An expert in political rhetoric singles out Trump’s repeated use of reification – the tendency to treat people as things – and the role it’s played in his tortured response to the leaked tape.
From Pericles to Trump, a good speech has been an integral part of the democratic process.
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Australian politicians – unlike their American counterparts – have largely abandoned the art of stirring speeches. Good rhetoric doesn’t equal good policy, but at least it’s evidence of imaginative thinking.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gestures to supporters as he departs a Sept. 13 campaign rally in Clive, Iowa.
Mike Segar/Reuters
The same forces that drive belief in conspiracy theories are the ones driving the rise of Donald Trump. So it’s no wonder that, less than two months until the election, he continues to dabble in and promote them.
Two experts in political rhetoric explain how one candidate has used rhetorical devices like framing and ‘argumentum in terrorem’ to stoke fear and attract voters since the Orlando nightclub shooting.
Protesters shout outside the Republican National Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 12, 2016.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
We all use rhetorical structures. But, unless we’re skilled in their use, as politicians and advertisers clearly are, we don’t necessarily grasp their full manipulative power.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz speaks at the Fox News debate in Des Moines, Iowa on January 28.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Only a hard heart could fail to respond on some emotional level when Barack Obama, eulogising at one of the most emotionally and racially charged funerals in US history, started singing Amazing Grace.
Tony Abbott is offering logical evidence and emotional appeals, but the rhetorical problem is his own loss of credibility and authority.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
“Is it me?” That was the question John Howard reportedly asked his cabinet colleagues as his government remained stubbornly behind in the polls in 2007. One of those colleagues, Tony Abbott, now confronts…
Integration was the talk of the town in the 60s too.
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As the Rochester and Strood by-election approaches, raising the chances of another UKIP politician entering parliament, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has warned against getting caught in an “arms…