Exploring Irony and Affective Effects: Pragmatic Analysis of Elon Musk’s Support for Trump on X

Abstract

The present study explores the pragmatic nature of irony and the affective effects it triggers in Elon Musk’s digital support for Trumps 2024 presidential elections campaign. Being the CEO of X, Musk’s posts are highly influential as they reach all X audience. Drawing on relevance theory and multimodal pragmatics, the research examines how Musk employs irony to convey implicit political messages and evoke emotional responses. The study focuses on Elon Musk’s tweets related to Donald Trump during election campaigns, with a specific emphasis on ironic content. Data was gathered from Musk’s official X account, filtering posts using key words like; Trump, president, must win, elections 2024, and similar phrases indicative of potential sarcasm or irony. Audience interactions, including replies, retweets and engagement metrics, were analyzed to assess affective effects. Two schedules were developed to organize the tweets by date, theme, and multimodal elements, such as images or memes, ensuring a comprehensive selection of relevant data for linguistic and pragmatic analysis. The analysis integrates linguistic multimodal framework to investigate the interplay of text, images and key words in creating propositional and non-propositional effects, such as humor and sarcasm, which are meant to maximize support and polarization. The study also considers the role of irony in shaping public discourse and its sociopolitical implications, particularly in online political communication. Preliminary analysis suggests that Musk leverages irony not only as a rhetorical device but also as a tool for emotional engagement, amplifying his influence on audience perception and public debates. The findings highlight the complex interplay between irony, affective resonance, and audience interaction, offering insights into how digital communication strategies can impact sociopolitical narratives. The findings also show that the affective effects triggered by irony maximize memorability and persuasiveness in Musk’s digital discourse