Background
Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign has come at a time after having a president serve for two terms. Americans are eager for change. Donald Trump promises to be the change that fixes the nation’s concerns about foreign affairs and immigration laws. His slogan and speeches reflect how he is able to position himself as the man for the job even without any experience as a politician, he does so by feeding off of the nation’s fears. During less than a two year span of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Lyndon Johnson was able to trigger the anxiety and fear Americans had over nuclear war with his political commercial, allowing him to win the election of 1964.
Rhetorical Analysis
Slogan
Donald Trump’s 2016 slogan appeals to voters’ fears
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At a time when immigration laws are becoming a nation wide debate and have been for years, Trump works to convince his audience that stronger immigration laws should be placed. He does so by first describing the neighboring country of Mexico as “they are not our friend, believe me” ("Full Text: Donald Trump Announces a Presidential Bid."). From the very beginning, this line installs fear into the audience. It leads the audience to feel insecure in their own home country creating an uneasy tone. He then further sparks that fear by saying that “they’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people”("Full Text: Donald Trump Announces a Presidential Bid."). By generalizing/stereotyping all immigrants as criminals and rapists, this conditions the audience to fear them. Trump uses his stereotypical description of immigrants as a scapegoat for the nation’s drug and crime problems, and the audience is easily wooed. Trump describes the immigrants as “they” and the audience as “you”. This along with his descriptions creates a clear cut distinction between the citizens and immigrants, creating a fear of the unknown. He then goes on to say, “ we have no protection and we have no competence, we don’t know what’s happening” (“Full Text: Donald Trump Announces a Presidential Bid."). This statement further instills fear into the audience as they now have a feeling of helplessness in their own country. Also, by saying ‘we’ this unites Trump with the crowd. This establishes Trump as a typical American who shares the same fears as the audience does. However, he keeps his macho businessman persona on by not being restrained by political correctness. He promises to put a stop to immigrants and to fight