Make America Better Again: Emotional Narratives and the Use of Instagram in the Campaigns of Trump and Biden
2025-12-05
This article examines how Donald Trump and Joe Biden used Instagram as a platform for emotional political storytelling during their campaigns and presidencies. Based on a thematic analysis of a large sample of Instagram posts (approximately 9000 reviewed, with selected posts analyzed in depth), and grounded in affect theory and visual political communication, the study identifies six central emotional patterns—nostalgia, fear, pride, hope, unity, and grievance—through which both leaders constructed emotionally resonant narratives. While often portrayed as ideological opposites, the analysis suggests that Trump and Biden operate within a shared emotional grammar: both mobilize longing for the past, symbolic restoration, and moral clarity to emotionally realign a fragmented electorate. Instagram, with its aesthetics of intimacy and symbolic condensation, enhances these strategies by offering a visual vocabulary attuned to affective public sentiment. The analysis explores how both leaders engage with and reshape prevailing emotional undercurrents in American society, focusing on how emotion functions as a narrative resource in digital political communication. In doing so, the article contributes to research on affective publics, the emotional simplification of politics, and the role of visual storytelling in the performance of democratic legitimacy in the digital age.