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Effects of Rhetoric:

A study on Trumps immigration speechs

Brenda Chaidez

UC Davis
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Trumps Rhetorical Persuasion

Trump is pushing for a change on immigration laws. He wants to build a wall to prevent

immigrants from entering and wants to pose harsh restrictions on these people. One of the

restrictions is to kick out all immigrants of the country because he thinks they are bad. He wants

everyone to agree with his ideals. In order to do this, he tries to persuade them with his words. I

will also show how he does this by expanding on an authors argument on Trumps speechs

regarding immigration. Trump uses rhetoric to influence the public and political figures to agree

to his immigration plans which is important to show how this political figure tries to persuade his

audience.

During a speech on immigration in Phoenix, Arizona Trump tries to persuade the crowd

to impose harsh restrictions on immigration and is blaming immigrants as well as Hillary Clinton

for the deaths to the citizens. He blames Hillary and immigrants for bad events that happen to the

citizens because of immigrants. He does this so that the audience can direct their anger towards

them and make the problem look simple and easy to solve when he says, Countless Americans

who have died would be alive today if not for the open border policies of this administration

and the administration that causes this horrible, horrible thought process, called Hillary Clinton

, and then blames politicians for not securing the borders and enforcing our laws. In these

statements, he uses pathos by blaming all deaths on them without showing evidence but instead

tries to evoke sympathy to his cause by exaggerating deaths caused by immigrants and Hillarys

lack of condemnation towards them. In his statement, he is letting the audience conclude that

every immigrant that crosses the border are murderers and broadly labels them all this way. This
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helps to make his immigration plan simple for they have an easy target to remove for the reason

that all immigrants are bad as Trump implies.

Another tactic that Trump uses in his speeches is ambiguity. In an article by Gert

Kuntzman in the Daily News he states that Trumps rhetoric is made up of vague words that

cover up his lies. Another article on NBC News by Benjy Sarlin supports the previous claim

by stating that his speech was, notable for what it left out than for what it included. These

authors arguments help to show Trumps rhetoric. He uses vagueness in his speech to confuse

the people. One of the examples is when Trump uses the word bad hombres to classify the

hardworking Mexicans, which is a broad representation of these people and gives a false

connotation to them. To influence the people, he calls them bad so that the people will believe

they are and give the immigrants a bad image. In his speech to the cabinet he states, They are

bad people.. to also paint a bad image to the cabinet member so that they will pass these

immigration laws to protect the citizens of the ..bad people.. He groups all the immigrants

together as bad. The term is also vague because it is not like the words murderer or killer which

are harsh but still lets the people interpret the words as they may which could also be murderer or

killer without him having to state this.

Much like the ambiguous words that were earlier stated, Trump emphasizes words to try

and convey his point to the audience. In one of Trumps tweets he says, We MUST have strong

borders and stop illegal immigration. Without that we do not have a country. Also, Mexico is

killing U.S. on trade. He uses this to emphasize that this is important and must do when he

capitalizes the word must. He uses alogism when saying that because of them the people would

not have a country which does not make sense but makes the people empathize with his cause

because they feel their sense of patriotism to protect their country. He again uses an illogical
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statement when saying that ..Mexico is killing U.S. on trade.. which gives a harsh connotation

and makes the Mexicans sound brutal giving them a harsh image. In these examples, he used

unfavorable words towards the immigrants and Hillary to paint them as bad people to help his

argument of his immigration plans. He also emphasizes his words as a sort of call to action to the

audience that these bad things need to be stopped. The words show an urgent and desperate tone

which help to rile the people.

Trump also uses other ways to appeal to audience regarding his immigrations plans.

Trump tries to make himself appear patriotic to the audience. He begins his speechs with this

tactic to form a bond with the people. When Trump starts his speech on immigration he uses

words to evoke patriotism and help build a connection with the crowd by saying, And, by the

way, just like I am a man who loves my country, the United States. By stating the obvious,

Trump attempts to gain trust from the audience. The crowd applauds after this statement and

makes the people feel a closer connection because patriotism is something that unites people.

This is used so that people will listen enthusiastically to him because he wants what is best for

the country that he loves. This type of rhetoric helps engage his audience in the beginning

and has them hooked and ready to listen to whatever else he is going to say.

Trump uses rhetoric to make himself appear hardworking, and agreeable to the audience.

To make himself appear this way he states how hard the situation is that he is trying to help the

people with, Today, on a very complicated and very difficult subject, you will get the truth. He

makes himself appear as if he is dealing with something that is crucial for the peoples well-

being which makes the people interested in his words because they want to be safe. Because he

expresss how difficult the situation is people will pay more attention since it sounds like it is an

important topic for the audience. This will also unite the people because this complicated
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matter could affect them all so they will pay close attention to Trumps words. He again states,

But if were going to make our immigration system work, then we have to be prepared to talk

honestly and without fear about these important and very sensitive issues., to make this matter

appear important for the people. He also uses were to tie them all together to impress upon the

people that everyones benefit is included in this. He again stresss how these are sensitive issues

so they feel that they are delicate and crucial for them to fix. These words also make the people

feel comforted because he is addressing these concerns for the citizens well-being. He also says

in both statements that he will give them the truth and will talk honestly, which makes the

people like him and think that other people are telling them lies. This lets the people conclude

that he is a good person because he will speak honestly to them and that other politicians lie to

them as they do not do this. This helps to convince the people that he is good-hearted person for

telling them the truth and speaking honestly to them while doing these hard things for the

country.

In contrast to making himself appear kind, Trumps ridicules people to coax them into

agreeing with his immigration plans. In twitter to anyone who does not agree with him for

instance he says, For those that dont think a wall (fence) works, why dont they suggest taking

down the fence around the White House? Foolish people! He ridicules the people for thinking

differently from him and implies that anyone who does is foolish and that their thoughts dont

make sense. He tries to make himself look smart by calling the people foolish which implies

that he is the smart one. He also gives a comparison of the wall which does not make sense

because they are two separate things but is still used to prove his point that he is the smart one

because he gave an example. He also ridicules the politicians as he states, Jeb Bush just talked

about my border proposal to build a "fence." It's not a fence, Jeb, it's a WALL, and there's a BIG
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difference! In this statement, it makes Jeb appear as if he is misinformed when he corrects him

when saying that its a WALL implying that it is the most obvious thing. He makes fun of Jeb

and makes him appear foolish to the people. He ridicules people so that they think their

arguments or thoughts are wrong. With these types of statements, he lets people conclude that

people who are against him are foolish and that since he does not believe this way he is not.

Another way Trump uses his speech to make himself appear stronger is by intimidating

people in order to manipulate them. He intimidates the people which makes the people less

courageous to state their opinions. When Trump is giving a speech to the cabinet he greets many

of the people individually who are on his side and congratulates those who are helping him and

emphasizes his support to them, with us today are Congressman Peter King, another friend.

Lou Barletta -- where's Lou? Lou, another friend. So you're running for governor, Lou? Look

behind you, Lou. You can make a big announcement -- (laughter.) Lou Barletta, an early

supporter. Thank you, Lou. And David Young. This creates a barrier between the people who

do and dont support him. The people who do not support him appear as outcasts in this

situation. He emphasizes that this person is a longtime supporter as if this makes this person

great. He states it as if it is a milestone that others should be reaching. He even acknowledges the

fact that the person is running for governor as if he is a paid advertisement to help this cause.

This shows how he is using his influence to help this person because Lou is on his side and this

is a manipulation on Lou and intimidation on the other people who do not support him and could

lose the vote to Lou. Trump tries to make people feel senseless and beneath him so that he

appears smart and powerful. He uses these tactics in his rhetoric to manipulate people.

Trump uses rhetorical devices to influence the citizens and political figures thoughts and

emotions. The author from NBC News helped to show how his manipulation of words impacted
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the audience even with vagueness and inaccurate facts and how these where used for his benefit

and how these were not factual and substantial words. Trump changes his words when talking to

citizens in a speech, cabinet, or a tweet. Each of these tactics with his word choices he uses to

manipulate people by making himself appear to be very important and intimidating and in some

cases hardworking and kind to the people.

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References

F. (Trans.). (2016, September 1). Transcript of Donald Trumps Immigration Speech. The

NewYork Times. Retrieved August 14, 2010, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/us/politics/transcript-trump-immigration-

speech.html

Kuntzman, G. (2017, February 13). Donald Trump's policies, not Mexicans, are the real

immigration problem in America . Retrieved August 15, 2017, from

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-policies-real-immigration-problem-u-

s-article-1.2971123

Remarks by President Trump During Meeting with Immigration Crime Victims (O., Trans.).

(2017, June 28). Retrieved August 15, 2017, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-

office/2017/06/28/remarks-president-trump-during-meeting-immigration-crime-victims

Sarlin, B. (2017, March 1). NBC News. Retrieved August 23, 2017, from

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/trumps-address-to-congress/donald-trump-teases-

immigration-shock-backs-speech-n727386

Williams, B. (2016, August 26). Trump's immigration policy (or what we know about it) in 13

illuminating tweets. Retrieved August 15, 2017, from

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/26/politics/donald-trump-immigration-tweets/index.html