Circumstances

Donald Trump delivered his immigration speech on 1st of September, 2016 at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Donald Trump ran for presidency as a Republican Party nominee against Hillary Clinton who was the Democratic Party’s nominee. He subsequently won the elections in November 2016. This is why the speaker makes numerous references to Clinton and discredits her campaign in the speech: “Hillary Clinton has pledged amnesty in her first 100 days, and her plan will provide Obamacare, Social Security and Medicare for illegal immigrants…” (ll. 122-124)

However, at the time of the speech, Donald Trump was facing a lot of opposition and criticism, both from within the Republican Party and from most of the media which often presented him as an unreliable candidate. This is perhaps why he also often criticizes the media in his speech: “But the facts aren’t known because the media won’t report on them…” (l. 25); “Only out of touch media elites think the biggest problem facing American society today is that there are 11 million illegal immigrants who don’t have legal status.” (ll. 100-101)

His speech focuses on the issue of immigration in the US, which was a very sensitive topic...