Bot narratives: American politics
Most of the narratives that bot comments seem to produce surround Donald Trump:
A main narrative questions his mental competency to be president, featuring words such as nut, unintelligible, and incorrigible. There are also many words linked to character attacks suggesting he is irrational and untrustworthy by using words such as pathological lying.
Conservative rhetorics on religion and race are also a main feature around Trump. Words such as Christ, Jesus, DEI and Blacktivism reflect his attacks on progressive political discourses while simultaneously referencing religion to resonate the the conservative audience in the US.
There are also many narratives on Trump’s criminality, indirectly referencing his position as a convicted criminal by employing words like treasonous, prison, and jail. These words also connect to the narrative on his involvement in the January 6 insurrection with the words traitor, tyranny, and Nazi.
He is also intimately connected to narratives on international conflicts, especially his close relationship with Netanyahu. The words Iran, Ukraine, bomb, nuclear, and drones reflect his multitude of threats to use force against these nations and his foreign policy discussions on military action.
Another main strain of rhetoric around Trump references themes of misinformation and manipulation reflected in words such as zealots, misleading, false, and denying. These words also fundamentally touch on his promotion of extremist and conspiratorial rhetoric. For example, his continual association of criminality and migration.
Another crucial figure mentioned frequently in the narratives is Kamala. Unlike Trump, she strangely is not linked to Gaza, which was one of the most cited reasons for her losing the popular vote and the election overall. We also see how Republican rhetorics on Kamala are featured here.
A common republican critique of Kamala is her “leftist” position, reflected in her link to words like socialism.
Further critique is shown by the use of enemy, wasting, cheaper, demise, and screw which suggest public perception is highly critical of her role as VP.
Given her presidential campaign there is a main narrative on strategies she used in an attempt to garner more votes. Words such as Beyonce, playlist, midnight Ryder and playlist. Beyonce was an endorser of Kamala and attended multiple rallies to show her support. While these media references do not necessarily present as critique they may suggest ridicule for her unconventional methods which may have undermined public perception of her seriousness as a potential leader.
Multiple references were made to her infamous debates with Trump shown through words such as enemy, trump, and debating. These show political rivalry and opposition during the 2024 elections.
The final critical narrative on Kamala is on her role as VP and its impact on the economy. We know that the economy was reportedly the main deciding factor on whom Americans voted for, thus, making this narrative even more relevant. Words of socialism, cheaper, and dollars reflect criticism of a perceived economic decline during Biden’s administration.
In contrast to Trump, narratives critiquing Kamala often target her as a person rather than the policies she has put forward. This is frequently the case with hate speech as well, in general, men experience hate speech based on the content posted while women experience hate speech based on their appearance. Words such as creepy, weirdo, and toilet aim to insult her as a person and not her political stances by associating her with negative imagery.
Another main person featured in these comments is “Joe” i.e. Joe Biden:
Predominantly the narrative critique Biden’s policies as well as his age. References of prison, jail, closet and cheating refer to accusations of wrongdoing and hidden controversies such as accusations of corruption and scandals, especially in relation to his son, Hunter Biden, and the Republican narrative on the ‘rigged 2020 election.
Similarly to Kamala, Biden is associated with economic decline, words such as cheaper and wasting form a main narrative through the comments.
His age was a main form of criticism during his administration and was also the main reported reason he stepped down, words like sleepless, jeez, sorry, sitting and smfh reflect perceived incompetence and reflect voter disappointment and frustration with Biden’s leadership.
Despite mostly being out of the public eye and also politics, many comments were linked to Barack Obama:
Accusations of wrongdoing, secrecy and political deceit is reflected through words such as caught, covering, corrupt, and rid. These are a reflection of Republican narratives reinforced by Trump. He is also linked to controversial figures such as Diddy and Jaguar Wright which further suggests he is untrustworthy.
The second main narrative surrounding Obama concerns criticism of his presidency, shit, and failure, reflecting voter disappointment with his terms.
A central debate in American politics is abortion, naturally, many comments referred to abortion and the narratives surrounding the policy issue:
Abortion is consistently linked to religion to reflect its supposed opposition to religious dogmas, words like bamphomet, satan, demon, and sacrificing all aligns with the conservative rhetoric that abortion is not a medical procedure or personal decision but something sinister.
Another feature of this narrative is framing abortion as murder by using words such as murder, unborn, and babies.
A crucial policy issue in the US is immigrations which has only become more important in the era of Trump:
Words connected to immigrants are, Americans, stolen, slaves, rid, fled, descendant, avoid, and paying. Most of these words reflect specific criticisms of immigration or defenders of immigration. Stolen, slaves, rid, and avoid refer to rhetorics of illegality vis-à-vis immigrants and insults associated with immigrants.
American reflects the narrative that many of the so-called ‘illegals’ are actually American citizens, born in the US who may be second or third-generation immigrants. Descendants can be used to categorize these second or third-generation citizens as non-Americans because of their heritage and ethnicity. Paying in this context could refer to two distinct narratives. First, that Americans are ‘paying’ for immigrants, i.e. immigrants are exploiting the American economy. Second, that immigrants are often in the US in work visas which grants these individuals very little money but given their limited options forces them to be satisfied with the arrangement.