Rhetorical Analysis Of Sarah Palin's Speech

During the presidential elections of 2016, Sarah Palin was chosen to endorse Donald Trump. The speech was presented in the Republican National convention in St. Paul. Her job was to make Trump sound like the best candidate there was in order to gain more supporters as well as votes. In 2016, during a patriotic speech to voters everywhere Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, evoked sarcasm and devotion frankly by exposing and bringing forward new perspectives on the academic debate. Through the use of allusion and coarse language and strong put downs along with her stern voice and amplification, Sarah Palin lured in voters and ensured them that Donald Trump is the best suited candidate to run our country eventually putting him on a pedestal

above other contenders in hopes this will help him win the election so he can start to “make America great again.”
Sarah Palin shows great mastery over the art of diction fluctuation. In this speech she was able to appeal directly to the people with a straight forward vocabulary, which at times would change into an even more brash style of language. This is apparent when she states “Because you are ready to make America great again.” This was incredibly important at the time of the elections because emotional tensions were especially high. To ensure that these voters would sway in favor of Trump, Palin uses his catch phrase in a very brash way. It has no apparent build up, and will immediately garner a reaction from extreme Trump supporters. She is hoping that others who are not decided yet will get caught up in the emotional storm of the moment and sway toward Trump. This is still important today because the catch phrase still holds the same amount of power, and can be used to get support for any legislation Trump would like to be passed. Sometimes quick brash words that carry emotion are far more powerful than any overbearing speech could ever hope to be.
To further her argument even more Palin uses an allusion to Reagan’s time in office. When speaking about the military power of Reagan’s time as president Palin details “Power through strength.” When an assertive President is in office the entire nations benefits due to his ability to get new ideas off the ground. This strength that a President has can move the entire nation in a different direction. This was especially important because many Americans have regarded our many of our previous presidents terms to be uneventful, leading our situation as a nation to stagnate. What Palin is stating here is a break in the status quo, a new aggressive leader that will cause change to happen, for better or worse. People in the present still regard the more chaotic nature of our current president as something good for the U.S, a way to find more novel solutions to any number of problems Americans may face.
With a stern tone palin grabs the attention of the audience she is beholden to. One instance where this is true is when she states “A new commander-in-chief who will never leave our men behind.” Palin keeps the light alive in Trump that voters want to see by staying calm and stern when addressing Trump’s future plans for America. Overall, the elections are a dog fight and the winner is going to be the least upsetting out of the candidates, so stating the good that Trump wishes to pursue during his presidency and doing so seriously is important. Knowing this, throughout the process of polishing Trump to American’s, Palin continues to weave in and out from being steely in order to show an elaborate technique to persuade individuals to fall into the hole of Trump. The austere style of language that Palin shows frequently throughout her endorsement is used in many successful speeches in the past and will continue to be used as a strong persuasive device in the future.
The combination of these rhetorical devices, although used in many successful speeches, weren’t in Palin’s favor unfortunately.

This speech was attacked from all angles because of some of the mistakes that were plucked out and analyzed by many. First, Palin’s outrageous assumptions about the Democratic establishment threw many listeners off guard. Stating that democrats comply with the old school contender more even if it’s not what is best for our country is a offensive statement that was not backed up the slightest. When trying to present someone to the world of different political views it was not the best idea for Palin to shoot down one of the biggest parties in the election. Second, her repetitive and sloppy choice of words was extremely difficult to keep up with for instance, “Well, and then, funny, ha ha, not funny, but now, what they’re doing is wailing,” and “He builds things, he builds big things, things that touch the sky.” While representing a popular politician it is important to show an educated perspective to the people firmly so that trust is developed throughout the speech, Palin failed at this miserably. Finally, during a sensitive time period with bombings and fighting Palin makes a reference about how politicians wear their, “political correctness kind of like a suicide vest.” If the previous unrecommended techniques Palin used didn’t run off listeners this surely did. However, despite the cons of Palin’s endorsement she did an outstanding job on communicating to her appointed audience. She knew she was stepping into a room filled with Republicans and appointed them appropriately. Moreover, nowadays society has become more acceptable with casual language during professional circumstances and Palin had a fine mix between proper and improper speech that fitted within her time period. Overall, Sarah Palin’s endorsement speech was not perfect and had many hiccups, but what it did do was set up a platform for Donald Trump to get a running start on

making America great again.