Khalid Nagib

Matthew Wilson
Writing 2
April 18, 2016
WP1
Donald Trumps 2016 Presidency campaign has been one of the main talking points of
the American and worldwide political scene. His remarks, seen by many as racist and
unAmerican, have created a constant spotlight on him anticipating his next words. The media
has been juxtaposed on him even though many may not share his political beliefs. For what he
has done is completely unorthodox for a politician in the modern day. The message he portrays
can be shown through his unconventional use of tweets as opposed to the traditional use of
speeches. It is proof of the adversity of political messages, as they can be portrayed to the public
through multiple platforms, including social media through Twitter and televised political
endorsement speeches.
Twitter is a social media website allowing users to post short messages, or tweets, 140
characters or less in length. Tweets can be seen on their pages that are visible to other users on
the website that choose to follow them. The tweet I have chosen is from April 16, 2015 in
which Donald J. Trump tweeted, If Hillary Clinton cant satisfy her husband, what makes her
think she can satisfy America? The tweet has been deleted from his account due to controversy.
Tweets are concise as they are limited by their length. They are personal as they are usually
written in first person. They involve the person sending out a public message for all to see.
Tweets do not fully adhere to grammatical conventions. They are considered informal and often
use slang. They are not meant to inform others of facts. They are meant to provide the persons

opinions or comments regarding a fact. They do not follow a set of rules or guidelines other than
length, giving the author complete power over the text.
Why did Donald Trump post this tweet on his page? The main purpose of any tweet
against his opponents would be to deter voters from that candidate onto him. How does he aim to
achieve that? He tries to belittle his opponent through creating an image of Hillary Clinton that
she cannot satisfy, or please her husband therefore she cannot fulfill her job and satisfy the
people of the United States if elected President. The logic used to imply this image of Hillary is
very simple and would make sense, that is if sexually satisfying a man was the same as fulfilling
the needs of the American people and assuming the role of Commander-in-Chief. Furthermore, it
also implies that if a man has an extramarital affair then his wife is to blame as she is not
satisfying him. His means of achieving his purpose are possibly successful as he appeals to a
certain demographic in men with less education that tends to think in a similar fashion to the
implications highlighted above.
Due to the belief that tweets do not have the main purpose of informing others based on
fact, why is it that people use Twitter? It is interesting as tweets can often contain incorrect
information or outlandish interpretations of facts as shown in Trumps tweet regarding Hillary
Clinton and her marriage. It seems that Twitter users look to it for its concise message
summarized in 140 characters or less. These characters should suffice to portray the idea of the
author. A tweet can be compared to a one-liner joke, however a tweet does not necessarily have
to be a joke. It could be a comment or whatever the author wishes to portray as they would
summarize what they are thinking of into the allotted space for the tweet. The authors rhetorical
purpose is to tell others what they think about a certain topic, in laymans terms, give them the
jist of it all.

Does the author of the tweet succeed in fulfilling the rhetorical purpose of their tweet? A
simple answer to that question would be, yes. Using the example from Donald Trumps twitter
account, he succeeds in portraying a bad image of Hillary Clinton to his intended audience. His
audience is not one that is educated to the level of seeing through his irrationality in the tweet
that due to the belief that Clintons husband cheated on her she is unfit to serve in public office.
Political endorsement speeches have always been a means of promoting political
messages to the general public. They are meant to change the publics views towards a political
candidate running for office. In this case I will examine Mitt Romneys endorsement against
Donald Trump on March 3rd, 2016. His motives were not to endorse Trump as he was urging the
public to deter from voting for Trump. However, his speech did endorse a political idea therefore
it can be classified as an endorsement speech.
Political endorsement speeches share certain conventions as they aim to achieve their
goal. They do not adhere to specific lengths. Authors tend to use strong labels to stimulate
emotional response as in Romneys speech in which he says, Donald Trump is a phony, a
fraud. Endorsement speech authors sometimes tend to use short and simple phrases to keep the
attention of the audience as Romney says, He inherited his business, he didnt create it. The
speeches follow a specific outline and format. For example, the beginning includes the speaker
announcing the intentions of their speech as Romney says, I am not here to announce my
candidacy for office. The middle of the speech includes all the main details of the argument as
speaker attempts to persuade the audience. The end of the speech involves an appeal to the ethics
or emotions of the audience. Romney achieves that by praying to God as he is appealing to the
religious conservative Republican electorate. He ends with, God bless us to choose a nominee
who will make that vision a reality. Other conventions of these speeches include constant use

of repetition and metaphors. Repetition is used a literary device in these speeches to reinforce
certain ideas the author deems necessary. In its traditional sense, endorsement speeches use a set
of conventions to better achieve the goals of the text.
What is the purpose of this speech? Why did Mitt Romney say that speech? He obviously
wants the voters to stay away from Donald Trump. He doesn't want them to vote for him. What
are his means of achieving that? He is highlighting the hypocrisy in Trumps campaign. To the
people that believe Trump is successful in business, however Romney clearly states that it he has
gone bankrupt multiple times and has committed fraudulent business activities. Romney is
appealing to the Republican voters and implies a sense of urgency. He adopts a tone to similar to
that of a farmer warning a group of villagers of an imminent danger. It can be characterized that
way as Romney warns the audience of the possible disasters with Trump as President or Hillary
Clinton. He chose to warn of a scenario with Hillary Clinton as President due to the fact that
polls prove the likelihood of general election voters choosing Clinton over Trump. A person so
untrustworthy and dishonest as Hillary Clinton must not become president.
Does the author succeed in portraying their message through this political endorsement
speech? Yes, he is successful. He adopted a traditional approach of a political speech and gave
his carefully rehearsed message without interruptions. He adopts multiple appeal techniques to
the achieve his goal of disproving the validity of claims on Donald Trumps honesty. He uses
facts such as the bankruptcies in Trumps past as clear evidence. He uses strong labels such as
phony and fraud to captivate the attention of the audience and stimulate responses of
astonishment he intends for them to have.
Political messages can be sent to the public through multiple platforms and podiums.
Donald Trump adopted an unconventional approach using Twitter. His careless attitude has

helped him cement himself as the atypical candidate. The rhetorical purpose of tweets, to
concisely portray what the author is thinking, suffices for Trump to send out his message. His use
of Twitter gives him the freedom of style and expression as there is no set format of a tweet. The
only thing holding the author back is the character limit. Romneys endorsement speech adopts a
traditional approach following a set outline. He is limited by his inclination to follow a specific
format for political speeches. He must try to be politically correct as to not offend any possible
voters. Trump does not care to adhere to such rules as he utilizes a different platform in the form
of Twitter. As both examples of media platforms have distinct conventions, they both are suited
to fulfill their rhetorical purposes.

Works Cited
Beckwith, Ryan. "Read Mitt Romney's Speech About Donald Trump." Time. Time, 3 Mar. 2016.
Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Martosko, David. "Hillary Clinton 'can't Satisfy Her Husband" Mail Online. Associated
Newspapers, 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.