In her editorial, “Trump Is a Cornered Megalomaniac-and That’s a Grave Danger to the Country” (2017), Sasha Abramsky claims that Trump is about to explode as his impeachment is closing in. Abramsky proves her point by using forced teaming, emotional words, and contingency. Abramsky is telling us about upcoming impeachment of Trump, his final attacks back, and the celebration that is already starting. Her audience consists of typical left wing liberals who are fried about Trump’s election.
Abramsky uses forced teaming in her editorial to prove her point that Trump is not only failing as a president, but on the verge of becoming extremely violent. Abramsky tries to get us to have the same viewpoint as her by using one, single, powerful word-we.
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Abramsky uses the word we multiple times in one paragraph. She doesn’t doubt for one minute that we would have a different opinion, in fact we must expect the worst possible scenario, as she states, “We have to assume that Trump will, in desperation, at some point try to unleash his mob; that he will try to intimidate and harass into silence those who oppose him.
We have to assume that he will try to manufacture—or exacerbate—international crises as a way of rallying on-the-fencers to his side. We also have to assume that, as he grows more unstable and more self-pitying, he will make more enemies on all sides—and that those enemies in turn will only fuel his fury.”
This is one obvious example of forced teaming but if you are not on the lookout you won’t even notice, and you will probable go along with it, even though it is as far-fetched as a statement might be. With this type of sneaky writing your content doesn’t have to be up to par, but you can still come across very
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effective. Another rhetorical device that Abramsky uses to sway her readers is the use of emotional words. Abramsky uses many different emotional words in many different areas. A few of the different words Abramsky uses in one area includes soulless, amoral, and thug. These are the words that Abramsky uses to describe Donald Trump. These words have very strong emotional meanings. While the connotation of the is very harsh, even the denotation isn’t necessarily accurate, it’s all an opinion. Further on Abramsky uses more emotional words, some of these include embarrassed, humiliated, mocked, and deliberately hurt. This is a very effective strategy. She starts out with a nice word and is easy to handle, embarrassed. Trump has embarrassed a few people, but then to use more words such as mocked, humiliated, and deliberately hurt. Once again these words are simply opinions. Still Abramsky uses more emotional words. Eventually there are so many emotional words that if we are just reading because we are interested, we will accept her opinion. For it truly is an opinion piece. Lastly, Abramsky uses contingency to sway her readers to stand firm with her on her opinions.
She has it sprinkled throughout her entire editorial, but to pinpoint the contingency- it can be difficult. She uses contingency in a discreet way, but at the same time so glaringly public. Let’s examine an example. “We also have to assume that, as he grows more unstable and more self-pitying, he will make more enemies on all sides—and that those enemies in turn will only fuel his fury.” Abramsky says that as he grows more unstable, he will make more enemies. No questions asked, we have to assume. Discreet, but very glaringly public. Abramsky goes on to explain that since Trump is the commander in chief, we will soon see “an entirely unvirtuous, and increasingly destructive circle” and it’s only going to get worse. The reality is just because Trump is the President of the United States, doesn’t mean he is going to blow up the world. This is another prime example of
contingency. Using literary devices, Abramsky comes across as a very cunning and effective author. A few of the literacy devices that she uses include forced teaming, emotional words, and contingency. Without these tools we may not agree that Trump is a terrible man who is about to be impeached. With the use of literacy devices, you can transform an opinion piece to a very scholarly piece.
..., SJ. “Soft, Hard or Smart? What is the right choice for Obama?”. Defence Research Paper, JSCSC, 2008/2009.
The letter from George Bush to Saddam Hussein was littered with aspects of Pathos, due to perpetual use of fear. Throughout the letter, Bush seems to make threats to not only Hussein, but also to the entire country of Iraq. This is exhibited when Bush writes, “it will be a far greater tragedy for you and your country” (par. 5). Furthermore, the use of threats amplified the aspect of fear from the Pathos ideology, that is, Bush perpetually utilizes threats in order to convince Hussein to leave Kuwait or else Iraq will face major consequences: “What is the issue here is not the future of Kuwait –it will be free, its government restored – but rather the future of Iraq” (par. 4). However, Bush also
He incorporates parallelism in his statement that “we have important work to do – real opportunities to seize, real problems to solve, real security matters to face”, through the consistent use and placement of the word ‘real’. He uses this to express the real danger that our country is in, and that we need not to be focusing our attention on his act of adultery, but rather to the national security. He also uses irony in this statement, as the issues with the President and how trustworthy he is become present before issues like foreign affairs surface, and with the now-present, untrusting nature of the American populace, Clinton will have a hard time regaining their trust to handle such large scale issues. President Clinton then incorporates his last tone shift, where he shifts from being annoyed to wanting everyone who is listening to him to be dismissive of the affair and to forget what happened. Here, he asserts that he believes it would be best if everyone involved would act as if it never took place. He does not use this solely for the purpose of national security reasons, but primarily to clear his name, in hopes that if he is no longer gossiped about, the issue will be
Bush opens his speech by acknowledging the events of September 11, and those that lost the lives of loved ones and to those that gave their life trying to save others in the buildings. He appeals to those that remain strong by saying that, “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong.” His use of pathos helps Bush to calm and control the public in order to keep the country together. This
Throughout the speech, the Former President George W Bush strives to empower Americans by instructing them to remain resolute, but to “go back to [their] lives and routines”. He uses the personal pronoun we and the common pronoun us repeatedly to indicate that the people of the United States, who either saw the event on television or experienced this event firsthand, were and still are involved in this national tragedy. 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. The next sentence leads into America’s “philanthropically” democratic nature: “We will rally the world to this cause, by our efforts and by our courage” (Bush, 2001). This statement has been followed up by action only a few years later, when the United States intervened in the Iraqi War, Libyan Revolution, and even more civil wars to ensure the freedom of citizens from dictatorships, which in Islāmic nations, were militant groups, like the Hamas and Taliban. Lastly, the president utilized anaphora, specifically a tripartite structure, by affirming that the American people “will not tire”, “will not falter”, and “will not fail”. He implies that the American people will relentlessly fight for the worldwide establishment of peace and democratic institutions, a promise which America has kept even in the face of its own national crisis.
...e people of his country can characterize him as a poor leader for the electorate of his country. Although he claims to be fighting for the betterment of the nation and its stability, what can he possibly know about its condition if he fails to recognize the struggles and problems of the underclass majority of the population?
President George W. Bush is notorious for horrible public speaking, tripping over his words and making silly mistakes are not uncommon in President Bush’s speeches. When 9/11 struck the heart of America we turned to President Bush to guide us back to the path of calm and reason. The American population tends to lean on our President in time of tragedy to serve as a system of support. Instantly after the World Trade Center buildings were attacked President Bush addressed the nation on live television. Bush used neo-Aristotelian tactics: ethos, pathos, and logos to instate a sense of patriotism, argue that America will recover from this tragedy and bring justice to our nation.
Bush demonstrates that with the use of metaphors, personification, and also repetition. Using metaphor, he compares America to steel, saying that America is like steel, but not pliable. Portraying that whatever dangerous act comes to America, America will stay strong and not move. Personification is to explain the reasoning behind the terrorists’ operations and the motives behind this move. Bush gives feeling and visualization traits to the nation, consequently putting it in the nation’s point of view, highlighting what the nation felt and saw. Repetition is to bring America together and strengthen everyone. It is to show that this heartbreaking event did not just affect the victims, but it affects the entire country. The way Bush uses repetition to get the people of America together makes America stronger because the more a country is together, the more power and strength it will possess. As a final point, President Bush’s usage of these three rhetorical devices grabs the attention of the people and helps Bush express the type of tone he wants to get
Though he fights crime and has been conjured by the press into a patriotic symbol of war and victory, he thrives on chaos and destruction. He claims to be teaching the public a lesson about the cruelty and randomness of the world by embodying it.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The Life and Legacy of Donald Trump Donald John Trump was born in Queens, New York on June 14, 1946 (Ask Men 3). The fourth child of Fred and Mary-Anne Trump, Donald was born into wealth and prosperity. His family operated a profitable New York real estate developing company, specializing in middle-income housing, Elizabeth Trump & Sons (Biography 2). Trump was an energetic child and was sent to military school during his teen years to learn to disciple (Ask Men 5). He succeeded at The New York Military Academy and became a star student, football, baseball, and soccer player (Encyclopedia of World Biography 2).
In the midst of one of the most controversial presidential elections in history, both political parties are struggling to prove that their candidate is the best choice. Clinton and Trump’s disapproval ratings are very low, but one has to ask, is there really a lesser evil to choose from? While Clinton has had her own fair share of past discrepancies, Trump’s track record proves much more troublesome. Donald Trump has proven to be an untrustworthy presidential candidate because of his misogynistic actions, his racial bias, and his corrupt business history.
In foreign policy, decision making is guided by different a leader that is from presidents, cabinets, parliaments and groups such as communist party of Soviet Union and the standing committee of the communist party of china and Central Intelligence Agency of USA. One cannot run away from the fact that a leader’s personality can affect foreign policy. Maoz and Shayer believe that one cannot underrate or ignore the role of personality in decision making as it plays a huge role. By examining ones foreign policy, we can understand foreign policy better (Jensen, 1982). If a leader is aggressive then there are certain traits he will exhibit such as paranoia, manipulation, thirst for power high intensity of nationalism, (Hermann, 1980). Hitler was one leader who led to world war when he challenged the treaty of Versailles by adopting an aggressive foreign policy. The opposite is true for a mild leader for example George Washington who told Americans to avoid entrapping alliances.
Bomb Power, The Modern Presidency and the National Security State, Garry Wills, The Penguin Press, New York, 2010
First, the intensification components which are present in the text help to ingrain an idea that is distorted because the president says and reinforce the key information that he wanted that the country knew. The repetitions have an idea of persuasion behind its use, and the audience finally takes the elements which have been repeated as the truth. In this text there are crucial words such as “Union”, “Leadership”, “I thank you”, “Americans”, “American people”, “friends”, “we”, “I ask you(r)” among others, the main aim of this words is to create a feeling of unity against a common enemy, Al Qaeda. The repetition is not only used to create good feelings, but also to fill with fear and terror into the citizenship. The examples of them are mainly at the second part of the speech, they are very strong words such as “war”, “terror”, “kill”, “hate”, “terrorist” or “terrorism”. The association is also used in order to appeal to the audience’s feelings. There was a passenger, Todd Beamer, he was considered a hero and the president uses his image and his wife’s one for the purpose of making the audience feel empathy with the grieving wife. The president says that Al Qaeda “commands them to kill Christians and Jews, (to) kill Americans” and make no distinction among military and civilians, including women and children”, using this he reinforces the feeling of empathy and hatred to Al Qaeda because they have attacked to the vulnerable groups. The composition of the speech helps to intensify all that the speaker is trying to express; at the beginning he uses a solemn tone, then, he starts to speak about Al Qaeda and the attack, his words indicate that there is hatred and anger.
And one of the most important factors that points towards to this uncertainty is that for the first eight months of Bush’s presidency, he was on vacation for 42% of that time. The fact that the president of the United States of America was out of office for such a long time during the first stages of his presidency conveys to the audience that this was a man that did not take his job seriously. And the idea that Bush already seems unreliable due to his illegitimate way of obtaining the Presidential role is only heightened after Moore explains this. But it is not only Moore that proves this point, as George W. Bush himself is recorded making a statement about terrorism whilst on a golfing trip, in which he is also not working in his office. After being asked what he is going to do about recent and perhaps future terror attacks, he responds simply with: “I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you. Now watch this drive.” Not only is there a clear lack of information supplied by Bush, but the fact that at the end of the statement he immediately placed his attention back to golf, which hints he is more passionate about and cares more for golf then his country and its