Krish Parikh Week 10 - Donald Trump and Language
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70458175/AP22030072116868.0.jpg)
Throughout my life, I've been disinterested in politics. So apathetic, I really had to scratch my head when asked "What's Obama's last name?" ... Thank you Vihaan, I now see it was a joke.
However, for a brief period in 6th grade, politics was the only thing I could think about. I would watch CNN on the daily, read all that I could about the happenings in Washington, and even tried to get involved in some Democrat volunteering. So what changed?
Donald John Trump.
Love him or hate him, it is undoubtable that he is a genius at wielding language to influence millions. As just a celebrity businessman with no political experience whatsoever, he was elected into the highest office of the world's most powerful hegemon. 5 years later as an AP English Language student, I still find myself wondering how he managed to become the President of the United States, and I seek to explore this in my blog post this week.
Through my research, I notice that one of Trump's greatest assets is his use of superlatives. On the campaign trail in 2016, he didn't just claim to create more jobs, he promised to be "the greatest jobs producer that God ever created." After getting sick with the coronavirus in 2020, he didn't just tell the press that he was doing fine in his recovery process, he asserted that "[had] more energy than any human being on Earth." Size matters, in a bigly way. While the sophisticated saw through his hubris, it became a rallying cry for those who believed in the American dream, yet saw theirs slowly slipping away as jobs moved overseas and the wealth gap grew. When you're down, you don't want to back a president who will just "boost the middle class," you want a president who will "double our growth and have the strongest economy anywhere in the world." And so exaggeration after exaggeration, he won the faith of tens of millions of voters who finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
While Donald Trump ultimately used his power to largely benefit himself and his associates over the American people, it is a testament to the impact of words and the importance of courses like APEng, where young minds learn to dissect, become immune to, and ultimately leverage rhetoric.
He uses a lot of simplified language and rarely inserts any "big words," but even when he does, he mispronounces it. And maybe, just maybe, this is his brand of relatability. Our 45th president Donald J Trump brings one more thing to table and that is allowing his supporters to take part in the illusion of upper class life. He asserts himself as an elite, takes pride in his riches, yet then goes on to play the populist game. But this over and over reassertion of the same values seems to bridge this overwhelming wealth gap. His speeches seem to alleviate the burden economic strife amongst his most avid supporters. It's also a return to the glory days as Trump provides these people an outlet to vent their bottled energy—to fulfill a sort of craving for the generational conflict that seemed to be present in the memorable periods of U.S history.
ReplyDeleteHey Krish,
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of an assignment we did last year. Over the course of a 45 minute EdPuzzle (yes, 45 minutes), we analyzed and deconstructed several of Trump's speeches in order to find out the logical fallacies. I was already quite aware that there were many exaggerations and logical falsehoods in his wording, but after that EdPuzzle, I learned that there were classifications and even things like "fallacy fallacies". I would enjoy doing these types of activities in AP English to supplement our argumentative capabilities; I feel like these would help students make a lot less mistakes in the face of solid, logical arguments.
Sincerely,
Sean Wang
(P.S. I saw your comment, thanks!)
Hi Krish,
ReplyDeleteI remember back in 6th (or 5th) grade when Trump was running for president. My friends told me about it as I had no idea. They talked about how Trump was going to "build a wall." Now that I think of it, Trump was probably appealing to nativists in the country because this wall would restrict some immigrants from coming in. Maybe this use of language and power helped him become president. Who knows.
Sincerely,
Vivan Waghela
Hey Krish, I completely agree; Donald Trump's use of exaggeration and his skills in front of an audience were probably the only reasons he was elected in 2016. In English 10 Honors, we studied logical fallacies in great depth, and I wasn't surprised at all to see one of his campaign speeches on the list of fallacy-rich arguments. Although the English majors and dedicated APENG students would be able to see through him, on the surface (and to the average person), his "promises" filled the audience with hope and he was met with multiple rounds of applause. The right words said at the right time have more power than we realize. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Krish,
ReplyDeleteI remember last year we were learning about rhetorics in speech, and Donald Trump was a prime example of using many of them. He certainly uses his words to win over the support of millions of people. This shows how important language can be. For example, a major platform for Donald Trump was Twitter. He would type up controversial tweets multiple times a day, some of which spread iffy messages. He was banned off twitter in early 2021, and I wonder what impact this has had on his support.
Hi Krish,
ReplyDeleteTrump is a demagogue. This is true, however, for nearly every major politician in a democratic country since the people elect their new policymaker. Even in America, a democratic republic, demagogues still rise to the top. This is because elections naturally are emotional events, and emotions are faster and easier than logic. That is the reason why so few "experts" actually get elected into major positions but become appointed as a mere support for the person in charge (ex: the President's cabinet). Of course, people want someone who will do more, not less. How can you actually prove or disprove a person who is promising results in the future? It is impossible to tell for certain if someone will fulfill their words. This, however, is the essence of politicking. Perhaps it is best that democracies work this way since it allows us to elect the person best at deception, promises, and emotional manipulation to our top positions. After all, isn't that what negotiation is?
Sincerely,
Raymond Yu
Hey Krish,
ReplyDeleteI too am a politically illiterate person. While I myself have never had my political awakening, I have most certainly heard many of Trump's infamous quotes. I think that his power comes not only from the words he says, but the confidence of which he says it. As a long time businessman, it is uncontestable that Trump has developed an immaculate charisma that makes what he says much more believable than it has any right to be. This combined with his particulate word choice were undoubtedly major contributions to his presidency.
Hi Krish,
ReplyDeleteI'm not one for politics and never really have been. When Trump was running against Hillary, I found that so many people my age were talking about the elections, and I was confused. As I grew older, I figured out how complicated politics were and had even had to study his appeals in English class last year. When I was studying one of his speeches, I found that his hand gestures really are not creative. Aside from that I can also say that he knows how to appeal to the larger majority. Be it a specific religion, or ethnicity through their beliefs. He knows how to be popular, even if it is based off of a bad reputation, his name is known everywhere.
Hey Krish,
ReplyDeleteAlthough most of us maintain anti-Trump sentiments (Bay Area check!), I do think Trump's ability to speak is commendable. For someone who has so little to say, he says it so well. Trump consistently is able to take a meaningless and terrible idea and promote in a way that appeals to people. It is in the power of his language that he is able to do this. His terms of grandeur and exaggerated way of speaking makes the things he proposes seem revolutionary. Even the worst ideas seem great to someone not paying attention. This is a testament to both the power of language and the power of ignorance on a nation.