In 2016 Donald Trump announced his campaign for president at the Trump Tower in New York City. At the time of the announcement, Trump’s persona was known as an extremely rich and successful TV personality. His name became infamous by having his name on the top of luxury buildings he had developed, all over the world. The Trump name to many people meant money and lots of it. Several Americans believed that he could “make America great again.” And within this first speech Trump managed to persuade several demographics to take to his cause. The reason why this speech was created was in order to persuade voters that Donald Trump was the right man to become the next commander in chief. The audience was the American people, more specifically those who identify as a right winged conservative: A group that had been influenced by fake news outlets and had distrusted the American political system. For these people ,Trump was a light in a world where everything had to be politically correct. Within this speech Trump is clearly sounding off a battle cry for what he believes is what the country needs, and by establishing himself as an Intelligent man who is passionate about this country that wants to fix the issues in America and in turn uses Aristotle's 3 Rhetorical Proofs to make that point.
Why now? In 2016 America was simply baffled when Trump entered the political sphere. He started out his campaign by making a clear critiquing of the current president at the time expressing a clear disapproval of Obama and his two terms in office. Fast forward to today and we wonder how Donald trump was able to get first place in the run for the presidency. And the answer to the how is logos, pathos, ethos. Its critical that we learn about how we as people get persuaded to do, buy or believe what is being shown to us. When it comes to politics Americans need to know how to disseminate what Is actually getting packaged and sold to them.
So, the first thing Donald Trump establishes his credibility also known as ethos. Within this speech positively associates himself as a leader. In his speech he says, “We need a leader that wrote The Art of the Deal” which is his book that he details his processes in how he makes a deal. He goes on to say that, “We need a leader that can bring back jobs, manufacturing and our military” and that we also, “Need someone who is successful and has a successful mindset to run for office .”(TIME) Drawing emphasis on the fact that, the leader that we the voters need is defined as Trump. And with this speech Trump managed to persuade several demographics to take to his cause. The Trump name had always been associated with money and luxury and Trump made sure to capitalize on that identity. He then molds his business experiences into the reasons why he would be a great leader and for his vision of the country. He draws comparisons between his business experiences and how he would run the country, like a business. To his audience in this moment Trump brings together his personal branding, his confidence, and lack of political correctness to form a credible business man.
In this one speech Trump uses the public’s distrust of the political establishment and uses it to position himself outside of that sphere of influence, making him a credible candidate to the audience. The way that he does (does) this is be leaning heavily on Hauser’s attributes of character. Within this one speech Trump is set up as a billionaire who can and has taken advantage of the system due to the fact that our leaders are weak. He believes that the American people deserve better. He establishes justice by advocating injustices’ where people take what rightfully belong to others. He establishes courage by saying “Make America great again” showing that he has a higher priority than convince. He established generosity because he shows he is going to be that non-politically correct candidate from outside of the establishment that’s going to change the system for the American people. He shows Magnanimity because he has a noble outlook on his expectations for the country moving forward. Trump builds a sense of magnificence because you can’t believe what he is saying. Members of the audience sit in awe of how he is saying and expressing every anti-Obama view that you have had, and he says that he is going to be the voice of the people. By the end of the speech, Trump gives solutions for the problems that rural America fears in a way no candidate ever has.
The second thing that Trump establishes is Pathos. When a speaker is trying to establish credibility, emotion plays a very important part. And in this announcement speech Trump uses vivid language, inspirational quotes and personal stories to move the audience towards his campaign. He tells his audience “Make America great again”. President Trump mostly appealed to our sense of loyalty to our nation, our sense of decency, our desire for protection and self-preservation and many of our deepest and most intense emotions. By talking about “how the Chinese are beating us” or how “we lost thousands of lives, thousands in Iraq. We have wounded soldiers, who I love, I love — they’re great — all over the place, thousands and thousands of wounded soldiers.”(TIME) Trump even goes as far to say that “Our enemies are getting stronger and stronger by the way, and we as a country are getting weaker. Even our nuclear arsenal doesn’t work.”(TIME) Making sure that every American is looking at him from a place of fear and then showing them how he is the one that can show a face of strength.
Lastly Trump persuades his audience by using logos. In his Speech Trump uses figures to persuade his audience that the country in in shambles. The fact that he uses numbers helps Trump persuaded his audience. Granted a lot of the facts and figures) he uses aren’t true. But in order for a statement to appear logical to the audience has nothing to do with the truth the it’s how you deliver the information. For example, he tells his audience that “our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. Don’t believe the 5.6. Don’t believe it.”(TIME) and to many Americans, this feels like the truth. This statistic reinforces the fear that American’s have in job security. It also deals with the antiimmigrant rhetoric that immigrants are taking American jobs. These false facts reinforce the paranoid white conservative perspective. They trust him because he reinforces the fallacies that they already believe.
In the end, Trump manages to persuade his audience to become supporters of his campaign, and to ultimately vote for him to become president. He achieves this goal by using logos, pathos and ethos. Thus establishing his creditability with the audience by sharing their delusions and crafting the identity of a leader in the name of the people.