Language is a powerful instrument that political leaders use to persuade audiences and impart political ideologies; political speech is, after all, one of the three types of speech in classical rhetoric. It certainly stands to reason that politicians use rhetoric to their advantage. The old adage, “It isn’t what you say, it’s how you say it” rings true in politics today. Politicians who address the public exert linguistic control to achieve their goals. This is true for our current president, Donald Trump.
Trump is a master of classical rhetoric. Author Joseph Romm writes that Trump speaks more like a real person than a politician, and he uses “the figures of speech specifically to match the way real people speak.” Rhetoric is meant to reach
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It is a way to silence opponents, such as women, immigrants, and people with disabilities. When treated as objects rather than people, Trump is able to maintain his power and status as the general understanding is that people should be privileged over objects (Mercieca). As Trump states in his now infamous 2005 conversation with Billy Bush, “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Jus kiss, I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything. Oh, it looks good.” The “it” in that last sentence refers to an actress Trump saw out of the bus window. “It” is a thing, not a person. A thing he can do whatever he wants with; after all, a thing cannot give its consent. When asked by Anderson Cooper about the comments, Trump’s rhetoric minimized the seriousness of his “objectifying” women. He tried to persuade his audience simply by repeating positive terms about women and arguing that the issue was not a big deal. He associated himself with something the audience viewed as positive, and then he tried to move on to “more important things and much bigger things.” His language produces the belief that people who oppose him are trivial objects, and he avoids criticism by denying his critics the ability to
There is no doubting when it comes to rhetoric that a strong emotional appeal by a credible influential figure is an incredibly effective rhetorical strategy. This is gloriously exemplified in Allison Grimes’ article, "'' Rigged' rhetoric wrong, destructive", wherein Mrs. Grimes asserts that Trumps questioning of the legitimacy of the current election cycle is dangerous, however, her usage of emotional appeal and appeal to authority underscores her failure to include logical appeal. Allison begins her article firmly, by stating "It's time to tell it like it is."
Rhetorical Analysis- Ronald Wilson Reagan In Ronald Reagan’s speech The Time of Our Choosing (aka “The Speech”) in his speech he uses emotional, appeals to the plain folk and shows patriotism. Reagan goes into depth by stating that he is greatly appreciated to speak with america. Also addresses how us as a country need to think about what freedom means. Reagan begins his speech with a situation to US citizens how he was standing there humbled by the task we have giving him of being president, how he is grateful for the trust we have giving him to be president of the united states.
President Trump established ethos by using first and second point of view. This helps him achieve his purpose of convincing to the nation that him being the president is what is best for the country. He uses personal pronouns "you", "our", "we", and "I" to appeal to the listener, so that they feel included in fight to join both sides of congress to help better America. He states, “Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people...” (Trump).
There have been many problems in society over human history. Speeches have been one solution to these problems. Speakers attempt to have the audience reach a specific conclusion after hearing the speech. They do this by using rhetoric. “Rhetoric is the art of framing an argument so that it can be appreciated by an audience.”
Former president Barack Obama, in order to regain voters after a huge controversy during his 2008 presidential campaign regarding things his pastor said used numerous rhetorical strategies to persuade his voters. Obama had to persuade his voters to stick with him. Obama used repetition, allusion and many others to get his point across to the audience. In his speech in which he is talking on racism and cultural differences he uses repetition to further emphasize his point.
One minute and thirteen seconds. The last entry on the flight transcript: LOSS OF ALL DATA. On January 28, 1986, the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its flight. Aboard were five astronauts, one of whom, Christa McAuliffe, was ready to become the first school teacher in space. Sadly, none of the five survived.
Barack Obama Has a Way with Words Barack Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope” speech was given on July 27, 2004 as the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. The speech made Obama further known in the world of politics, and a star among the Democratic Party. Though the description of presidential candidate John Kerry’s qualities makes Obama’s belief that Kerry will make the best president his obvious purpose, the quality of his speech boosted his career. Obama uses repetition devices, various sentence structures, and abstract language to create the strength and persuasive aspects of his speech.
Without a good way of speaking to people, a speech-bearer will not get the message across in the desired fashion. America likes to be fed information and likes to hear and feel the passion in others rather than creating less public and unified little passions in themselves. Citizens like to hear their leaders interpretations and feel a sense of grouping from that, therefore most people will not have read the way Obama’s eulogy was written and analyzed it, but watched him read it and felt the rigor in his voice and therefore found a better sense of understanding. Things tend to make more sense to people when conveyed by someone they look to for guidance rather than when broken down themselves.
Rhetorical Analysis Obama Throught President Obama’s speech addressing gun control, Obama effectively uses both the appeal of ethos and repetition in order to persuade individuals into agreeing with him on the topic of tightening gun control. To begin with, in order to increase his credibility on the affair and in hopes of persuading his audience, Obama resorted to the use of ethos. This is seen when he states, ”I’m not on the ballot again. I’m not looking to score some points” (Obama 2). This line refers to the 2016 presidential campaign, and more importantly the fact that Obama will not be, and cannot run again.
It was important that Bush use rhetorical appeals such as ethos, pathos, and logos in his address to the nation. He also needed to use the hope and history on which America was built on to unite the
The strategies he uses to draw in the audience are appealing to emotions, using different points of view and picking such a strong social and political topic. One strategy he uses is appealing to emotions.
By using powerful words, the audience will understand the importance of America needing to make changes and will listen to Clinton about what would happen if America does not make changes and faces dull consequences. Without the use of these powerful words, the speech would lose its importance, and the audience would not take this speech seriously. Therefore, powerful diction is an essential key to any speech or writings because it strengthens one’s ideas and arguments, and Clinton’s selection of words shows that the conflicts are important, and it is urgent that America needs to make a change. Clinton’s use of allusions and strong diction are essential parts of his speech, and it would deliver a different message without those rhetorical devices. His use of these devices conveys the urgency of making a change to make America a better nation, and it also shows him as a powerful
She did not mention Donald Trump in her speech. She only addressed him as Hilary’s opponent. Although Obama refused to even say his name, the audience all recognized that she was talking about the GOP nominee – Donald Trump. In terms of critical thinking, she employed the Ad Hominem to attack against Clinton’s opponent. Ad hominem is known as a logical fallacy which people use to attack others by their character.
In his inauguration speech, he motivated and inspired his audience using his well thought arguments and passionate tone, as well as his use of rhetorical strategies. Donald Trump is usually thought of as a powerful speaker partly due to his arguments. In his speech, his points were clearly laid out and easy to grasp. One such argument that he uses is America’s current state in both economy and general state of being, as he clearly states when he says, “We 've made other countries
His speech is similar to the one he gave in 2008 and contains repetition and conveys his political views. We notice how Obama opens his sentence with the same words such as: “We want”, “You’ll hear” and “That’s”. His speech is followed by the ideas about the USA, Americans or what the future holds for them. The first rhetorical device used by Barack Obama in his speech is an Anaphora. He starts his sentences with the same lines.