Intention

Overall intention

Bryce Covert’s article “The Trump Administration Says Poverty Is Over. They’re Lying.” explores three main topics: the Trump administration’s stance on poverty, the real poverty situation in the US, and the effects of work requirements on people on welfare.

The writer’s overall intentions are to expose the administration’s faulty position on poverty, to inform the audience about poverty in the US, and to persuade the audience that imposing work requirements on the welfare system is harmful to the poor.

Expose the administration’s faulty position on poverty

To achieve this intention, Covert opens with the provocative title “The Trump Administration Says Poverty is Over. They’re Lying.”. The writer’s strong accusation catches readers’ attention, making them curious about her arguments.

To discredit the administration and its position that poverty in the US is not an issue, the writer creates ethos. She borrows the authority of researchers who found that the way in which the administration measures poverty is unreliable (ll. 18-21) and that poverty is a reality for many Americans:

The administration should tell it to the people teetering on the edge of financial ruin, including the 7 percent of adults who say they struggle to get by and the 40 percent who wouldn’t be able to cover an unexpected expense of just $400. (ll. 43-45)

Here, Covert also repeats an earlier idea – that the...