The Wright Times newspaper staff read through all of Professor Bridget Roche's English 101 OP/ED political student essays.
This is one of the top five that we chose
There Are Good Things to Say About Trump After All
Let’s get something straight. Trump is a misogynistic, racist, most ignorant person to ever walk the Earth. He built a campaign based on insults and does not prove any competence to be the President of the United States. Now that that is established, I would like to give Donald Trump some credit. He is an extremely resourceful person. It is that resourcefulness that allowed him to get this far in the election.
Donald Trump is able to use words to his benefit. His vocabulary is arguably very different from that of a politician. Politicians “are aware of the ways in which any word they speak may be interpreted or misinterpreted by journalists” (Swaim). Trump, however, uses outlandish comments to bring attention to himself. His unfiltered statements come across as un-presidential which then draws out news outlets to talk about his evident bias and prejudice against minorities. Donald Trump, with a background in reality television and experience in being a celebrity, knows too well that there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Trump further uses his language to his benefit in that he comes across as a salesman. Even Puschak, founder of NerdWriter, analyzed Trump’s sentence structure and found that most of his sentences end in words like “harm” and “dead”, to establish fear in viewers. The significance of ending sentences with such negative words is to create an atmosphere of uneasiness. Trump then reassures the audience that he is a person who can eradicate such negativity in the world. He’s our very own superman…I guess.
Moreover, Trump is able to use his language to appeal to a broader audience. In a Washington Post article written by Justin Moyer, a study finds that Donald Trump’s vocabulary fared at a 7th grade level whereas his grammar is just that of a 6th grader’s. Compared to other candidates, his speech is inferior. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Trump’s elementary vocabulary allows him to interest a wider audience. More people are able to understand what he is talking about and does get confused by complicated words. Be honest, do you really know what politicians are talking about most of the time? I don’t.
Donald Trump’s campaign surrounds on putting an outsider in the White House. He is predominately known for being a real estate developer and reality television star. Without having a background in politics nor government affairs, he still managed to be a Presidential nominee. Chris Cillizza, for The Washington Post, reflects on the role that people, whether you were a loyal Clinton or Trump voter, has in Trump’s success thus far. A candidate like Trump is a breath of fresh air for the public and the media. Cillizza suggests that the nation “was desperate for something different, someone who would say and do things no one else would even dream of”. Cillizza and the nation isn’t wrong. Trump is unequivocally an outlier compared to other nominees. However, the nation forgot the saying “be careful what you wish for”.
There is an enormous distrust from the American people to their government. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, has continuously been a source of scandals throughout her entire political career. The recent one being her emails regarding the Clinton foundation. For far too long, “career politicians have over promised and under delivered” (Perdue). Undoubtedly, there has been a monopoly in the American government that protects those in power. It’s a system that benefits them the most. This is a recurring theme in government bodies in neighborhoods, in states, and in the nation; and it’s not exactly a secret either.
In conjunction with, Trump plays on the distrust that people have with politicians. He shares his frustration of politicians, bureaucrats, and the media in his book “The Art of the Deal”. Hillary Clinton faces criticism upon the leak of State Department emails. The emails reveal large donors receiving favors such as meetings when she was Secretary of State. Because of the leaked emails, Donald Trump “has reason to say that while Mrs. Clinton was secretary, it was hard to tell where the foundation ended and the State Department began” (The Editorial Board). Trump’s statement is extremely powerful in that it alludes to Clinton being influenced by big money donors. It further supports his campaign of putting an outlier in the White House in that Hillary Clinton is the ultimate politician.
Additionally, Trump has had success thus far in the election because he understands the media incredibly well. One of his greatest campaign weapon is Twitter. Despite the tweets being inaccurate or inflammatory, it still drives coverage on TV, online, and in print. According to The Telegraph, Trump has “amassed more than $3.4 [billion dollars] in free media coverage in 12 months”. For a candidate whose campaign raised $348.4 million less than his opponent, Trump uses his resources extremely well.
Trump has the benefit of being held to a different standard than Hillary Clinton. Trump has neither served in office nor involved himself in politics. Donald Trump is being graded on a curve throughout the presidential campaign. Grading on a curve is normalizing data that appears more frequent. There have been numerous instances where the media failed to draw attention to how Trump "espoused racist views or welcomed foreign espionage or demonstrated breathtaking ignorance on important policy question” (Drezner). The Republican nominee is able to say awful things and act unprofessionally, and there will still be an understanding that he will eventually step up to the plate if he is elected.
Additionally, the media plays a huge role in informing Americans about the election. Despite the large following of the 2016 election, people have little knowledge about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s policies. There is a great absence of serious issues and policies projected in the media. It is shown in that “in eight of the past 10 weeks, “emails” has been the most frequently recalled word in Americans’ reports of news about Mrs. Clinton” (Newport). This is a benefit for Donald Trump in that he is a person who is charming and convincing in his best moments (and ignorant and barbaric in his worst). Trump’s animated personality helps rally different voters all over the nation; giving him an advantage in the election.
Donald Trump’s ignorant and ill-mannered behavior has painted a picture of him in an extremely negative light. What the public forgets, however, is despite Donald Trump’s lack of political experience, he is successful in a realm of his own. Trump is an American media personality and a businessman with 3.7 billion dollars next to his name. With many successful (and many unsuccessful) business ventures and a background in the media, Trump is able to use his knowledge of both to advance himself in the Presidential Election. So, yes, Trump is not a politician, but he is not under qualified either. Counting his flaws aside- an extremely hard thing to do- Trump is actually pretty resourceful. Yes, he’s gotten this far in the election because of it, but can you really ignore everything else he is? In case you need a refresher on what that is, I would like to redirect you to the first paragraph.
Works Cited
Cillizza, Chris. "The Onion Predicted Donald Trump's Appeal Way Back in July." The Washington Post. N.p., 4 May 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Editorial Board. "Cutting Ties to the Clinton Foundation." The New York TImes. N.p., 30 Aug.
2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Drezner, Daniel W. "Grading Trump on a Curve." The Washington Post. N.p., 7 Sept. 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Moreno, Carolina. "9 Outrageous Things Donald Trump Has Said About Latinos." The Huffington Post. N.p., 31 Aug. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Moyer, Justin W.M. "Trump’s Grammar in Speeches ‘just below 6th Grade Level,’ Study Finds." The Washington Post. N.p., 08 Mar. 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Newport, Frank. "What We Are Hearing About Clinton and Trump." The New York TImes. N.p., 17 Sept. 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Perdue, David. "Senator Perdue: Donald Trump Proves It’s Time for an Outsider." The Washington Post. N.p., 1 June 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Puschak, Evan. "How Donald Trump Answers A Question." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Dec. 2015.
Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Swaim, Barton. "How Donald Trump’s Language Works for Him." The Washington Post. N.p., 15 Sept. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.