Thursday, February 4, 2016

Donald Trump's Ad Hominem

Logical fallacies have been used left and right during the 2016 presidential campaign. During the Republican Debate in September, the candidates had seemed to be more focused on undermining their opponents than actually addressing the questions that were asked. Within the first few minutes of the debate, Donald Trump begins with an ad hominem fallacy against Rand Paul saying,"First of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on the stage. He's #11, he's got 1% in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people. Anyway..."

While Trump's statement was meant to convince voters that Rand Paul was not a legitimate candidate, it backfired and made Trump look childish. Trump's inappropriate comment highlights the insecurity he must feel. Right-off-the-bat he feels like he needs to establish a dominance over Rand Paul. Donald Trump is hands down the most immature presidential candidate. Trump obviously doesn't believe that his ideas will better America, so he resorts to ambushing others in order to avoid answering real questions about real issues.

1 comment:

  1. I never really thought about how Donald Trumps attacks on people made him seem so childish. I think a lot of people just think he is really powerful when he says these things, but it is really sad because this is his way of moving up the ranks in the presidential election. Do you think he gains more or less support from doing things like this?

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