The Scottish Provenance of Trump’s Approach to the Media

Abstract

During the 2016 US presidential campaign (and since), there has been significant commentary about Donald Trump’s aggressive approach to the ‘mainstream media’ and accusations of ‘bias’ in its coverage of particular politicians and movements. This chapter argues that it is a mistake to view this as an isolated phenomenon, and that there was a clear Scottish (and British) precedent for this clash between populist politics and sceptical journalism during the 2014 independence referendum and June 2016 European Union plebiscite. Furthermore, it offers rhetorical examples to illustrate similarities between how Scottish Nationalists, Brexiteers, and Trumpists framed the media as ‘unpatriotic’ opponents of their respective political projects and, more broadly, ‘the nation’.