Like it or not, Donald Trump’s rhetoric has worked and brought him to the White House.
‘Rhetoric’ is the art of persuasion; the science on how to write/speak and motivate the audience. Around 3000 years ago, Aristotle devised three persuasive audience appeals: the Logos (Logic), the Pathos (emotional), and Ethos (ethics). This provides a basic framework to analyse political communication and the impact it has on the public.
Post-truth politics, populism, and the rise of social media have, for the first time in American history, elected a president that speaks at the fourth-grade level. A possible reason for this might be Trump’s talented rhetoric and camera confidence. Dr Jeniffer Mercieca, historian of American political rhetoric, and Associate Professor in the department of communication at the Texas A&M University has analyzed his rhetoric in detail.
According to Pathos, the emotional appeal, Donald Trump has two primary strengths, Paralipsis and Hyperbole. Paralipsis is a figure of speech in which one pretends to ignore something by mentioning it. Sentences like “I won’t say that they all said he is our favourite, but they did, he is our favourite,” “I was always come out way above everybody else on the economy and leadership by the way but I won’t say that,” and “She also said a tweet at three o clock in the morning but I won’t mention that” are some of the popular Paralipsis statements on the social media of the current 45th US President.
The rhetoric of Senator Harris in the June 27th Debate had all the ingredients of pathos, ethos, and logos in mixed proportions
Subsequently, “Hyperbole” is an exaggerated statement and claims that are not meant to be taken literally. More importantly, it is difficult to measure the merit of such a statement. Sentences like “There has never been a presidency that has done so much in such a short period of time;” “The Greatest Economy;” “The Best votes;” and lastly, “Believe me, The Wall is getting designed right now, a lot of people say ‘Oh Trump was only kidding with the wall’ I was not kidding, I do not kid, Nah! I do not kid, I do not kid about things like that I can tell you, No we will have a Wall, it will be a Great Wall.”
Like it or not, Donald Trump’s rhetoric has worked and brought him to the White House. The questions for the coming future include could a Democratic candidate defeat Trump in the 2020 US Presidential Election? Is there any candidate in the presidential primary elections and caucuses that can challenge such form of Rhetoric?
Kamala Harris, US Senator from California and member of the Democratic Party, who has previously served District Attorney of San Francisco and Attorney general of California, might emerge as a serious challenge for the Republican Party and Donald Trump. However, before that, she needs to win the 2020 Democratic Party Presidential primaries and Caucuses.
The rhetoric of Senator Harris in the June 27th Debate had all the ingredients of pathos, ethos, and logos in mixed proportions. The moment with Joe Biden and her brilliant intonations, particularly when she said: “…. And I will ensure that this microphone that the President of United States holds in Her hand is used in a way that is about reflecting the values of our country…”
The intonation of the word ‘Her’ was delivered with a strong pitch, reminding America again that the US never had a female president. Can Kamala Harris emerge as the first female president of the US? Can she use the art of persuasion better than Trump?
Televised debates have always been a cocktail of rhetoric and drama and the year 2020 would reveal the bitterness or sweetness of this upcoming race.
The writer is a lecturer and trainer with academic experience accumulated from the US, Turkey and Germany