Logical Fallacy

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Presidential Election 2016: A Basket of Deplorable Logical Fallacies.
Presentation · March 2017

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.23917.59361
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Presidential Election 2016
A Basket of Deplorable Logical Fallacies. Or, Why
Logic and Reason Should Still Have A Place in
Public Discourse. Or, What The Hell Just
Happened? And What the Hell do we do Now?
(The title was going to be “And What the
FUCK do we do Now?” but I won’t be that
person who has the word “FUCK” in the
title of their presentation)
(c) Chris A. Kramer 2017
Overview
• 1. What are some of the errors in reasoning
from the Presidential Campaign?
• 2. What are the consequences of not

reasoning properly or not making any effort at
all to use logic?
• 3. How can we call out people for failures in

reasoning without shutting down discourse?
Common use of “Argument”--WAR

Argument
• Latin argumentum— evidence, ground,
support, proof.
• Arguere --make clear, make known, prove.
• There are rules to this game.
• Fallacies are errors in reasoning.
• “Cheating” in the game of argument.

What if we are not playing the
argument game?

What if we are not playing the
argument game?
Follow
Donald J. Trump
• ✔ @realDonaldTrump
In addition to winning the Electoral College in a
landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the
millions of people who voted illegally
2:30 PM - 27 Nov 2016
50,740 Retweets
149,086 likes
“Come now, let us reason together”

Hillary’s Fallacies

“Basket of Deplorables”
• HILLARY CLINTON: “To be grossly generalistic, you could
put half of Trump supporters into what I call the ‘Basket of
Deplorables.’ Right? The racists, sexists, homophobic,
xenophobic, islamophobic, you name it...
• …But the other basket of people are people who feel the
government has let them down, the economy has let
them down, nobody cares about them. She added, "And
unfortunately, there are people like that and he has lifted
them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to
only have 11,000 people, now have 11 million. He tweets
and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric."
• http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/09/10/hillary-
clinton-basket-of-deplorables.cnn

“Basket of Deplorables” Analysis
• 1. Hasty (Gross) Generalization.
• 2. Ridicule.
• 3. Stereotype.

“Basket of Deplorables” Repair
• Substitution:
• To be grossly generalistic, half of all pick-up
truck drivers are jackasses.”
• What is a “jackass”?
• What is a “Basket of Deplorables”?

“Vote for Clinton…or against AIDS
research. Your choice.”
• Hillary Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon:
• “If any American voter is troubled by the idea
that the Clintons want to keep working to solve
the AIDS crisis on the side while Hillary Clinton is
president, then don’t vote for her.”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa_swv8oF
HQ
• http://www.mediaite.com/tv/joe-scarborough-
shreds-pathetic-clinton-defense-of-foundation-
go-back-to-middle-school/
“Vote for Clinton…or AIDS” Analysis
• False Dichotomy.
• Black-and-white fallacy.
• Failure to consider other reasonable
alternatives.

“Vote for Clinton…or AIDS”
Repair
• Me: Milo, you need to either have your diaper
changed, or put on your eye patch. Those are
the only two options.
• Milo: No. Donut.

“You changed your mind!”
• “We need [a president] with steady hands, not
one who says he is neutral on Monday, pro-
Israel on Tuesday, and who knows what on
Wednesday.”
• http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/videos/2
016-03-21/clinton-knocks-trump-s-
inconsistency-on-israel-at-aipac

“You changed your mind!”--Analysis
• Inconsistency “You Too” Ad Hominem.

“You changed your mind!” Repair
• Me: Lola (3yrs old), you should not use heroin.
It is highly addictive, will lead to you losing
friends, jobs, and you will very likely end up in
a ditch somewhere.
• Lola: But dad, you are shooting up right now!
• Therefore, your conclusion that heroin is
wrong, does not follow.
• Also, slippery slope, father!

“Colin Powell summed it up well”
• On the March 6 edition of Face the Nation, Hillary
Clinton spoke about the retroactive classification
of more than 2,000 emails she sent on her
personal server while Secretary of State.
• “Colin Powell summed it up well,” she told host
John Dickerson. “He was told that some of his
emails from more than 10 years ago were going
to be retroactively classified, and he called it ‘an
absurdity.’”

“Colin Powell summed it up well”--
Analysis
• Fallacious Appeal to Authority.

Repair
•

Repair
• Buy a Cadillac, because this guy said to:

“Trickle down—Boo”
• Clinton summarizing Republican economic
strategy, with a goodly amount of snark:
• “If we let those at the top pay lower taxes and
bend the rules, their success would trickle
down to everyone else…” Crowd boos.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgGPMrL
HRy0
• Min. 5:45

“Trickle down—Boo” Analysis
1. Straw man—is this the only policy in play
from Conservatives?
2. Oversimplification.

“Everything will work out from there.”
• “He [Trump] really believes that the more you
help wealthy people the better off we’ll be,
and that everything will work out from there.”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEHPrYU
coi0 min 8.30—11:30
• Sep 26, 2016 Presidential Debate.

“Everything will work out from there”
Analysis
• 1. Straw man.
• 2. Hyperbole.
• 3. Hint of sarcasm.

“Trickle down—Boo” and “Everything
will work out from there”
Repair
• First, abide by the Principles of Faithfulness and
Charity.
• “Those bleeding heart liberals just want to tax
the rich so their constituents don't ever have to
work again. They think that increasing taxes will
solve everything."

“Trump=Orange Hitler”
• Bill Maher calls Trump “Orange Hitler.”
• Then, with some irony, Maher exclaims:
• “Civility is nearly dead…”
• Maher is a comedian, so should he get a pass?
• http://www.diversityinc.com/news/trump-
hitler-comparisons-intensify/

“Trump=Orangutan”

“Trump=Orangutan”

“Trump=Orange Hitler” Analysis
• 1. Fallacy Ad Nazium.
• 2. Weak Analogy.
• 3. Ad Hominem Abuse.
• 4. Poisoning the well.

Trump’s Fallacies
Big League
I have the best fallacies. Believe me.

"They're rapists"
• "When Mexico sends it’s people, they're not
sending their best….They're sending people
that have lots of problems, and they're
bringing those problems to us. They're
bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're
rapists. And some, I assume, are good
people.”
• First campaign speech June 16, 2015

"They're rapists“
Analysis
• See Clinton’s “Deplorables” comment.
• But Trump’s example offers no clarification.

“The election is rigged.”
• “Nov. 8, we'd better be careful, because that
election is going to be rigged," he said August 1st
in Ohio "People are going to walk in and they're
going to vote 10 times, maybe, who knows?”
• But…
• “I would like to promise and pledge, to all of my
voters and supporters and to all of the people of
the United States, that I will totally accept the
results of this great and historic presidential
election — if I win.”
“The election is rigged.” Analysis
• 1. Poisoning the Well.
• 2. Scare Tactic.
• 3. Begging the Question.

“The election is rigged.” Repair
• Careful people, Trump was not born in the US.
So, he cannot legitimately become president
in January. Also, I think he once killed a
guy…just to watch him die. Maybe that was
Johnny Cash. Who knows for sure. But I am
hearing that it was Trump. Saw it on the
internet.

"You're going to end up in World War
III."
• “You're going to end up in World War III over
Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton.”
• http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-
37766786

“You're going to end up in World War
III.” Analysis
• 1. Slippery Slope.
• 2. False Cause.
• 3. Scare Tactic.

“You're going to end up in World War
III.” Repair
• “You're going to end up in World War III if
Trump is elected.”
• Any Direct TV “Don’t end up in a ditch on the
roadside” commercials.

“If you don’t think it is true, just ask
me.”
• “I’m gonna be the best president. Believe me.”
• “We are going to win so big you won’t believe. Believe
me.”
• “I’m gonna find out what’s going on. Believe me.”
• “Everybody said nothing [violent] happened in my
rally.”
• “Everybody said I won the debate.”
• “Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t
reflect who I am.”
• "I know more about ISIS than the generals do," Trump
said in November in Iowa. "Believe me."

me.” Analysis
• 1. Proof Surrogate.
• 2. Fallacious Appeal to Popularity.

me.” Repair
• “Everybody knows the earth is flat” (said in
1350).

“It is a correct tweet”
• NBC Host Matt Lauer asked Mr. Trump about a
2013 tweet in which he said sexual assault
was to be expected when you put women in
the military.
• "There are many people that think that that's
absolutely correct."
• http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-
37303432

“It is a correct tweet” Analysis
• 1. Appeal to popularity.
• 4. False Cause fallacy.

“Replace with something terrific.”
• On Obama care: “It’s gotta go,” Trump said of
ObamaCare in an interview Wednesday with CNN.
“Repeal and replace with something terrific."
• When pressed on specifics, Trump said the
country’s healthcare system should rely on private
health plans that are largely unregulated by the
government.
• http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/249697-
trump-replace-obamacare-with-something-terrific

“Replace with something terrific.”
Analysis
• Vaaaaaggguuuuuee! (Vague)

“I won’t say it. I won’t say it.”
• Trump: “I was going to say ‘dummy’ Bush; I
won’t say it. I won’t say it.”
• “I promised I would not say that she ran
Hewlett-Packard into the ground, that she
laid off tens of thousands of people and she
got viciously fired…I said I will not say it, so I
will not say it.”

“I won’t say it. I won’t say it.”
• “I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo,
because that would not be politically
correct,” he wrote on Twitter. “Instead, I
will only call her a lightweight reporter!”
• "Unlike others, I never attacked dopey Jon
Stewart for his phony last name. Would
never do that!”

“I won’t say it. I won’t say it”
Analysis
• 1. Paralipsis—Drawing attention to
something by pretending to pass over it.
• 2. Innuendo.
• 3. Weasler.
• 4. See title for this talk.

“They deserve it anyway."
• "Would I approve waterboarding? You bet your
ass I would — in a heartbeat…And I would
approve more than that. Don't kid yourself,
folks. It works, okay? It works. Only a stupid
person would say it doesn't work…Believe me,
it works. And you know what? If it doesn't
work, they deserve it anyway, for what they're
doing. It works."
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-
politics/wp/2015/11/23/donald-trump-on-
waterboarding-if-it-doesnt-work-they-deserve-
it-anyway/ (c) Chris A. Kramer 2017
“They deserve it anyway." Analysis
• 3. Vagueness.
• 4. General Horribleness.

“Dummy”, “Dope”, “Failing”….
• As of October 23, 2016, The 282 People,
Places and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted
on Twitter:
• http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01
/28/upshot/donald-trump-twitter-insults.html

“Dummy”, “Dope”, “Failing”…. Analysis
•Ad Hominem
•Abuse.
“That’s our Syrian Refugee Problem”

• “This image says it all. Let’s end the politically
correct agenda that doesn’t put America first.”

Analysis
• 1. Caveat: Charitability suggests we do not
presume a dehumanizing comparison
between refugees and candy.
• 2. Weak analogy.
• 3. False Cause—Over-simplified Cause.

Analysis
• Weak analogy 1:
• Average bowl: 50-100 skittles.
• Number of displaced Syrian refugees: 4.2—6.5
million.
• If the analogy were apt, there would have to
be 126,000 to 321,000 terrorists in the Syrian
refugee population.

Analysis
• Weak analogy 2:
• How similar is the one person who might be
harmed by the skittles to the entire US?
• Could one terrorist annihilate the 300+million
Americans as the poisoned skittle would kill
the “entire” person?

Analysis
• Weak analogy 3:
• Skittles are inanimate bits of food (barely)
with no needs.
• Syrian refugees, largely women and children,
are humans to whom we have both legal
(treaties) and moral obligations (Judeo-
Christian values, and/or common human
decency).
• Adapted from Dan Brooks
Reply from
Breitbart News
Feminists used the

same analogy

Reply from Breitbart
• “This is just another example of situational
logic and moral standards from the political
left. Any particular narrative tool is perfectly
legitimate if they want to use it, but the
moment the right does, it is time for an all-out
attack.”
• http://www.breitbart.com/big-
journalism/2016/09/20/flashback-leftists-
used-skittles-analogy-attack-rape-culture/

Reply from Breitbart--Analysis
• Do they have a point?
• Not really.
• 1. Inconsistency “You Too” Ad Hominem.
• 2. Weak Analogy.

“I’m going to answer the question that
I want.”
• Lester Holt: “How specifically do you bring jobs
back?”
• Trump: “China and Mexico are taking our jobs…they
are the best at it….Secretary Clinton should have
been doing this for years…what’s happened to our
jobs and our economy generally…”
• Two minutes later—Holt: “But back to the question
though, how specifically do you bring jobs back?”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEHPrYUcoi0
min.9.30--
“I’m going to answer the question that
I want.” Analysis
• 1. Red Herring.
• 2. Smokescreen.

“I’m going to answer the question that I
want.” Repair
• The View:
• “She is vocal about the wolves being killed, but is she
as loud about the thousands of children being killed by
abortion every year?”
• Turn it around:
• “She is vocal about all of the children being killed by
abortion every year, but is she as vocal about all of the
wolves being killed?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RheyjY72fLk&featu
re=PlayList&p=1A9382D144BEF1DA&index=2

Why Any of This Matters
•Does it?
•Hell YES!

Consequences of “Argument is War” or no
argument at all
1. Win at all costs.
2. Truth is fine, IF it will help me win.
3. Political opponents become “evil” enemies to be defeated.
4. Logical disagreement is viewed as an affront to one’s
essence/identity.
5. Collaborative discourse with the goal of improving the
world becomes difficult.
6. Confusion, misinformation, ambiguity, vagueness, stoking of
fear and anger become the norm.
7. Feelings of certainty stand in place of rational investigation.
8. Might makes Right.
Very general suggestions for
responding to your political
interlocutors who you suspect might
be guilty of committing a fallacy or
arguing for the equivalent of “the
earth is flat”, but you might have to
eat dinner with them later, so you
realize you need a better option than
punching them in the face.
{ME} {MY IDIOT OPPONENT}

Suggestions
1. LISTEN TO WHAT THEY ACTUALLY SAY.
2. If something is unclear, ask them.
3. Re-present their argument to them clearly, faithfully, and
charitably (helps to have PowerPoint with you).
4. Assume their premises are all true.
5. Check whether they support the opinion they are trying to
convey.
6. If not, their opinion is a non-sequitur (but don’t say that—
don’t use any Latin phrases), and you don’t need to go
further.
7. If they do support their opinion, now called a “conclusion”,
then determine whether the claims are in fact true.
8. Do all of this with a smile, but a non-contemptuous one.
What are they going to do?

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Presidential Election 2016: A Basket of Deplorable Logical Fallacies.

Presentation · March 2017

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• 2. What are the consequences of not

• 3. How can we call out people for failures in

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Feminists used the

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