Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rhetoric
By Justin Lyman
Throughout the course of political history, politicians have never ceased in their attempts to
persuade the voters their way. Within the course of the last calendar election, Republican Presidential
frontrunner --and now President-- Donald Trump ran with powerful and provocative speeches that were
able to wake the Silent Majority: the forgotten man, the neglected American. Trumps most prominent
beliefs in helping to ensure the dreams of the voters and mandating more power to individual states are
manifest in his inauguration speech, given on Friday, January 20, 2017 in Washington D.C. This speech
focuses on redistributing political power from the long-held Democratic establishment in Washington to
the people of the United States. Its a speech that captivated the masses, each word more powerful than
the next. How did he do it? How does he still continue to do it as President? The answer is a strong
rhetoric, focused on repetition of certain words that reach the people, regardless of race, sexual
orientation, or anything else. This rhetorical device draws upon the repetition of certain words for literary
emphasis and has been used in some of the greatest, most powerful speeches of all time. As much as
anyone will try to convince you, President Trump is not an unintelligent man. Hes a man of his word; full
Near the start of his inauguration speech, President Trump draws upon another rhetorical device
For too long, a small group in our nations Capital has reaped the rewards of government while
the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished but the people did not share in its wealth.
Politicians prospered but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected
Repetition of the people and certain phrases that show Washingtons power such as Politicians
prospered create a clear picture of what President Trump wants those within earshot to understand.
Analyzing President Trumps Clever Rhetoric 2
Trump uses another strong rhetorical device of contrast in this excerpt, which paints a seemingly black
and white difference between the Politicians and the people, the politicians in an ominous black, the
people in a redemptive white. This particular use of rhetoric by President Trump is noticeable throughout
his speech, especially towards the beginning. By putting emphasis and repetition on the people and
contrast them to the Washington politicians, he is able to reach a wide audience of Americans on both
As the speech continues, President Trump makes a specific promise for his America First
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. We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports,
and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation. We will get our people off of welfare
and back to work rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor. We will
follow two simple rules: Buy American and Hire American. (para. 43-46)
Repetition of the words we and our become especially important at this point in the
Presidents speech. Again, its a call to the people for more than just taking back their lives; its a
challenge to traditional political authority. These lines are arguably some of the most powerful of his
whole speech. Why? His commanding rhetorical stance inspires the his Silent Majority and countless
Americans which he has worked for, and will continue to work for, to take control of their lives and their
country. President Trumps rhetoric is highly persuasive and able to reach a broad demographic of
Americans. He draws upon the power of repetition to create emphasis on certain words which unify a
politically correct and dysfunctional nation. This strong tool is used in many of his speeches, creating a
very consistent speech pattern that is easily distinguishable from other politicians of our time. This clear
persuasiveness was more than enough to hand him the White House for the next 4 years. If he continues,
References
https://www.whitehouse.gov/inaugural-address
Analyzing President Trumps Clever Rhetoric 4
Whitaker, M. (2016). Editorial: rural America and silent majority powered Trump to a win. Retrieved
from
https://goo.gl/p4kw3M