Introduction Donald Trump is a non-conformist. On January 20, 2017, President Trump delivered his inaugural address to both the citizens of the United States and the world— one that has unquestionably defied all norms established by previous presidents; it was short, direct, and was loaded with populist fiery and raging nationalism. The message of Trump’s address was evident— through the vivid illustration of the negativity within the nation, the recurrent declaration of an ‘America first’ policy and grandiose promises, and the inculcation of a patriotic ideology— he sought to unify the voices of dissatisfied Americans and elicit their support for his agenda to ‘make America great again’. This paper will analyze the content, structure, and …show more content…
By doing so, Trump establishes his stage presence and a respectable ethos to fortify the reliability of his speech. He then continues on a positive note by declaring that henceforth, the nation with combined efforts, will revitalize the country and ‘restore its promise for all of our people [American citizens]’, overcoming any and all potential obstacles to ‘get the job done’ (Trump, 2017). These opening lines exemplified the unique characteristics of Trump’s language; unlike other prominent political figures, his directness and colloquial style portrays a familiar figure— one similar to the ‘average American’, strengthening his connection with the …show more content…
What ensued was a wave of blatant criticisms directed to the previous government and his political counterparts. ‘For too long, a small group of people in our nation’s [the United States’] Capital has reaped the rewards of government’; ‘Washington flourished— but the people did not share its wealth’ (Trump, 2017); Trump unreservedly accused the previous administration of being self-seeking and negligent towards the voices and woes of the citizenry. He separates himself from the likes of the previous administration and attempts to create an image— he stands steadfast for the citizenry and opposes the bureaucratic state. Trump furthers his speech by promising American citizens that they will regain powers and authority that were absorbed by politicians and Washington after his inauguration; this is especially evident when he stated ‘January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.’ Through said comments, Trump attempts to further build his ethos; by suggesting that he is dissimilar from the establishment, President Trump could garner and secure greater support from citizens who are anti-establishment / dissatisfied with the status
The use of persuasive literary devices and tactics guarantee a strong and powerful address. However, Trump’s address, could leave Americans feeling unsettled as he manipulates a traditional address. He synthesizes an addresses that will surely be remembered for its lack of sophistication, abandoned formality, and aggressive tone. The ramifications of breaking tradition results in Trump’s failure to prompt
In his “State of the Union” speech, President Barack Obama effectively uses the rhetorical devices of Ethos, Pathos and Logos to convey a more convincing message to the citizens of the United States to urge them to follow the example of the many people that have made their nation greater.
He implements this emotional appeal into his speech to involve all Americans—people living in the United States of America, regardless of their ethnicity, race, or culture, and to acknowledge that the American people have endured this together, and that they will continue to advance after this event with stronger resolve, stronger than ever. In addition, he implements personification to motivate and empower the American people. “Our nation, this generation, will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future” (Bush, 2001). “This generation”, again a synonym for the American people, with its unwavering resolve, will fight for its freedom persistently. He intimates that the future of America and of democratic freedom is in the hands of the American people; that the American people have the power to control their fate.
Once more, President Obama presented the annual State of the Union Address to the American people. For the most part, Mr. Obama focused on the issues of immigration and health care reform, wages, energy, infrastructure and education; all the while particularly stressing the value of hard work. Like any other discourse, his speech employs various rhetorical devices as well as the elements of the “rhetorical triangle”: ethos, pathos and logos. Thus, in order to gauge the effectiveness of Mr. Obama’s address, one must examine the speech wholly on a rhetorical level, making sure to ignore any personal political views and notions of inaccuracy. Arguably, it also seems that of his various methods, the President’s most effective strategy was to mention personal anecdotes of people planted within his audience. Basically, it appears that the various rhetorical strategies utilized by President Obama in his address were mostly effective; while still, of course, holding some notable flaws.
of patriotism in his speech. He wants America to be proud even in the face of
“Today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.” With this statement, Trump had set the tone for his entire speech, and exhibits another of his main points in uniting the American people. “Rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young students deprived of knowledge.” Trump’s use of descriptive language, to create vivid imagery for the audience here is one of the most powerful statements he makes in his speech. The emotional response Trump is able to strike in the listener, and the feelings he creates with his appeals to pathos throughout the speech is a big part of what makes this an effective inaugural
Part I: Reasoning in the Inaugural Address. President Roosevelt in his inaugural speech first realized the importance of his presidency, the speech and the US. He mentioned that the thing the US nation needs to fear is the fear itself. He further mentioned it as unreasoning, nameless and unjustified terror which constraints and paralyzes the efforts needed to make a retreat (Davis, 2014).
Every 20th of January, the United States undergoes the passing of power from one president, to another. On this specific election, Donald J. Trump was elected as president. He has received much criticism from opposition, but much praise from his supporters. Although a very controversial person, Trump gave a great speech that was based on uniting the people as one. Trump used multiple rhetorical strategies such as repetition, pauses in speech, and listing are just a few of them. Adding hints of populism, his speech was one that touched many citizens. While very controversial, Trump’s inauguration speech was one that was based on the people, not the elite, about bringing back what made America great, and uniting everyone as one.
President Obama’s Inaugural Speech: Rhetorical Analysis. Barrack Obama’s inauguration speech successfully accomplished his goal by using rhetoric to ensure our nation that we will be in safe hands. The speech is similar to ideas obtained from the founding documents and Martin Luther King’s speech to establish ‘our’ goal to get together and take some action on the problems our country is now facing. As President Barack Obama starts his speech, he keeps himself from using ‘me’, ‘myself’, and ‘I’ and replacing it with ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘together’ to achieve his ethos.
As a result of extreme hard work and perseverance followed by an unmatchable drive to succeed, Donald J. Trump has earned the right to be known as a multi-billionaire, real estate icon, and President of the United States of America. Reflecting on his life, he has faced many challenges and overcame them all. To understand how he rose to success and his journey to the top of the kingpin, it is important to recognize how he saw the American dream and pursued it. Today, many recognize him as the president, but very few can fully grasp all that he has done in his life. From his start as a real estate mogul, to his impact on the media, there are many questions as to how he became so recognizable today.
Trump’s inaugural speech indicates how individuals are manipulated in order to affect their personal political views. First, he presents a picture of a bleak America, emphasising, “the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here, stops right now.” However, the repetition of right focuses the audience’s attention towards a change and not on the carnage, which elevates his own character. The appeal of emotions through ethos establishes that his solutions are an effective remedy to stop this carnage. He then instils the responders with hope, “from this day forward, it's going to be only America first. America first.” The insistent tone, emphasising “America first,” serves to uplift the anaphora of the promises he is making to the citizens of America. He repeatedly stipulates, “I will fight for you with every breath in my body, and I will never, ever let you down,” further acknowledging his own motivations and personal agenda whilst in office. Abigail also attempts to showcase her religious façade, similar to Trump, to increase her standing in society. Hence, the political motives impounded, upstage the worst in
Trump’s Inaugural address is written during a sensitive time in America. Besides being divided by political parties, an even greater divide was, and still is, prominent between the Citizens and the Government. Trump addresses this great divide and his thoughts about it in depth through his Rhetorical strategies. To specify, Trump’s belief that the Government has been the cause of the People’s problems, and that he, as the voice of the people, will solve America’s problems by giving the power back to the people. Trump’s most prominent display towards his overall message is seen through his use of Tone that can be found throughout the text.
Whenever a U.S. president comes into office, they are required to give an inauguration speech in order to thank the previous President for their service and outline their plan for the Country. In most cases, the speeches refer to the U.S. as if it is a project. Meaning something that has many problems that need to be fixed in order to make the country a better place. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump were no exceptions to this trend. In each one of their respective speeches, they displayed what they think is wrong with the country, what is causing the problems, and what the best course of action to solve these problems is in their own unique way based on their personal beliefs.
Bush’s method of topic by topic argument along with many emotional appeals was a rather effective way of winning the audience’s support. By appealing to the emotions of the audience Bush was able to give the audience issues they could relate to as well as issues they would feel strongly about. With an emotionally involved audience Bush was able to gather a great number of supporters of his party, just as he intended in his original purpose. The further reference to the character of the people involved in the issues really paid off by drawing the crowd closer to the people working for them. With the topical structure and the appeals used, the speech was a very effective tool in gaining support for the Republican Party from the northern Arizonan audience.
On July 27, 2004, Barack Obama made arguably his most important speech, “The Audacity of Hope”, at the Democratic National Convention Keynote Address. These conventions are for political parties to announce a winner for nomination. All the way through his piece, Obama focuses on connecting Americans and himself to the audience. In fact, at the time, Barack Obama was a US Senate candidate for the United States president, and in making this speech, was offered a window for raising his popularity. Throughout “The Audacity of Hope” speech, Barack Obama implements three main devices to raise his political popularity: repetition, abstract language, and structure.