Digital Political Branding: A Comparative Linguistic Analysis of Social Media Communication by the Indonesian and U.S. Presidents

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-563-8_27How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Appraisal Theory; Critical Discourse Analysis; Political Discourse

Abstract

This study explores how political leaders take advantage of language to shape evaluative meanings, assert power relations, and express ideological positions. The analysis focuses on two public statements released by Prabowo Subianto and Donald J. Trump about the same diplomatic event. Using a qualitative descriptive approach grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics, the study combines Martin and White’s Appraisal Theory with Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Through this integration, the research provides both detailed linguistic observations and broader socio-political interpretations of how meaning is constructed in political discourse. Appraisal Theory is used to examine Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation resources across both texts, while CDA provides an interpretive framework for understanding how these linguistic choices reproduce power, identity, and ideology. The findings show clear differences in how the two leaders position themselves and shape meaning. Prabowo’s statement leans toward moderate judgement and measured appreciation, uses monoglossic language to build consensus, and employs graduation in a controlled way. Together, these choices create a discourse of diplomatic politeness, mutual benefit, and balanced geopolitical positioning. In contrast, Trump’s statement is marked by highly amplified appreciation, assertive monoglossia, and extreme graduation, producing a discourse centred on national superiority, economic triumph, and a strong sense of personal authority. The combined Appraisal - CDA approach demonstrates that the two leaders frame the same event through distinct political lenses: one emphasizing cooperation and stability, the other foregrounding achievement and dominance. The study concludes that bringing together linguistic and critical perspectives makes it possible to fully understand how political discourse influences public perception, legitimizes power relations, and shapes different forms of national identity.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ahmad Muam
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/04/28
TI  - Digital Political Branding: A Comparative Linguistic Analysis of Social Media Communication by the Indonesian and U.S. Presidents
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of Research on Language 2025 (IROLE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 360
EP  - 375
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-563-8_27
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-563-8_27
ID  - Muam2026
ER  -