Clayton Riddell

Ms. Dykema
1/24/16
ENC 2135
Trumping Genres
When there is a political campaign, there are those who are running and
those who are voting trying to determine who is going to be the best candidate to
represent their country to the rest of the world. In order for the politicians to reach
their desired audiences they use a variety of different genres, and in these different
genres, their audience the rhetoric that is used has one over lying purpose, to prove
why their right and why their opponent is wrong. The primary areas used to reach
the general public are vast and different in many ways; these genres are their
speeches when trying to win the primary, their tweets, and their campaign
commercials that air on primarily news related channels are affiliated with their said
political party. The use of genres to reach a desired audience is a major key in trying
to get a step up on whatever each individual person wants to accomplish. Mastering
genres is a major component in terms of success on a global scale.
When analyzing the tweets of the current presidential candidates, none use
more rhetoric in trying to prove their opponents wrong, than Donald J. Trump.
Donald Trump uses Twitter in its purest form, while getting the best use out of it as
possible; and that is reaching the most amount of people he can, and very quickly
too. For example, he has over 7.7 Milliion followers. Trump will respond to other
candidates, potential voters, and even those who are trying to disprove him. The
use of his twitter is great way of reaching the people that not only control his future
as a potential leader in one particular political party, but also the free world. For

example, when analyzing a tweet from Donald Trump and the rhetoric in it, a great
example is Donalds tweet on January 22 at 9:08 pm. The tweet stated Is Cruz
honest? He is in bed w/ Wall St. and is funded by Goldman Sachs/Citi. Low interest
loans. No legal disclosure and never sold off assets. When analyzing the tweet, one
can see where Donald uses ethos questioning the loyalty and the validity of Ted
Cruzs honor and his principle as a man. This helps establish Trumps ethos as a man
who is willing to go all the way to get an edge, and make him seem to be a person
that cant lose. When analyzing this tweet further it is easy to see the logos that is
used in conjunction with the ethos. Logos is the appeal to the logic of the situation.
The logic that can be found in this situation is the facts that are applied. The use of
saying that he, Ted Cruz, is in conjunction with Citi and Goldman Sachs, as well as
the idea that he has sold off his assets and thus going against what he is saying,
making him be considered a dishonest person. However, this isnt the only way that
Donald uses twitter to promote his campaign, Donald also uses his twitter to post
pictures of poll results. By posting pictures of his poll results Donald can show those
who are following him on Twitter that he has the support of thousands of others as
well and the state in which they live in. Through showing the support of potentially
thousands of people in a certain state, Trump creates the rhetorical strategy of
Bandwagonning to try and get people to go with the crowd and follow what
everyone else is doing. Finally however and possibly the most important area of his
use of the twitter genre is letting those people who follow, and even those who
dont that he is having a speech and or a rally in their local area so that they can
see him personally. Through the use of his twitter Donald Trump has been able to
reach millions of people and getting hundreds of thousands on his side. While many
might not agree with his political views and foreign relation policies, he has

captured the minds of thousands of people, simply by having them look at

something he said on a small screen while at a maximum of 140 characters.
Arguably the most important part of the presidential campaign is a
candidates ability to speak and have lively rallies that bring people together and
make them want to vote for them. When at these speeches and rallies, the
candidates ability to come across as a suitable candidate is key in making the
voters try to and support their cause rather than that of their candidate. In
speeches there is the use of their voice to reach thousands of people at one time,
their voice being the speakers. A major plus side of speeches is that other genres
dont have the ability of having the speakers physical voice be heard by thousands.
Other genres however have words that are typed and meshed together, or audio
recordings that are played over a commercial. Along with the previously stated
aspects, speech clips and debates are added Along with the physical aspect, and or
vocal aspect of a speech, there is the ability to have the speech become fiery and
raise emotions that are harder to get out of the written words, emotions that are
deep rooted and that carry passion that lead to action. For example Donald Trump
had a rally earlier this week in Iowa where he had the ability to gather thousands of
people together in order to hear the words that he was saying. During his rally this
week he was noted for using a lot of logos during his speech. Throwing out stats
about his poll results and financial budget that were used to try and help him get
the point across that he is the best candidate for the opportunity of running for
president. Trump would use quotes such as the amount that he would raise or lower
tasks, the amount of change he would input, and the amount of unemployment.
Through this he was also quoted to say how he would allocate his money and in
what ways he would spend it in order to help the country in the best way that he

can. He would also use ethos, or the appeal to ethics, in order to show that what his
opponents were doing and how they were going about it, was unethical and did not
have the right goals in mind for this country.
Through using the previously listed rhetorical devices, ethos would be used in
order to show that he has a human side as a candidate. While that could be
correlated with pathos, or the appeal to emotion, the use of the ethics side shows
that there is a good side to him where he can determine what is morally right and
what is considered to be morally wrong. While most candidates dont show an
emotional side or the pathos aspect of the rhetorical device triangle, it doesnt
mean there isnt an appeal to emotion at all. The speech aspect of a presidential
candidates genre repertoire is the one where the pathos can come to light the
most. In a recent campaign ad, there was a personal attack on the pathos of the
candidates that were opposing trump, questioning what they would do and how well
they would act when morally tested. Candidates can get the most emotional during
their speeches. For example in one of Trumps latest ads he states that Ted Cruz is
The worst Washington Insider When doing this trump is calling on his ethos, or the
credibility of Cruz once more. When drawing on the credibility of another person,
particularly a presidential candidate, if true the results can be devastating. Also in
this ad there is the emphasis on the reasons Trump is a better candidate, this can
be considered a bandwagon attempt. Trump is trying to get the masses of people on
his side in order to try and encourage others to go with the crowd. The ability of the
candidate to work through his speech and how he or she presents himself can result
in huge support and huge amounts of disappointment if the candidate isnt lively on
stage or appears to be stagnant or too mentioned when speaking at the podium.

While the speeches and the tweets are very important, the campaign
commercials are the type of genre that tend to reach the most amount of people.
Millions of people huddle around TVs every day and night to catch up on the day
and to unwind. So, this makes it the perfect platform for reaching millions of people
at one time and telling them all the same message. While the campaign commercial
uses the spoken word along with images to relay the desired points, it also uses text
often, displaying news articles and headlines about the other candidates in order to
attack them. There is a strong emphasis on the logos aspect of the triangle when
trying to make a campaign commercial. The politicians will use large amounts of
facts, such as poll results, budget plans, and minimum wage numbers, in order to
almost try and overload the viewer with too much information as to why the other
party that is being represented in the campaign commercial is in essence wrong and
not a good fit to represent this country in the white house. While the presence of
the logos is very apparent in the campaign commercials, so is the ethos aspect of
the rhetorical triangle, with many of the commercials saying what the candidate will
do and what the other candidate will not do. This is in order to show, much like the
speeches, that they have a more human side and can determine what is morally
right and what is morally wrong to do. For example in Trumps most recent speech
he begins to attack the ethos of his other opponents, questioning how they would
act in the White House particularly in terms of their foreign relation policies. Also, in
his most recent rally, he attacks President Obama saying that his is A Muslim and
saying that Ted Cruz is considered a P**** as stated by a woman who was one of
his strongest supporters. By doing this he is calling out Ted Cruz in this way he is a
lesser opponent in Trumps eyes. Also why President Obama is a leader who would
be willing to side with those who are opposing the ideas of free America. Stating

that they would not be able to relate to those who are different than then in terms
of how they can deem relatable.
Presidential candidates have to incorporate all aspects of the rhetorical
strategy when on the campaign trail. They must use ethos to appeal to the ethical
side of voters proving that they have a human side. They also must use pathos to
appeal to the emotional side of the voters to win them over so they can get the full
support needed when running a country. Finally the candidates must use, and
possibly most importantly, the logos aspect of the triangle as they throw out facts
and numbers in order to give you as a voter something to base your beliefs and
views on. All of these aspects can be seen through many genres that the candidates
use, those genres being tweets, campaign speeches as well as commercials.

Works Cited
Trumps recent speech regarding Ted Cruz out
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2016/feb/09/donald-trump-quotes-his-supporterwho-calls-ted-cruz-a-pussy-video
Donald Trump Campaign ad page
http://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/category/ads
Donald Trump Twitter
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/690717760205275136