Authority, Household, and Restoration: A Detailed Comparative Analysis of Metaphor and the Strict-Father Moral Frame in Trump’s 2017 and 2025 Inaugural Addresses

Abstract

This paper offers a refined comparative analysis of Donald J. Trump’s 2017 and 2025 inaugural addresses using Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) (Lakoff & Johnson 1980) and Lakoff’s subsequent “nation-as-family” moral framing (Lakoff 1996/2002). Building on two prior speech-level readings (the 2017 speech, manually coded earlier in this project; and an independently provided, detailed 2025 analysis), I employed a systematic coding scheme to classify metaphorical expressions into structural, orientational, and ontological types, and map each onto elements of the Strict Father moral frame (protection, discipline, moral education, hierarchy, reward/punishment, moral clarity). Quantitatively, the 2017 corpus contained 21 coded metaphorical instances (Structural = 10, Orientational = 6, Ontological = 5), while the 2025 corpus contained 41 instances (Structural = 16, Ontological = 17, Orientational = 8). Qualitatively, both speeches instantiate the Strict Father model but in different paternal phases: 2017 as rescuing/disciplining (warrior father), 2025 as rebuilding/providing (builder/guardian father). The paper proposes a small dynamic model of paternal-phase rhetoric, traces implications for persuasion and policy legitimisation, and discusses limits and future directions (computational validation, experimental framing tests).