Rhetoric of Donald Trump

Crnolatac, Darko. (2018). Rhetoric of Donald Trump. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Phonetics. [mentor Kišiček, Gabrijela].

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Abstract

This thesis is about the analysis of the rhetoric of Donald Trump. The first part is about the history of rhetoric and the theoretical background of the analysis – ways of persuasion (ethos, pathos, logos), types and strategies of building one's character with ethos, types of claims (claims of fact, claims of cause and effect, claims of policy, claims of value) and the best ways to support them. The persuasive dialogue type, argumentation characteristics, the presidential debate, the inauguration speech and the political system in the US have been given more attention. The second part of the thesis shows the results of the analysis of Donald Trump's seven speeches. The analyzed material consisted of Trumps inaugural address, two presidential debates, two speeches in front of his supporters and two media statements. The analysis was based on the types of claim, fallacies, his rhetorical style (figures of speech, the words he used and public speaking manners). The analysis showed that Trump's most used claim type is the claim of fact whose credibility is questionable because he often uses false data to support it. His policy claims are not fully formed because his focus is on preliminary argumentation. The most used fallacies are red herring, hasty generalization, ad misericordiam, ad hominem, slippery slope and ad iram. Trump also often uses metaphors, repetitions, hyperboles, and personifications. He does not show good manners by interrupting his interlocutors and calling his rivals names.

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