The Pragmatics of Donald Trump's Declaration of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) On ‘X’ In 2025

Abstract

This study examines the pragmatics of Donald Trump’s 2025 declaration of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) on X, to investigate how the statement functions as a political speech act and what effects it generates. The research is anchored in Speech Act Theory, particularly J. L. Austin’s distinction between locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts, and John R. Searle’s classification of illocutionary acts into assertives, directives, commissives, expressives and declarative. A qualitative research design was adopted. The population consists of Trump’s tweets on insecurity and international intervention, while two tweets were purposively selected as samples: the CPC declaration tweet and a tweet announcing an air strike in Nigeria. Data were collected directly from X and analysed using both tabular classification and descriptive interpretation to identify the dominant illocutionary forces and possible perlocutionary effects. The findings reveal that the CPC tweet is largely assertive, with one central declarative act that attempts to alter Nigeria’s international status, while the air strike tweet is mainly assertive and commissive, with a limited expressive element. The study concludes that political tweets function as powerful performative acts capable of shaping diplomatic relations, influencing public perception and constructing political realities in the digital age.