Construction of Legitimacy Through Discourse in Mike Pence’s Speech of COVID-19 Task Force Briefing

Abstract

To investigate how legitimacy is constructed through the deliberate use of discourse, this study employs a descriptive qualitative method in examining the transcript of speech in Mike Pence’s COVID-19 Task Force Briefing. Within the context of fundamental theory, this study uses the three-dimensional synthesis of Fairclough’s (1992) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Along with the CDA theory, the arguments of findings are given interpretation through existing significant lexical choices and metaphors that most indicate the linguistic pattern of the subject. Such as inclusive expressions. The study reveals that legitimacy arises from discursively built, rhetorical, and persuasive communication that shapes moral obligations, rather than genuine public consent. It further suggests that political language during the period of crises operates in the form of power and the authority to influence public perception. Additionally, this study seeks to significantly contribute to the research of how language is firmly on constructing human social purpose and goals.