President Joseph R. Biden's Afghanistan Withdrawal Rhetoric: Scapegoating, American Exceptionalism, and Moral Injury

The president of the United States constructs an identity for the American “people” through rhetorical processes that can influence unity and division. In this project, I answer, “How and why did President Joseph R. Biden attempt to unify the American “people” through scapegoating the Afghan people during the Afghanistan withdrawal from July 8 to August 31, 2021?” I have analyzed Biden’s speeches on the withdrawal, reactions to images of evacuations at the Kabul Airport, and public discourse on the “moral injury” of American veterans. From each of these, I examine how, in an attempt to unify the American “people,” through scapegoating the Afghan people, Biden only further divides the American “people” as they witness the violence befalling the Afghan people. In an extension of scholarship on the rhetorical presidency by McGee, Campbelland Jamieson, and Beasley, I explain the relationship between how and why the “people” are created by the president within a genre I term “end-of-war” rhetoric. Ultimately, I find the consequences of presidential scapegoating rhetoric and American moral exceptionalism on lives of vulnerable victims in foreign wars. These consequences are that the U.S. allowed further violence to befall vulnerable victims during the Afghanistan withdrawal, such as U.S. veterans and Afghan women.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Alabama Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Oliver, Rebecca

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ohl, Jessy J.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bramlett, Josh C.
• Dayton, Amy E.
• Maddox, Jessica
• Peacock, Cynthia

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US, English

Dc Identifier Other

1052484

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ir.ua.edu:123456789/13800