Tuesday, 23 April 2019 10:55
Category: Latest News
Written by Dr. Brian Ott

Op-Ed: Donald Trump - The Forever Candidate

Last month, President Trump held a large, raucous campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was heralded by the Daily Beast as "a taste of President Trump’s 2020 Make America Great Again Again pitch," a preview of the rhetoric we can expect from the president in the upcoming campaign. This is a bit misleading, however, because it implies that, at some point, President Trump stopped campaigning. He did not.

And that got me thinking. If it is not obvious that the president only utilizes campaign-style rhetoric, then maybe his other rhetorical choices are not so obvious either. So, here is an introductory guide to President Trump’s rhetoric, which is governed by three simple principles.

1. Trump’s rhetoric aims exclusively at campaigning.

The single greatest feature that distinguishes Trump’s rhetoric from that of previous US presidents is that it never shifted from campaigning, which seeks to influence a singular decision on a given date (whom to vote for) to governing, which seeks to influence public opinion over time. Trump was only ever interested in one thing: winning. And immediately after he won, he started running again. In case you have not noticed, winning is very important to him, and he views the whole world through the lens of winning and losing.

Trump has no interest in or aptitude for governing. As is abundantly clear, he has no leadership abilities whatsoever. Donald Trump is, always has been, and always will be a “candidate” for president. This is evident in the fact that he never seeks to build coalitions or broad-based public support for policy initiatives. Indeed, he has no policy initiatives. “Build the wall” is a campaign slogan, not a policy. “Repeal Obamacare” is a campaign slogan, not a policy. You cannot implement campaign slogans unless, of course, you ignore the entire legislative process.

That Trump is always campaigning explains why his rhetoric is addressed only to his base. He is always trying to win their adoration, their loyalty, and most of all their vote. Given Trump’s obvious insecurities and narcissism, he needs constant affirmation. Like a kid who always got picked last in gym class, he desperately needs us to pick him.

2. Trump’s campaign rhetoric follows a simple formula.

Since he is always campaigning, Trump is always running against someone or something. Here is the basic formula that underlies his rhetoric:

identify a target or targets to campaign against (immigrants, Hillary Clinton, the mainstream media, Robert Mueller investigation, etc.);

vilify the target(s) as dishonest and dangerous (“violent criminals,” “crooked,” “enemy of the people,” “witch hunt,” etc.); and,

urge followers to vehemently and, often, violently reject the target(s). It is not enough simply to pick Trump, you must want to punish his opponent (“lock her up”).

To his base, whose support is uncritical, unreflective, and unwavering, it is an easy choice. After all, Trump spends considerable time demonizing, dehumanizing, and otherwise degrading the alternatives. Every issue and every decision is framed as a choice between Trump and his target. Pick Trump or a murdering horde? Pick Trump or a lowlife criminal? Pick Trump or the lying, deceitful, fake media? Pick Trump or the deep state? There is no complexity in Trump’s thought and, consequently, no complexity in his rhetoric. You are either for him, or you are for the boogeymen he creates.

3. Trump’s rhetoric appeals to emotion rather than reason.

Understanding Trump’s formula does not explain why it is so effective though. Trump is rhetorically effective because he appeals primarily to emotion rather than logic, and it is hard to resist our emotions. His preferred emotion is hatred, and Trump is very skilled at evoking it. He is very good at denigrating others because he has a bottomless well of material to draw upon, meaning Trump consistently projects his worst qualities onto his targets. This is why he loves to call others racist, stupid, and losers. He is all of these things. And since he has a limitless supply of horrible qualities, he’s never at a loss for ways to be critical of others.

Simply put, Trump understands hate because he loathes himself. Only someone with deep self-hatred would constantly talk about how well liked they are, how smart they are, or how big their inaugural crowd was.

So, as we enter the 2020 campaign season, please understand that Trump is not going to start campaigning now. He never stopped. The only real surprise would be if he started governing.

Brian L. Ott, a professor of communication studies and director of the TTU Press at Texas Tech University, is co-author, with Greg Dickinson, of The Twitter Presidency: Donald J. Trump and the Politics of White Rage.