In the second republican debate, Trump kicked off the show, saying “First of all Rand Paul shouldn’t even be on this stage, he’s got 1% in the polls". While this seems to show his knowledge of the other candidates, it also serves as a clear indication of his inability to stand on his own achievements. Trump covers his own faults by pointing out what he perceives as faults in others. Throughout the debate one of Trump's recurring arguments boils down to "Look how good I'm polling, of course you should vote for me". This is clearly a fallacy. His pointing out of Paul's low polling is just a other side of his faulty argument.
Paul responded to Trumps petty insult, asking, “Do we want someone with that kind of character? With that kind of careless language? I think there’s a sophomoric quality about Mr. Trump … about his visceral response to attack people on their appearance, short, tall, fat ugly.” Paul takes what most would consider the "mature" stance here, but it may not be the right one.
While Paul points out Trumps clearly inept arguments, one of the Republican Party's largest gripes with President Obama is his supposed inability to assert himself, particularly in the middle east. Trump's alpha-male attacks on the other candidates may in fact serve to endear him to those republican voters looking for a "strong" president of the United States.
In the end, Rand Paul and Donald Trump's feud may be decided by personality and put-downs over proof and polemics.
Interesting article. I thought you were going to focus on how this negatively impacts Trump's image but you turned it around by seeing how someone could view it as a good thing. That caught me by surprise. It really highlights the intricacies of these campaign conferences.
ReplyDeleteI've paid been seeing the back and forth shade throwing between the two.I think it's pretty funny lol. I like how you used direct quotes. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI think it's funny how they both talk about the other's character in petty ways because it brings down their credibility of their own character. Good direct quotes. You did a nice job comparing and contrasting the two candidates.
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