On Tuesday, January 30, 2018, the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, delivered the 2018 State of the Union Address. His purpose was to showcase his accomplishments, to substantiate his agenda for the future, and to create a sense of togetherness. His use of rhetorical strategies including diction, pathos, and figurative language, aided him in doing so. Diction refers to an author’s word choice. Donald Trump starts off his speech by welcoming his audience: “Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States, and my fellow Americans.” This is important to notice because he could have easily said, “Hello my fellow colleagues and fellow Americans,” but he decided to specifically call out certain people and recognize them at the beginning of his speech. Donald Trump also stood at the podium in hopes of creating a feeling of unification. In the first lines of the …show more content…
All throughout his address, Donald Trump uses this strategy to not only once again create a feeling of togetherness, but to also instill a patriotic feeling in the American people. He states, “Over the last year, we have made incredible progress and achieved extraordinary success. We have faced challenges we expected, and others we could never have imagined. We have shared in the heights of victory and the pains of hardship. We endured floods and fires and storms. But through it all, we have seen the beauty of America's soul, and the steel in America's spine.” He wants to depict that no matter the obstacle that has been put in America’s path, its people have joined hands and overcome it all. “Over the last year, the world has seen what we always knew: that no people on Earth are so fearless, or daring, or determined as Americans.” Stated mid-way through his speech, the President uses this to express his pride in the American people, and instill the same feeling in his
In order to grasp the rhetorical situation, one must first understand the correlation between the purpose of the State of the Union Address and the response to the address. Before discussing the response in detail, one needs to know why the State of the Union Address is given. According to the website, This Nation, the intent of the State of the Union Address shall convey a message of what America is striving to become in the form of speech to the citizens. The website defines the State of the Union Address by stating, “ shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the
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.
of patriotism in his speech. He wants America to be proud even in the face of
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.
“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
Primarily he starts out his address by speaking directly to his audience, the American people. He states: “We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.” By doing so he establishes who his intended audience is, which is very important in a speech like this. It helps the audience feel a greater connection to the speaker since he is addressing them directly and relating to them.
has helped other nations yet has seen “the very sad depletion of our military”. He does not want to see other militaries grow while their own is being minimized and depleted. Another point was about where he addressed the spending of trillions while the infrastructure decays. This messages can connect to other voters, such as those from Bernie Sanders, on the issue of infrastructure. It is a real problem that many are being affected by it, and needs a solution. Trump later talked about how American factories are closing down, leaving the country, and millions of workers left behind. This resonates to those who have been affected by the closing of factories and have lost their jobs due to this. He then stated how “from this day forward, it’s going to be only America first - America first”. He wants America to be the number one priority, America comes first, the rest comes later. Trump then starts repeating the word we in many ways like “we will bring back our jobs”, “we will bring back our borders”, “we will bring back our wealth, and we will bring back our dreams”. This repetition is used to pronounce what he will do under his
In the speech, President Bush uses several metaphors to show that the United States is a strong country. Bush leads into the comparison of America, to the bending still occurring from the planes flying through the
From his extremely vivid imagery at the beginning to his conclusion that America plans to seek a solution with Russia and other nations, the president’s flow from using pathos to logos to ethos made his speech very effective and compelling. His argument was backed up and supported all through out his speech, which helped his audience believe that what he was saying is true and important. However, his speech would have been nothing without the implication and opinion that America is the strongest nation in the world. Although this point is debatable, it is our duty to help other nations. We definitely do an excellent job at helping other nations and always having their best interests at heart. I believe this was the main goal for Obama’s speech; a plan to protect the United States. The use of logos, ethos and pathos just helped his speech to be more persuasive and
As the President was ending his speech, he gives recognition to those American that are often overlooked. Due to, not having a political title or a high social class position. Throughout these recognitions, the president said “I see it”, which allows viewers to feel a sense of appreciation. By him addressing all walks of life, Americans were able to identify with the various situations and feel worthy and important. For example, Obama said “I see it in the American who served his time, and made mistakes as a child, but now is dreaming of starting over and I see it in the business owner who gives him that second chance.” This was impactful because there are millions of Americans that can relate to this story. So when they hear the president recognizing them despite one’s shortcomings is heartwarming. Furthermore, this emotional appeal leaves viewers with a good feeling about Obama, because they feel he understands them and has their best interest at heart. Therefore, Obama succeeded at being the voice of the people and touching their heart with his empathy and positive
He makes sure his audience connects with him directly by making them feel at his level, and at hiss. This way he connects to the audience, and in exchange, helps his statement of unity. Using various examples of parallelism, anaphora and refrain, Obama brands the theme of equality and togetherness in our country throughout the speech, vital to gaining the respect of his audience. Obama recalls the ‘enduring strength of the constitution’ by delving into the past alluding to America’s allegiance to the Declaration of Independence by quoting “we hold these truths. that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
Each speech has its own audience that differs from the other. In the inaugural speech the audience was the public and therefore the speech was short and used short sentences that are easy to understand. On the other hand, the state of union speech’s audience was mostly the Congress members and therefore the language was more specific and filled with political terminology. Both speeches will be discussed in context and using ethos, pathos and logos. First of all, the Inaugural Address was the President Obama’s speech that was delivered to the crowds after the oath of office ceremony that took place at the West Front of the United States.
In a quotation by Barack Obama on November 4, 2008, he says “That is the true genius of America-that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow”. Obama's inauguration speech mirrors the ideas expressed by that quote. Barack Obama's message in his speech is that through hope and change, we can pull the country out of recession, out of turmoil, and out of any difficult tasks we'll have ahead of us. What we have achieved shows that we can achieve it again, and the only reason these feats were achieved was because we were one nation working together. Obama successfully incorporate rhetoric into his speech to make it emotional, believable, and logical. His speech is a great representation of a well written rhetorical essay.
As a result from 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 media, there are many questions as to how he became so recognizable today.
Here the parallelism, again creates rhythm, while the words “hope” and “unity” also play to people’s feelings of a new beginning and comfort them. Contrasting Obama’s use of parallelism, but still using positive word choice, Trump states, “We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again”(Trump). The words “thrive” and “prosper” are an attempt to fill the American people with hope and comfort, that Trump will help solve the issues at hand. This combined with the short sentences makes it easy for the audience to understand what Trump is