Beyond Consensus: Symbolic Convergence and Affective Polarization in Algorithmically Mediated YouTube Discourse on Trump’s 2025 Inauguration

Abstract

This article examines 466 YouTube comments posted in response to CNN’s coverage of Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration to explore how symbolic convergence operates beyond consensus in algorithmically mediated digital discourse. Drawing on Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT) and Agenda-Setting Theory, the study analyzes how symbolic cues activate situational, character-based, symbolic, and action-oriented fantasy themes that crystallize into competing rhetorical visions. The findings indicate a predominance of negative sentiment, particularly through situational and character-based fantasies that frame the inauguration as a moment of democratic crisis. At the same time, positive and neutral fantasies sustain narratives of national restoration, legitimacy, and resilience. Rather than converging toward shared agreement, these fantasy chains stabilize antagonistic meanings through affective alignment and narrative repetition shaped by platform visibility logistics. By integrating netnography with thematic analysis, this study conceptualizes YouTube comment spaces as an affective-symbolic arena in which symbolic convergence functions as a mechanism for producing and sustaining affective polarization. In doing so, the article advances SCT by demonstrating that convergence in platform-mediated political discourse operates through the algorithmic stabilization of competing symbolic realities rather than consensus formation.