Forms of appeal
The main forms of appeal are logos, ethos, and pathos – appeal to reason, appeal to trust and authority, and appeal to emotions. All three forms of appeal are present in Donald Trump’s presidential announcement speech, but the prevailing one is eth…
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Logos
Appealing to reason means that the speaker uses logical arguments, facts, or statistical evidence to support his points. In this speech, there are many instances of logos, because the speaker uses numerous examples and figures, like in the following examples: “Last week, I read 2,300 Humvees— these are bi…
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Ethos
Ethos, the appeal to trust and authority, is used very frequently in the speech. Donald Trump constantly tries to make himself appear trustworthy and experienced: “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I tell you that.” (ll. 179-180); “I know the smartest negotiators in the world. I know the good ones. I know the bad ones. I know the overrated ones.” (ll. 288-290). He does this to make people see him as competent enough to become the US President.
He also presents himself as being very different from traditional politicians, and theref…