Tyler Girard, Katerina Turchetti, and Amanda Hurteau

Ms. Kusinitz
WRT104
6 May 2016
Rhetoric in Political Advertisements
Rhetoric is defined as the art and study of using language effectively and persuasively.
One piece of rhetoric is the use of fallacies or fallacious arguments. A fallacy is essentially a
mistaken belief or an incorrect argument that is considered logical. Fallacies are common among
political ads, and from the election happening now, there are many to point out. In the fight to
obtain votes and endorsements from delegates across the country, many politicians use fallacies
to defend their arguments and attack their opponents. One such advertisement is a Donald Trump
commercial that was most recently broadcasted on February 9th, 2016. In this commercial,
Trump proposes a solution to illegal immigration that is in stark contrast to the policy of Ted
Cruz, who contradicts himself when describing his plans to deal with those who reside illegally
in the United States. Similarly, another such commercial is a Hillary Clinton advertisement last
airing February 6th, 2016. In this advertisement, Republican candidates are shown yelling and
supporting some of their most controversial policies. Meanwhile, Clinton is portrayed as the
only one who can stop them. In both of these advertisements, fallacies are widely used
throughout to attack their respective opponents arguments and campaigns.
The fallacy in which both commercials show is an ad hominem, which attacks the person
saying the issues rather than going straight towards the issue. Trump does this by attacking
Cruzs on his contradicting immigration laws, and focuses making him appear as an incompetent
candidate rather than the real issue. By not committing to a side, Cruz appears as if he will not be

able to make decisions if in office. Trump then uses this to attack Cruz directly, rather than
attacking his position on immigration. Due to this, Trump appears to be much more decisive than
his political rival. While Trump uses fallacious arguments, Hillary acts similarly by highlighting
the Republican candidates most controversial political arguments, from carpet bombing to
defunding Planned Parenthood. She tries to portray them as villains, but does not go into any
specific political issues that need to be addressed. For example, she attacks the conservative
stance on Planned Parenthood, but she never refutes this argument with her own ideas or
opinions. All the audience knows is that Clinton views the Republicans as villains. By portraying
them in this way, Clinton appears to be a hero and savior that can save the country from political
disaster when compared to her Republican counterparts. However, this also ties in with their
contrasting fallacies, as Hillary uses the black and white fallacy while Donald Trump uses the
Chewbacca defense. In a black and white fallacy, Clinton convinces the audience that there is
only two options for the next president: the barbarian Republicans or Clinton herself. In reality,
one can choose a Republican who is not so extreme. One could also choose another Democratic
candidate instead of Clinton. By oversimplifying her argument, viewers can easily follow her
thought process and feel as if she really is the only alternative to Trump and his fellow
Republican candidates. Donald Trump uses the Chewbacca Defense, in which one seeks to
confuse their audience by using nonsensical arguments. This often also confuses people who
may want to argue with Trumps arguments. Because Trump confused his political adversaries,
they will have a more difficult time attacking and disproving his argument, because his argument
did not make sense to begin with. For example, Trump attempts to confuse his audience by
making claims that cannot be proven. Specifically, there is no proof that illegal immigration is
hurting the economy or the crime rates. Whether it does or not is irrelevant. Trump simply tries

to make arguments that cannot be disproven to confuse his audience. Essentially, one cannot
disprove an argument that does not make sense. These fallacies encompass most political
advertisements from all candidates, and serve to further ones place in the election race by
attacking others arguments and policies.