“We are at war”; “We will fight them in the streets”; [Elon Musk] is a musky moo-moo”; “Elon Musk is a d—“; “We must f— Trump and Musk.”
Those are some examples coming from the left recently, and what makes this especially bizarre is that all these comments came from Democratic Representatives from the United States Congress.
That’s been the extent of their rhetoric in the first weeks of Donald Trump.
For the those on the right, this is good news. That means if this rhetoric is the best they got, then the Democratic Party has much further to fall.
The definition of “rhetoric,” according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is “speech or writing intended to be effective and influence people.”
In other words, it is the art of persuasion.
I teach speech, debate, and even direct the school plays. These classes are exercises in rhetoric, persuading another toward an objective.
It is not simply reciting a speech or delivering scripted lines. It is about convincing an audience, persuading said audience that your point is valid, or your role is real. It is more than just making a claim—” I believe X is true”—but also being able to defend your premise.
I remind my students not to just state an opinion, but to be ready for the “why?”
Rhetoric is an exercise is persuading another that your point is valid. You might not succeed in actually swaying the opposition (we are too entrenched in our opinions and sacred cows), but you can say it wasn’t about you not successfully delivering your point.
Let me be the first to say that I in no way consider myself a master rhetorician. Not at all.
However, at minimum, one should at least be aware of one’s own rhetoric. It is not a weakness to ask others or even myself if my point made sense.
Americans are notoriously horrible at rhetoric. Once again, I lie the reason for this at our overuse of social media.
It is tempting to simplify our rhetoric to nothing more than what I can a “mic drop,” a moment in which one makes their point with a blunt witticism that they think will leave their opponent in stunned silence as they swagger away.
My all-time favorite Mic-drop came during the 1984 presidential debate when Reagan, responding to claims made by his opponent Walter Mondale and the media that Reagan was too old, masterfully proclaimed, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
Mondale’s Campaign Manager decades later said that it was at that moment he knew Mondale lost the election.
Mic-drop moments, however, rarely happen.
Some attempts are downright idiotic. During the election campaign, an individual in a Harris rally yelled: “Jesus is Lord.” Without missing a beat, Kamala replied, “I’m sorry. You’re at the wrong rally.”
Um.
In a single attempt at a mic-drop, Harris declared her candidacy to be welcoming only to atheists.
Arguably the most significant example of rhetoric is The Federalist Papers, a series 85 “letters to editor” if you will to be published in a New York newspaper. Published under the pseudonym “Publius,” their authors—John Jay, who would become the first Supreme Court Justice; Alexander Hamilton, who would become the first Secretary of Treasury; and James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution who would become the fourth president—argued in favor of the ratification of the Constitution.
They chose to publish these letters not in a states that supported ratification in a state that was heavily against.
This is risky strategy was the only way to go. The Federalists’ objective was to persuade not rally.
America needs to return to the art of persuasion.
I’ve thought about this over the last several days as I am provided on a daily basis examples of poor, asinine rhetoric.
Each day that Elon Musk and the Doge team finds yet another tens of billions of dollars in government, the shrill gets even higher in the Democrat Party.
The left was caught flat-footed. They frankly weren’t prepared. So, they resorted to their default rhetoric that has been proven in the last election to be ineffective.
One tactic used is to throw manure against the wall to sees what sticks. IL Rep Jan Schakowsky stated in a legitimate House committee meeting that she believes the reason fewer women work in manufacturing is because “the name sounds just like a guy.”
Try to de-legitimatize the election. TX Rep. Jasmine Crockett said Trump “allegedly got elected.”
They attempted to articulate the fact that Elon Musk wasn’t elected. Ok, legitimate argument one might say, except for the fact they had no problem using unelected Anthony Fauci to ruin our lives. Don’t get me started about the FBI, EPA, CIA, DOJ, Department of Education, and yes USAID—which every day seems to have corruption and waste outweighing any good they have done. None of those are elected but operated at the will of the executive—just like Doge (the fact that they are using the courts to slow the process affirms my suspicion bureaucrats with personal agendas are running the asylum.
They say Trump (and Doge) are not transparent. Trump has stood before and took questions from the press more in the last three weeks than Biden had in the previous four years. He has told the press exactly what he was doing and planned to do. Then to make his case, DOGE and the White House produced receipts. Yet still they’re not transparent. The press really seems to have forgotten the previous four years as well as Kamala’s campaign strategy of speaking obvious mistruths if not avoiding the press altogether.
From there, the talking point of the day was “F— Donald Trump. F—Elon Musk.” These were representatives in the United States Congress talking like 8th graders. Do they really think that’s effective?
Then it was a “constitutional crisis.” Even Democrat Senator John Fetterman thought that was nuts: “There isn’t a constitutional crisis, and all of these things ― it’s just a lot of noise. That’s why I’m only gonna swing on the strikes.”
Today’s talking point is to call Musk “president.” You can tell it’s an official talking point because it is parrotted as many times as possible from every media source. Say it enough times and maybe it’ll stick.
Or at least until the release the next one.
Another rhetorical tactic used is the ad hominem attack. This is a Latin term meaning “Attack on the Man.” In other words, it’s a personal insult. All during the 2024 elections, ad hominem attacks were used widely by the left. Anyone who didn’t agree with them was a nazi, racist, misogynist, homophobe, xenophobe, MAGA, Ultra-MAGA, stupid, garbage. etc. People who are conservative are dumb, uneducated redneck Neanderthals who cannot distiguish our facts (which come from “propaganda”) from their facts (which come the media) which are apparently far superior.
Also apparently, this heirarchy of facts never changes.
The ad hominem attack dissipated shortly after the election, but since the inauguration, it seems to have seen the greatest uptick lately, crossing the line toward goofy. Trump (now Elon) have always been called a Nazi, Hitler, a dictator, etc.; however, MA Rep Ayanna Pressley upped the ante recently by calling Musk “a nazi nepo baby.” (Earlier, Pressley stated that she is willing to come along side someone who is serious about “doing the work of censoring the American people and advancing progress.” Did she misspeak or was this just a Freudian slip?)
Not be outdone, MO Rep. Emanuel Cleaver called Musk “A musky moo-moo.”
NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—a former bartender—called Musk—founder of SpaceX and Tesla—the most “unintelligent billionaire” she ever met.
Robert Garcia of California called Musk “a d—” during a congressional oversight hearing and then defended himself on CNN: “He is a d—.”
Then there are the outright threats. Imagine if Trump said any of these things:
We will “fight them in the streets,” Rep. Hakeem Jefferies stated.
“We are at war,” Rep. LaMonica McIver
“No one likes violence, but sometime violence is necessary,” Tennessee Pastor Steve Caudle preached.
Sounds like insurrection (by the previous administration’s definition. Perhaps Trump’s DOJ should arrest them and slow walk their court dates while they sit in jail for years.
If you want to persuade someone over to your point of view. Name-calling, belittling and threatening might generate chuckles within one’s own echo chamber but it is not going to be effective. No one is persuaded to rethink their position after being belittled.
It didn’t work in the last election. It’s not working now.
Fetterman agrees, “I think [Democrats’] primary currency was shaming and scolding and talking down to people. Just because someone may have voted for President Trump does not mean they are fascist or support insurrections.”
The left need to work on their rhetoric.
The more they reuse the same old drivel, the less relevant they become.
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