A Critical Discourse Analysis of Military Power Manifestation in Donald Trump’s Post-operation Speeches

This study examines the linguistic representation and manifestation of military power in two post-operation speeches delivered by the U.S. President Donald Trump after the U.S. took action against Iran and Venezuela. Instead of looking at how ideas or policies are used to gain power, the study looks at how power is used at the micro-linguistic level as an unquestionable and unavoidable fact. Utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), particularly Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, the analysis examines lexical selection, transitivity patterns, modality, pronominal reference, and quantification. The results show that Trump’s speech builds up U.S. military power by using high-certainty modal expressions, suppressing violence by agents, using pronouns to make things more collective, and using words to show that technology is better. Military power is not debated or defended; rather, it is linguistically presented as already achieved, morally justified, and beyond dispute. The research enhances political discourse analysis by transitioning the analytical emphasis from dominance as ideology to power as discursive performance, illustrating how language serves as a strategic tool in the normalization of military force within modern presidential rhetoric.