Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Honors College Theses Pforzheimer Honors College 2019 Trump and his Tweets: Presidential Propaganda and its Potential Influence on the Actions of Others Stephanie Perry Pace University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Perry, Stephanie, "Trump and his Tweets: Presidential Propaganda and its Potential Influence on the Actions of Others" (2019). Honors College Theses. 238. https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses/238 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Pforzheimer Honors College at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Trump and his Tweets: Presidential Propaganda and its Potential Influence on the Actions of Others Stephanie Perry Communication Studies Professor Marie Kittelstad Presentation Date: May 8, 2019 Graduation Date: May 23, 2019 1 ABSTRACT President Donald Trump is arguably one of the most controversial political figures in American history and we, as a country, are only two years into his presidency. Most notably, socially, he has called Neo- Nazi’s “very fine people” and continues to name the media “Fake News.” Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist. Like all Presidents before him, Donald Trump has an agenda, but his includes a strategic way of using social media to push certain narratives and ideas. Through qualitative research methods in this study I will analyze if the President’s words on Twitter have a relationship to violent events that have used his name and messages to commit crimes.