Political communication and virality in the US presidential campaign : A CDA analysis of the 2016 US presidential candidates’ discourses and performances in late night shows

Abstract: The current study set out to shed light on the performances that 2016 US presidential candidates used during their interventions on the late-night comedy shows. Following the methodologies ofCritical Discourse Analysis, the aim of the thesis was to uncover and, therefore, analyze, the type of discourses that candidates used in the shows and how they combined them. There was establisheda special focus on the rhetorical styles used by each candidate, as well as the emotional content ofthe discourses, unexpected situations and comedy performances, with the aim to find the elements which lead to virality. This study reveals the rhetorical strategies used by politicians through ananalysis of the political and personal discourses they used in late-nigh comedy shows. According tothe results, the political discourse is most prevalent during the interview than the personal, which isused to start conversations and evoke personalized emotions. The study provides insights upon the elements found in politicians’ discourses on the late-night circuit that lead to achieve virality on social media.