In a recent rally against the nuclear deal with Iran, Donald Trump took to the podium to speak about the topic, but also for his own agenda. As a large majority of us know, Donald Trump is in the running to become the President of the United States in 2016 and he is not being shy about getting his name out there. Trump has said everything from calling Mexicans rapists and to stating that he would indeed date his own daughter. Regardless of these facts, I am here to discuss the recent breach of ethics Mr. Trump has performed.
In front of a large crowd in Capitol Hill, Mr. Trump made it apparent to inform his followers that the people currently leading our country are, "very,very stupid people." Below, you can see and hear what exactly Mr. Trump had to say about Mr. Obama and his colleagues.
Now, I personally think that there is nothing wrong with healthy competition amongst politicians and it is also essential for the candidates to point out flaws in order for them to explain how they will fix them. With all of this being said, Donald Trump decided to take things to a different level that was unnecessary. The word "stupid" is something that should be relegated to immature scuffles between friends. If Donald Trump wishes to lead our nation, then I feel he should be using vocabulary that is age appropriate.
Moving away from vocabulary, I still feel that Donald Trump violated ethics of persuasion because he was manipulating an emotional crowd with immature words as opposed to actually using facts to back up his claim. I feel as though he avoided the importance of the rally in an attempt to improve his own agenda. This is not an ethical way to persuade.
Well, there have been countless times when words far worse than "stupid" have been hurled at pretty much any politician you can find. You describe this language as being more appropriate for "immature scuffles" but consider how much media attention such childish behavior attracts. Further, consider that there are only 24 hours to each news cycle; if your campaign for president can dominate most of them, then your rivals become invisible to the public. You suggest that Mr. Trump is not persuading in an ethical way - but public polling would suggest that more people are finding his blunt rhetoric to be appealing, especially in contrast to the qualifications and obfuscations we get from most politicians.
ReplyDeleteBe mindful too, of equating any engagement of emotion with an ethical breach. Propaganda is purely emotional - the Trump merchandise machine celebrates ego. Aristotle said that appealing to the emotions is liking warping the rule of the carpenter. Nevertheless, effective persuasion HAS an emotional element. There really isn't a way to persuade without some degree of emotional appeal, and so to regard its presence as a violation isn't accurate. I appreciate the idea that politicians should speak in facts as opposed to talking points and bumper sticker phrases - but in order for them to do that, it would have to win them elections...