Isabel Díaz Ayuso and the weasel words: Nativism, traditional morality and markets in the political discourse of the right in the community of Madrid

Abstract

Introduction: This research identifies and details the structuring trends in the discourse of the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, from the perspective of political ideologies and discourse strategies. Neoliberalism and nativism are the starting point to study her political speeches. Neoliberalism evolves with the introduction of traditional morality in the framework of mercantilism, according to F. Hayek, by means of the main discursive strategy that this author discovers in the use of the so-called Weasel words. Methodology: The research begins with the electoral program of the People's Party in the 2023 elections and the videos published on Díaz Ayuso's YouTube profile during that year. The 14 most-viewed videos are used to exemplify in detail the characteristics of the structuring trends in her discourse. Results: In order to empty other topics of meaning and stress the ultra-liberal discourse, the Madrid leader uses weasel words such as “Freedom”, “Family”, “Ideology”, “Corporation” or “Spain”, which reduce the political semantic memory by changing its context. Discussion: The use of weasel words in her discourse generates interactions that place the receiver outside the public sphere: in religion, morality, commerce and tourism, business, individual life, suppressing traditional elements of political content such as the common good, social welfare, redistribution of wealth, public dialogue or class justice, devalued by the leader. Conclusions: Isabel Díaz Ayuso personifies the neoliberalist tendency of the anti-political style based on the use of weasel words that replace the social agenda in favor of contents of the individual world, of the purely economic, of traditional morality, thus reducing the political debate.