Representation of verbal aggression in public political discourse

The purpose of the article is to identify linguistic and stylistic means of verbal aggression in American public political discourse. The study is based on the scripts of J. Biden's video messages regarding the special military operation in Ukraine, released from February 2022 to June 2023. Since modern speech culture rejects direct manifestation of aggression in public political discourse, the study demonstrates more acceptable forms of aggression. These include labels that are political pejoratives, speech acts of accusation and condemnation, and evaluative judgements. The objects of the latter are the intentions and actions of Russia in the context of the special military operation in Ukraine, the consequences of these actions for both sides, the activities and views of Vladimir Putin, and his personality. The argumentation accompanying Joe Biden's evaluative judgements is characterized as pseudo-argumentation since it presents a variable interpretation of reality. In terms of communicative linguistics, verbal aggression in the speech of the current US president is implemented as part of a discrediting strategy through the opposition of “own” vs. “alien”. In general, verbal aggression contributes to the implementation of manipulative influence on the audience.