The cultivation of political fears of the state and radical change of attitudes in
the minds of people is possible in certain socio-political and economic
conditions and massive propaganda in the mass media. The concept of political
fear is insufficiently studied in psycholinguistics. This article is dedicated to
exploring the political fears of the state in the modern American mass media.
This research uses hypothetical-deductive and inductive methods, methods of
definitional, interpretative and subjective analysis, and content analysis. It is
found that in the modern American mass media, political fear of the state is
revealed in fear of war and competition. To verbalize the horror of war and
struggle, politicians in power use various tactics of agonal function as the main
means of impact on opponents.