Abstract

This study conducts a diachronic analysis of the strategic use of deliberate metaphors in President Donald J. Trump’s 2017 and 2025 inaugural addresses. While political oratory frequently employs metaphors to convey policy intentions and ideological stances, existing frameworks such as Deliberate Metaphor Theory (DMT)—which distinguishes between deliberate and non-deliberate metaphor use—have been critiqued for lacking a concrete methodological approach to contextual analysis. To address this gap, this study integrates Jef Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory (AT), which conceptualizes language use as a dynamic process of contextual adaptation. By applying this integrated DMT-AT analytical model to Trump’s two inaugural speeches, delivered at vastly different moments in his political career and in the nation’s history, this research investigates how and why specific metaphorical frames are deliberately recalibrated to achieve evolving communicative goals. The analysis reveals a systematic shift from metaphors of integrative, future-oriented nation-building in 2017 to metaphors of polarized conflict, existential threat, and historical restoration in 2025. These findings not only elucidate the pragmatic motivations behind strategic metaphorical choices in a consequential mode of political rhetoric but also demonstrate the explanatory potential of combining DMT with AT, thereby contributing to both metaphor theory and the analysis of contemporary political discourse.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.