelt,
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Obama, Kamala Harris, Gianna Floyd. Biden also praises his family and his father, his wife,
Hunter, Ashley, brothers and sisters. They all give him strength and courage. According to
Biden, Beau inspires him every day. Biden describes Beau as a decorated Iraq war veteran,
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served our nation in uniform. Praises to the nation and people are also found in Biden’s speeches
(This is a great nation. And we are a good and decent people). Number and statistics are also
used in Biden’s speech. Number game strategy is used negatively against Trump (Just judge this
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president on the facts. 5 million Americans infected with COVID-19. More than 170,000
Americans have died. More than 50 million people have filed for unemployment this year. More
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than 10 million people are going to lose their health insurance this year. Nearly one in 6 small
businesses have closed this year If this president is re-elected we know what will happen. Cases

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and deaths will remain far too high. More mom and pop businesses will close their doors for

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good, And the assault on the Affordable Care Act will continue until its destroyed, taking
insurance away from more than 20 million people – including more than 15 million people on
Medicaid). The word ‘light’ is repeated 12 times in the speech to emphasize the lack of light in

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America under the current administration. The word ‘hope’ is repeated 11 times, hope of equity,
justice, hope for America without racism, hope for a better future. The word love is repeated 10
times to emphasize the crucial need for love over hate. The word ‘united’ repeated 9 times to
emphasize the crucial need of involving the people including Biden to achieve a better and bright

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future for the United States of America. War metaphors are used to express sensitive and
catastrophic crises in a community or a nation. According to Biden, the nation is a human being
covered by darkness. Unity, togetherness, Biden’s campaign, love, hope, and light are all soldiers

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joined the battle to save the soul of the nation, uncover its darkness, eliminate its darkness, and
make it more shining and prosperous.
Table (3): Biden’s third selected speech er
Third Speech
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Title Joe Biden Climate Change Speech Transcript in Wilmington, Delaware
September 14

Length 2,949 words

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Key features The speech focuses on the catastrophic climate change crisis which is
threatening American people’s lives and economy. The speech also focuses on
Trump’s negative response to the crisis.
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Lexicalization is a powerful ideological discourse strategy that can be employed skillfully

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to achieve certain aims of language users. This speech is full of negative lexical items which are
used to negatively represent the current administration. Biden uses lots of comparatives,
superlatives, negative adjectives with concrete and abstract nouns to negatively represent the
impact of climate change on the people and to negatively represent the current Trump’s
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administration in handling the crisis. Consider the following negative lexis: the most difficult
moments in our history, four historic crises all at the same time, the worst pandemic in a
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hundred years, the worst economic crisis since the great depression, emboldened white
supremacy unseen since the 60s, a reckoning on race that’s long overdue, undeniable

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acceleration of the punishing reality of climate change, devastating wildfires rage, hurricanes,

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tropical storms, floods and droughts across the Midwest, the fury of climate change, ashes and
smoke pollute the air, damage to the lungs, asthma attacks, total damage, fires are blazing so
brightly, smoke reaching so far, NASA satellites can see them 1 million miles away in space,

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smoldering ashes, communities destroyed, shadow of an orange sky, damage and devastation, a
flood so devastating with deadly flash flooding over running dams and roadways, the longest
stretches of deadly heat waves, facing historic droughts, ravaged millions of acres of corn,
soybeans, and other crops, hellish events, more common, more devastating, more deadly, more

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catastrophic, Americans are dying. The use of the present continues tense is used to refer to the
continues negative and catastrophic climate change crisis under the current administration (200
cities are experiencing the longest stretches of deadly heat waves in 50 years, the Midwest are

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facing historic drought, Wildfires are burning the suburbs in the West. Floods are wiping out

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suburban neighborhoods in the Midwest. Hurricanes are imperiling suburban life along our
coast). Concrete examples and illustrations supported with numbers and statistics are crucial in
supporting one’s claim or story. Biden uses many examples to show the negative and devastating
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impacts of climate change on Americans’ lives and economy under the current administration
(Jill and I continue, as I suspect all of you do, is pray for everyone in California, Oregon,
and Washington, and across the West as these devastating wildfires rage one. Just as we
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hold them in our hearts those who have faced the hurricanes, tropical storms, off our coast
of Florida, North Carolina, or like parts of New Orleans that in fact have just finished an
emergency evacuation order for Hurricane Sally). Biden invests number game strategy
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skillfully to support his stories on the negative and continuous impacts of climate change
under the current administration (Over the past two years, the total damage from wildfires
has reached nearly $50 billion in California alone. 50 billion. This year alone, nearly 5
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million acres have burned across 10 States, more acreage than the entire state of
Connecticut. And it’s only September. California’s wildfire season typically runs through
October). Hurricanes and floods are given names and identified as powerful and negative
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forces ravaging cities, states, crops, American livelihoods, and economy ( We’ve seen record
hurricane season costing billions of dollars as well. Last month, Hurricane Laura
intensified at a near record rate just before it’s landfall along Louisiana and Gulf Coast ,
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Laura ravaged Puerto Rico, where three years ago Hurricane Maria, our fellow Americans

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there are still recovering from its damage and devastation, This past spring in Midland,

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Michigan experienced a flood so devastating with deadly flash flooding over ru nning dams
and roadways that is displaced 10,000 residents, It’s ravaged millions of acres of corn,
soybeans, and other crops. Their very livelihoods, which sustain their families, and our

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economy for generations is now in jeopardy).

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Figure 3. Cirrus analysis of Biden’s climate change speech

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Biden’s skilful use of near past adverbs of time such as last month, three years ago,
this past spring is an attempt to blame the current administration in its negative handling of
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the crisis. The use of the perfect tense and simple tense is to highlight the idea that the
catastrophic negative impacts of climate change on the American people and economy
occurs in the near past particularly under Trump’s administration and is still continuing to
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the present time and this impact is a fact known by everybody. Biden excludes Trump from
the positive representation of the self and us, on the contrary and in terms of actor
description, he describes him negatively (Once again, he fails the most basic duty to a
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nation. He fails to protect us from the pandemic, from an economic free fall, from racial
unrest, from the ravages of climate change. It’s clear that we’re not safe in Donald Trump’s
America. This is Donald Trump’s America. He’s in charge. What he d oesn’t get is that even
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in a crisis, there’s nothing beyond the capacity of the American people when we stand up

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and act together). Positive comparison of us and the self and negative comparison of others

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are also used clearly in the speech. Trump’s failure of handling climate change crisis and his
denial to the catastrophic impacts of climate change on American people and economy are
compared to Biden’s future and successful plan of handling the crisis, enhancing economy,

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and building strong America. Consider these comparisons: When Donald Trump thinks
about climate change, he thinks hoax. When I think about it, I think jobs. When Donald
Trump thinks about renewable energy, he sees windmills somehow as causing cancer. I see
American manufacturing, American workers racing to lead the global market. I see farmers

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making agriculture the first in the world to achieve net zero emissions. While he turns
against our allies, I’ll bring us back into the Paris Agreement. I’ll put us back in the
business of leading the world on climate change, and I’ll challenge every other country to

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up the ante on climate commitments. The phrase ‘climate change’ and the word ‘climate’ are

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repeated more than 40 times to emphasize the negative and disastrous impacts of climate
change on the American people and economy which happened and is still happening due to
Trump’s denial of this fact. The inclusive pronoun “we” includes Biden and the American
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people but Trump. It is repeated more than 50 times to highlight the crucial need for unity
and togetherness to fight and eliminate climate change crisis. Crisis metaphors are widely
used in Biden’s speech. Climate change is crisis. Climate change is a disaster ravaging
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people, cities, states, agriculture, and economy. The speech ends with national self-
glorifications for the firefighters, the first responders and US troops.
Table (4): Biden’s fourth selected speech
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Fourth Speech

Title Joe Biden Coronavirus Vaccine Speech Transcript September 16, 2020
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Length 3,812 words

Key features The speech focuses on COVID-19 vaccines, Trump’s negative response to the
pandemic, and Biden’s successful future plan of handling the pandemic.
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This speech is full of blames and negative Trump representation. Biden opens his speech
with strongly criticizing Trump’s negative response to and handling of the pandemic. In terms of
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actor description, Biden describes Trump negatively using negative lexicalizations: lack of

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seriousness, 200,000 American deaths, catastrophic mistakes, thousands of Americans died, the

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same weak and feckless inaction, the same lies, empty promises, no interest, disqualifying,
incompetence, dishonesty, and fiascos. Trump is associated with mistakes, lies, empty promises,
dishonesty, incompetence, lack of responsibility and seriousness. The speech is full of blames.

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Blaming discourse strategy is widely used in Biden’s speeches. According to Biden, Trump
refused to warn the American people regarding the danger of COVID-19 (he was fully informed
on the gravity of the danger related to COVID-19, he refused to warn the American people). In
Biden’s speech, Trump showed lack of seriousness with which he continues to take this

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pandemic (Nearly eight months after this crisis, on the doorstep of 200,000 American deaths,
President Trump has refused once again to take responsibility or to take action. By his own
admission, he continued to lie about COVID-19. He doubled down on the catastrophic mistakes

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that he’s made. And perhaps worst of all, he made clear that he still doesn’t have a plan to bring

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us out of this crisis). Number game strategy is crucial in supporting one’s story. According to
Biden, “200,000 American deaths” is the negative and catastrophic result of Trump’s mistakes.
The third person pronoun “he” is repeated more than 35 times. The proper noun “Trump” is
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repeated 11 times. The word “president” is repeated (18) times. The pronoun “he”, and the two
lexis “Trump” and “president” are used to emphasize Trump’s negative response to the
pandemic crisis. Comparison is crucial in political speeches since it can be used to assign
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positive qualities to the self and negative qualities to others. This speech is full of comparisons.
Biden always represents himself and the Obama-Biden administration positively, while Trump
and his administration are represented negatively (And if he gets four more years, why should we
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expect anything to change? All the president had to offer last night, President Trump, was the
same weak and feckless inaction, the same lies and empty promises that we’ve seen from the very
beginning. He still won’t accept any responsibility. He still won’t offer a plan. And last night, he
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repeated what he’d said so many times before, that even if he continues to offer only failing
indifference, someday the virus is going to go away by a miracle. Even if he does nothing, it’s
going to go away by a miracle). Consider this quotation in which Biden makes a clear positive
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comparison of the self and negative comparison of others (We actually created more jobs in the
last three years of our administration than he created in the first four years of his administration.
We actually had more equitable distribution among middle class folks and the like. There were
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fewer people at risk). According to Biden, Trump does not respect science (he doesn’t have any

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respect for scientists. He basically said it. You saw what he said when he was out in California

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about wildfires. Scientists don’t know, and it’s going to go away like a miracle). After criticizing
Trump’s disrespect for science and scientists, he glorifies and praises science and scientists (I’m
profoundly grateful to the scientists and the researchers working tirelessly to ensure that a safe

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and effective vaccine becomes a reality as soon as possible. These scientists carry the hopes of
our nation, our entire nation and the entire world, and when their work comes to fruition, and it
will, there will be no doubt it will save lives).

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Figure 4. Cirrus analysis of Biden’s coronavirus vaccine speech

In terms of actor description, Biden describes himself, using the pronoun “I” as a powerful
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actor able to deal with the pandemic with his successful plan (I’ve been calling for an effective
distribution plan to be laid out for months. If I’m elected president, I’ll begin by
implementing an effective distribution plan from the minute I take office. The division of
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responsibility at every level of government has to be clear, and I will provide the leadership
necessary to carry out that plan. I’ll level with the American people. I’ll take responsibility,
and I’ll support, rather than tear down the experts responsible for the day-to-day execution
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of the plan. I’ll simply follow the science. With satisfactory answers to these three questions
that Senator Harris and I have laid out, every American, including me and my family, can
have confidence in a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine). Inclusive pronoun “we” and
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national glorifications are always used and employed by Biden. Unity and togetherness

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3830027
 16

(Biden and the American people) together are able to solve problems and eliminate crises

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(We unite. We do it together. I’m confident we’ll be able to do it. I want to thank you. God
bless our scientists and researchers and our frontline workers. And may God protect our
troops). Spiritual and leadership metaphors are employed skillfully by Biden in the speech.

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Biden always encourages scientists and American people using the inclusive pronoun “we”
to work together as a team to fight the pandemic and other problems that are facing his
country. He always spreads hope of a better future for all Americans. Through the speech,
Biden conveys messages of a good leadership, messages about what should be done

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how/why should it be done and what should not be done, what is good and what is bad.
4. Conclusions
The image of the positive representation of the self and the negative representation of

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others is clear and obvious in all of Biden’s selected speeches. The analysis shows that most of

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Biden’s speeches focused on the most influential crises which happened in the United States of
America during Trump’s administration such as COVID-19, the killing of George Floyd, and
climate change. The analysis also shows that Biden skilfully used and employed the discourse
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strategies such as actor description, blaming, comparison, empathy, examples,
inclusion/exclusion, lexicalization, metaphor, national self-glorification, number game, and
repetition. In terms of actor description, Biden represents actors such as (Biden, Obama, and
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Kamala Harris) positively, while Trump and the current administration are described negatively.
The speeches are full of blames or burdens, blaming Trump for his mistakes and his negative
responses to crucial crises such as racism, COVID-19, climate change, and economy. The
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speeches are also full of positive comparisons of the self and negative comparisons of others.
Compassion move or how to move people through emotions is also used, especially in Floyd’s
speech. In all of the speeches, Biden gives many examples and illustrations of Trump’s mistakes
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and weak responses to the different crises in the country. Trump is always included when Biden
mentions negative things. Negative lexis are always used when Trump is mentioned. Metaphors
are also used in Biden’s rhetoric: war metaphor (battle against systemic racism, COVID-19, and
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climate change), leadership metaphor (the need for a strong and good leader), and spiritual
metaphor (the need for hope, light, love, and better future) for the American people. Praising and
glorifying the country, US presidents other than Trump, American troops, scientists, and
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frontline workers are present in all of Biden’s speeches. Biden also used numbers and statistics to

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3830027
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support his stories which are related to COVID-19 deaths and climate change negative impacts

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on American people and economy. Repetition of something is used to emphasize this something.
Biden many times repeats negative issues such as pandemic deaths, climate change impacts such
as floods and hurricanes on people and economy, and systemic racism.

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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3830027
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References

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Batstone, R. (1995). Grammar in Discourse: Attitude and Deniability. In G. Cook & B.
Seidlhover (eds.), Principle and Practice in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

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Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. London:
Longman.
Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the News. London: Routledge.
Hart, C. (2010). Critical Discourse Analysis and Cognitive Science: New Perspectives on

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Immigration Discourse. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jorgenson, M. & Philips, L. (2002). Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method. London: Sage
Publications.

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Sinclair, S., & Rockwell, G. (2016). Voyant Tools. Retrieved from http://voyant-tools.org/

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Van Dijk, T. (1991). Racism and the Press. London: Routledge.
Van Dijk, T. (1995). Ideological discourse analysis. Special Issue Interdisciplinary Approaches
to Discourse Analysis, 4, 135-161.
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Van Dijk, T. (2000). Ideology and discourse: A multidisciplinary introduction. Pompeu Fabra
University: Barcelona.
Van Dijk, Teun. (2006). Politics, ideology, and discourse. Encyclopedia of Language and
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Linguistics. doi 10. 1016/ B0-08-044854-2/00722-7.

Van Leeuwen, T. (1996). The representation of social actors. In Coulthard, Carmen Rosa
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Calades & Malcolm Coulthard (eds.), Reading in critical discourse analysis. London and
New York: Routledge.
Wodak, R. & Meyer, M. (2001). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Sage
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Publications.
Biden’s Selected Speeches
Joe Biden Speech Transcript on Minneapolis Protests, George Floyd, May 29, 2020.
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https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-biden-speech-transcript-on-minneapolis-protests-
george-floyd
Read Joe Biden’s full 2020 Democratic National Convention speech, Aug 21, 2020.
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https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/joe-biden-dnc-speech-transcript.html

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Joe Biden Climate Change Speech Transcript in Wilmington, Delaware Sep 14, 2020.

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https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-biden-climate-change-speech-transcript-
september-14
Joe Biden Coronavirus Vaccine Speech Transcript, Sep16, 2020.

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https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-biden-coronavirus-vaccine-press-conference-
transcript-september-16

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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3830027