Donald Trump’s Network Communication Through the Lens of the VUCA Concept
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31861/mhpi2025.51.147-161Keywords:
Trump, VUCA, digital communication, election campaign, political polarization, international security, network influenceAbstract
This article examines the phenomenon of Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States through the lens of the VUCA concept (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) and analyzes the role of digital communication in his political activities. In the context of VUCA, D. Trump's communication leads to increased polarization, emotional mobilization, the destruction of traditional information institutions, and the personalization of political strategies.
Trump's election campaign served as a model of algorithmically driven informational influence, fostering the dissemination of emotionally charged content, the delegitimization of traditional media, and the radicalization of public sentiment. His presidency is characterized by the strengthening of executive power, the intensification of domestic political conflicts, and the reassessment of foreign alliances. On the international stage, the Trump administration exhibits isolationist rhetoric, reduces U.S. engagement in multilateral initiatives, scales back military support for key partners, including Ukraine, reinforces economic protectionism, and transforms sanction policies. As a result, an environment of informational uncertainty emerges, complicating diplomatic and security dynamics. In the context of Ukraine’s struggle against Russian aggression, Washington’s inconsistent rhetoric and reduced military assistance contribute to heightened informational uncertainty and diplomatic challenges. The study confirms that Trump's digital communication is not only a tool of political influence but also a catalyst for VUCA-driven trends that are reshaping contemporary democratic processes.
The study confirms that Trump's digital communication is a tool of political influence and a catalyst for VUCA trends that are transforming modern democratic processes, causing systemic changes in domestic and foreign policy, and therefore there is a need to rethink the sustainability of democratic institutions in an era when digital communication shapes political realities faster than traditional governance mechanisms can respond.
References
Agarwal, K. (2024). How does political polarization impact legislative gridlock and policy-making processes. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 29(10), 53-64. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-2910065364. DOI: https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-2910065364
Aoki, S. (2021). About variability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Inter Faculty, 11, ix–xvi. Retrieved from https://tsukuba.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2003283/files/IF_11-ix.pdf (accessed
10 March 2025).
Beauchamp, Z. (2024). The increasingly bizarre — and ominous — home stretch of Trump’s 2024 campaign. Vox, October 18. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/politics/378299/trump-military-threat-dancing-town-hall (accessed 10 March 2025).
Bennett, N., & Lemoine, G. J. (2014). What a difference a word makes: Understanding threats to performance in a VUCA world. Business Horizons, 57(3), 311–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2014.01.001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2014.01.001
Bennett, N., & Lemoine, G. J. (2014). What VUCA really means for you. Harvard Business Review, 92(1/2).
Bissonette, D. (2020). “Modern Day Presidential:” Donald Trump and American politics in the age of Twitter. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 9(1). Retrieved from https://thejsms.org/index.php/JSMS/article/view/472 (accessed 10 March 2025).
Boczkowski, P. J., & Papacharissi, Z. (Eds.). (2018). Trump and the media. MIT Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11464.001.0001
Bodenhausen, G. V., & Peery, D. (2009). Social categorization and stereotyping in vivo: The VUCA challenge. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3(2), 133–151. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00167.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00167.x
Bolden, R. (2019). Leading in turbulent times: Learning to live with paradox. ILA Member Connector. Retrieved from https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/913527. (accessed 10 March 2025).
Bousquet, A., & Geyer, R. (2011). Introduction: complexity and the international arena. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 24(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2011.558713. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2011.558713
Brett-Crowther, M. (2018). Turbulent politics, stable science, relevant ethics. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 75(1), 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207233.2017.1406726. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00207233.2017.1406726
Calvosa, M. and Franco, I. (2022). Descomplicando o VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity). XLVI Encontro da ANPAD – EnANPAD 2022. On-line – 21–23 de set de 2022 2177–2576. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3Yr43b0. (accessed 10 March 2025).
Carlson, E., & Wheeler, C. (2024). Ten Likely Changes to Immigration Policy Under Trump 2.0. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 12(4), 335-349. https://doi.org/10.1177/23315024241274703. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/23315024241274703
Chayka, K. (2025). Donald Trump’s A.I. propaganda. The New Yorker, March 5. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/donald-trumps-ai-propaganda (accessed
10 March 2025).
Costa, B. F. (2021). Donald Trump's political communication on facebook – an analysis of the pre-election period (2020). Thematic Dossier: International Relations and Social Networks, July. https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.DT21.8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.DT21.8
de Paz González, I., & Contreras Ramírez, J. L. (2019). Expansion of Corporative Free Speech and the Ongoing Constitutional Crisis in the United States. Díkaion, 28(2). https://doi.org/10.5294/dika.2019.28.2.2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5294/dika.2019.28.2.2
Diez-Gracia, A., Sánchez-García, P., & Martín-Román, J. (2023). Disintermediation and disin-formation as a political strategy: use of AI to analyse fake news as Trump’s rhetorical resource on Twitter. Profesional De La información, 32(5). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.sep.23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.sep.23
Diop, M. (2024). An analysis of leadership and political scandals under the Trump administration: 2017–2021. International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), 13(9). Retrieved from https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR24921180723. (accessed 10 March 2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.21275/SR24921180723
Dodds, P. S., Minot, J. R., Arnold, M. V., Alshaabi, T., Adams, J. L., Reagan, A. J., & Danforth, C. M. (2021). Computational timeline reconstruction of the stories surrounding Trump: Story turbulence, narrative control, and collective chronopathy. PLOS ONE, 16(12), e0260592. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260592. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260592
Domínguez-García, R., Méndez-Muros, S., Pérez-Curiel, C., & Hinojosa-Becerra, M. (2023). Po-litical polarization and emotion rhetoric in the US presidential transition: A comparative study of Trump and Biden on Twitter and the post-election impact on the public. Profesional De La in-formación, 32(6). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.nov.06. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.nov.06
Duche-Pérez, A. B., Medina Rivas Plata, A. R., Gutiérrez-Aguilar, O. A., & Vera-Revilla, C. Y. (2024). Evaluating the impact of U.S. protectionist trade policies. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 8(10), 7066. https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i10.7066. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i10.7066
Fedoniuk, S. (2023). The VUCA-nature of modern protest communication. Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, 12(2), 205–222. https://doi.org/10.1386/ajms_00114_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ajms_00114_1
Filippov, A. (2025). How Trump addressed Congress and what his statements on Ukraine mean. European Pravda, March 5. Retrieved from https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/eng/news/2025/03/5/7206452/ (accessed 10 March 2025).
Fraser, C. (2020). Donald J. Trump and the politics of democratic dysfunction. Fast Capitalism, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.32855/fcapital.202001.010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32855/fcapital.202001.010
Grover, P., Kar, A. K., Dwivedi, Y. K., & Janssen, M. (2019). Polarization and acculturation in US Election 2016 outcomes – Can Twitter analytics predict changes in voting preferences. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 145, 438–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.09.009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.09.009
Horan, J., Brubaker, J., King, A., & Meinhold, S. (2024, August 13). Tweet like Trump: Political branding and Twitter usage among congressional candidates in 2020 and 2022. Social Science Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13430. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13430
Humire, J. M. (2024). The Foreign Policy Foundations of Trumpism. Norteamérica, Revista Académica Del CISAN-UNAM, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.22201/cisan.24487228e.2024.1.675. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22201/cisan.24487228e.2024.1.675
Isenstadt, A. (2024). Inside Trump’s push to win over the ‘bro’ vote. Politico, October 9. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/09/trump-bro-vote-hawk-tuah-girl-00183129 (accessed 10 March 2025).
Jain, K., Bapna, M., Garg, A., & Jain, J. (2022). Influence of Social Media on Electorate’s Perception towards Political Party and Its Brand Building. Res Militaris, 12(6). Retrieved from https://resmilitaris.net/uploads/paper/10b4302c118413e6112cc72eb3f99c49.pdf (accessed 10 March 2025).
Jiang, F. (2023). The Impact of Mass Media on Vote Structure and Party Politics in U.S. Elections in the Framework of Trumps Populism. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b306/2edc188c718cf55b2807d323038d7c3418ee.pdf (accessed 10 March 2025).
Khan, S. (2024). The bold marketing tactics behind Trump's return: Twitch, Logan Paul, and a surprise endorsement. Adweek, November 5. Retrieved from https://www.adweek.com/social-marketing/trumps-bold-marketing-tactics-in-2024/ (accessed 10 March 2025).
Kim, B. (2024). Social media and political polarization. Journal of Media Law, Ethics and Policy Research, 23(1), 1–46. https://doi.org/10.26542/JML.2024.4.23.1.1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26542/JML.2024.4.23.1.1
Landay, J., & Banco, E. (2025). US cuts intelligence sharing for Ukraine, adding pressure for Russia peace deal. Reuters, March 6. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/world/us-cuts-off-intelligence-sharing-with-ukraine-ft-reports-2025-03-05/ (accessed 10 March 2025).
Liu, H., Lee, C., & Goh, J. (2024). Introduction: Agile governance for a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. Global Policy. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13439. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13439
Marson, J., MacDonald, A., & Gordon, M. R. (2025). The America-sized hole in Ukraine’s war effort. The Wall Street Journal, March 8. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/world/trump-russia-ukraine-arms-intelligence-32855af8 (accessed 10 March 2025).
Maulana, M. A., & Yuliantoro, N. R. (2024). Donald Trump's foreign policy: Withdrawal from international regimes and organizations. Intermestic Journal of International Studies, 8(2), 530. https://doi.org/10.24198/intermestic.v8n2.6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24198/intermestic.v8n2.6
Naves, M.-C. (2020). Donald Trump et les médias. In Trump (Pouvoirs, n°172, pp. 75–85). Paris: Seuil. Retrieved from https://revue-pouvoirs.fr/donald-trump-et-les-medias/ (accessed 10 March 2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/pouv.172.0075
Purdie-Vaughns, V., & Eibach, R. P. (2008). Intersectional invisibility: The distinctive advantages and disadvantages of multiple subordinate-group identities. Sex Roles, 59(5–6), 377–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9424-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9424-4
Reshetar, O. (2024). Impoliteness strategy in Donald Trump’s election campaign discourse. Věda a perspektivy, 1(32), 158-168. https://doi.org/10.52058/2695-1592-2024-1(32)-158-168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52058/2695-1592-2024-1(32)-158-168
Robertson, D. (2024). Elon Musk goes all-in for Trump: The suddenly MAGA tycoon is pushing the boundaries of what social platforms (and tycoons) have done in politics. Politico, November 5. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/05/elon-musk-trump-twitter-x-election-00187467 (accessed 10 March 2025).
Rodríguez Andrés, R. (2018). Trump 2016, ¿presidente gracias a las redes sociales? Palabra Cla-ve, 21(3). Retrieved from https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6496368 (accessed 10 March 2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2018.21.3.8
Ronco, Massimo & Pretorius, Christo. (2024). Revising the Trumpian Legacy in the US Foreign Policy towards Latin America. Policy Papers. European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS). September 16, 2024. https://doi.org/10.55271/pop0003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55271/pop0003
Roth, A. (2025). ‘They brought it on themselves’: A new low in US-Ukraine relations. The Guardian, March 9. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/09/they-brought-it-on-themselves-a-new-low-in-us-ukraine-relations (accessed 10 March 2025).
Santos, S., & Griebeler, M.D. (2020). Political Polarization and Blatant Lies on Social Media. Po-litical Behavior: Cognition. Retrieved from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Political-Polarization-and-Blatant-Lies-on-Social-Santos-Griebeler/b50eb73b89c2c9c7e32a64ebba4154c2b78411d3 (accessed 10 March 2025).
Schlott, R. (2024). Trump’s savvy memes and flashy edits trounce Harris in war for precious views from young voters. New York Post, October 29. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2024/10/29/us-news/trump-is-beating-harris-in-the-tiktok-war-heres-why/ (ac-cessed 10 March 2025).
Segura, C. (2025). Trump pone a Zelenski entre la espada y la pared. El País, March 9. Retrieved from https://elpais.com/internacional/2025-03-09/trump-pone-a-zelenski-entre-la-espada-y-la-pared.html (accessed 10 March 2025).
Siswanto, S. (2018). Kepemimpinan Donald Trump dan Turbulensi Tatanan Dunia [Donald Trump's Leadership and the Turbulence of the World Order]. Jurnal Penelitian Politik, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.14203/jpp.v15i1.735. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14203/jpp.v15i1.735
Stiehm, J. H. (2002), The U.S. Army War College: Military education in a democracy. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Stromer-Galley, J., Kim, P., Khoury, C.,McKernan, B., Hemsley, J. (2022). Seeding Doubts About Voting: Trump and Biden Rhetoric Online in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. Paper presented at AoIR 2022: The 23rdAnnual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers. Dublin, Ireland, 2-5 November. Retrieved from https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/13090/10989 (accessed 10 March 2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2022i0.13090
Tasențe, T., & Rus, M. (2019). Donald Trump’s social media communication or the voice of a man is stronger than the voice of an institution. Technium Social Sciences Journal, 1(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.47577/tssj.v1i1.27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47577/tssj.v1i1.27
Teruel-Rodriguez, L. (2023). Increasing political polarization with disinformation: A comparative analysis of the European quality press. Profesional De La información, 32(6). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.nov.12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.nov.12
Vescio, T. K., Judd, C. M., & Kwan, V. S. Y. (2004). The crossed-categorization hypothesis: Evidence of reductions in the strength of categorization, but not intergroup bias. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(4), 478–496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2003.09.005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2003.09.005
Whiteman, W. E. (1998), Training and educating army officers for the 21st century: implications for the United States military academy, Carlisle, PA: US Army War College. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21236/ADA345812
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
