TOW #11- “95,000 Words, Many of Them Ominous, From Donald Trump’s Tongue” by PATRICK HEALY and MAGGIE HABERMAN

            Patrick Healy is a senior writer for the New York Times who usually writes on political topics. This week he has recently written an article discussing one of the most controversial politicians, Donald Trump. Throughout the week, he and other staff members have collected many speeches, rallies, and massages from the politician. This article is the analysis of these 95,000 words in order to help portray his attitudes towards many topics. I believe Healy expresses this purpose well in the article. Throughout, there was a lot of talk of Trumps diction. He often uses negative diction to describe immigrants, terrorists, and even his opponents. One of my favorite quotes from the article was when Healy says, “In another pattern, Mr. Trump tends to attack a person rather than an idea or a situation, like calling political opponents “stupid” (at least 30 times), “horrible” (14 times), “weak” (13 times) and other names, and criticizing foreign leaders, journalists and so-called anchor babies” (Healy 1). Besides the diction, Healy goes into many other rhetorical devices that Trump uses such as first person point of view, a casual tone, and fear in order to persuade the voters. Over all, the article pins him as a “demagogues” which by definition is a political leader that appeals to popular desires and prejudices rather than using rational argument.

            One of the hardest things for me to decipher throughout the article was the tone that Healy was using. I didn’t know if Healy was using a positive tone, negative tone, serious tone, or a joking one. For instance he would say, “he forgoes the usual campaign trappings — policy, endorsements, commercials, donations — and instead relies on potent language to connect with, and often stoke, the fears and grievances of Americans” which sounds like he doesn’t approve of Trump, but later he would say, “’Such statements and accusations make him seem like a guy who can and will cut through all the b.s. and do what in your heart you know is right — and necessary,’ said Michael Kazin, a historian at Georgetown University” which is a quote that seems to praise him.

            Perhaps that is the message of the Trump Campaign, you either hate him or you don’t. Because this article was written for voters, it will certainly help them understand that’s going on with Donald Trump.