Rhetoric Analysis
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Rhetoric Analysis
The article looks at the impeachment of President Trump. Since election of President Trump, Democrats have been on his case and recently, he was accused of collaboration with Russia’s president in reference to 2016 presidential campaign. The bill passed in the lower house and it was up to the Senate to decide the fate of President Trump. The article utilizes various rhetorical strategies including ethos, logos and has also utilized other persuasive methods to help the reader understand the nature of politics currently going on in the United States. In this essay we will look at the various persuasive strategy utilized by the author to pass across his message.
When you read the article, the first thing that you notice is the diction used. The author is so selective of the words that he uses. Examples are aberration, political war, impeachment, partisan, justice clearly gives a reader that the piece they are reading is on an important matter. The author paints a picture of the politics on impeachment going on both from the Republican and the Democratic aspect. His choice of words portrays an ugly scene in the American politics for example when he states “Donald Trump has claimed has claimed a Pyrrhic victory, but there is no doubt about the loser: the country he leads and has helped divide” (Bryant) the choc of words shows that even though President trump may have won, there is a far much more consequence division of the citizens that he leads which is a greater loss.
The author uses ethos as he appeals to the emotions of the readers. In describing the one Republican Senator who refused to vote Mittt Romney, he states that the senator had a tearful speech The author states that “Mitt Romney’s tearful speech sounded also like a death cry of moderate Republicanism” (Bryant) he brings the side of a republican who does not conform to partisan politics and induces emotion through description of his speech. He also relates president Trump impeach to O.J Simpson’s trial. H talks of the dirt cop in O.J Simpson trial Mark Fuhrman in Trumps case includes “dirty democrats” pushing for his impeachment including California prosecutor Adam Schiff. According to the author he equates O.J Simpson to President Trump thus invoking emotions as the case invoked a lot of emotions especially on matters of justice.
The author also utilizes logos in making his article persuasive. He presents both sides of the arguments on why he thinks the U.S politics is beyond repair. The author points out how the Republicans are hell bent on protecting the President that they had to block out witnesses from testifying including National Security Advisor John Bolton in what is supposed to be a trial. According to the author he wants a reader to think the impact of how blocking a witness may have in a trial and the judgement. He goes ahead to state this action may be viewed by historians as jurors trying to block justice. He also points out Democrats for their lack of agility to fight for witnesses to be presented in the trial. The author wants to paint a picture that makes it seem the Democrat were not really willing to fight for the justice they wanted.
In conclusion, the author is able to employ various rhetorical strategies that make the article persuasive. The word choice his uses, ability to appeal to both emotion and logic enables a reader to get an understanding on the rot going on in U.S politics especially when it comes to partisan politics. Although partisan politics has been in the United States for a very long time, it is now that the politicians are much more divided on the racial lines even when it comes to serious matters that go far above parties.
Work Cited
Bryant, Nick. “Trump Impeachment Trial: Is US Politics beyond the Point of Repair?” BBC News, BBC, 9 Feb. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51417722.
