Marli Overgard & Lauren Mitchell
RWS200
Prof. Werry
03 March 2016
Does Donald Trump Have the Disease of Demagoguery?
Demagoguery is often used by politicians to draw in their audience and persuade them into supporting their beliefs. While this tactic may seem convincing and seamless, the audience must be aware of hidden prejudices. One should fear demagoguery, because politicians use it in a manipulative way to rally their audience up and make them support their ideals. Patricia Roberts Miller, a rhetoric professor at the University of Texas, defines demagoguery as “polarizing propaganda that motivates members of an ingroup to hate and scapegoat some outgroup(s), largely by promising certainty, stability, and what Erich Fromm famously called ‘an escape from freedom’” (Roberts-Miller, para. 4). Roberts-Miller states that people can range from mild to severe demagogues depending on how many elements of demagoguery is found in their rhetoric. Demagoguery consists of elements such as polarization, victimization, demonization, and scapegoating. These elements will be expanded upon further in the paper. George Wallace, the governor of Alabama in 1963, was known as a true demagogue. During his inauguration speech, he displayed many elements of demagoguery as he was challenging the Federals Government’s push to end segregation. Wallace is considered the poster child of demagoguery and his tactics can be seen in current politics. People should fear demagoguery because it could be occurring in the 2016 Presidential campaign by candidate Donald Trump. In this paper, Trump’s speeches will be contrasted with Wallace’s inauguration speech to determine if Trump is a true demagogue.
Polarization is a common element of demagoguery used to create divisions in society. Roberts-Miller defines polarization as an element used to “divide a diverse range of things into two poles” (Roberts-Miller, para. 9). A demagogue separates these poles into the ingroup, which they are a part of, and the outgroup, which is seen as the evil group. Wallace uses the element of polarization to manipulate his audience into supporting his ideas. Wallace utilizes this element strongly in his speech to separate people with Southern ideals from those supporting the Federal Government. In the beginning of his speech, Wallace creates a clear division of people who support segregation and those who don’t by stating, “Let us rise to the call of freedom-loving blood that is in us and send our answer to the tyranny that clanks its chains upon the South” (Wallace, para.2). Wallace is characterizing the in-group as freedom-loving Southerners and putting desegregation supporters in the outgroup. Wallace uses an analogy stating “the tyranny that clanks its chains,” to imply the outgroup is evil. He is simply stating that the Federal Government is enslaving the in-group, because they have a “spirit of power thirst” (Wallace, para. 19). By doing so, Wallace creates a good versus evil atmosphere. He places an attractive label on the in-group making his audience more inclined to support its ideals. By comparing the government to a power hungry tyranny, Wallace creates a sense of fear in his audience because he knows they do not want to be associated with the ideas of evil people. Wallace uses polarization to his advantage to force his audience to choose one side.
Demonization and scapegoating are tools of demagoguery that places evil labels on the outgroup. Roberts-Miller defines demonization as “explicitly saying that the out-group is Satan himself or a tool of his, or through using metaphors that imply Satan and devils” (Roberts-Miller, para. 17). Wallace clearly uses demonization when describing the Federal Governments plans to desegregate the nation by stating, “It is a system that is very opposite of Christ for it feeds and encourages every degenerate…” (Wallace, para. 16). The opposite of Christ is simply the Antichrist known as Satan. Because the Southerners are extremely invested in their faith, they will not want to support an ungodly Government. Therefore, Wallace uses demonization to his advantage to create hatred in the Southerners’ hearts towards the Government. Scapegoating is another element of demagoguery Wallace uses to rally up the audience. As defined by Roberts-Miller, “a scapegoat is a person or group on whom one dumps all responsibility for a situation; that person or group is responsible for the bad situation of the ingroup” (Roberts-Miller, para. 22). Wallace scapegoats the Government by blaming them for attacking the Constitution and the beliefs of the founding fathers. He does this by stating, “the sane reasoning our founding fathers has long since been forgotten as the so-called ‘progressives’ tell us that our Constitution was written for ‘horse and buggy’ days…” (Wallace, para.16). Wallace blames the Government for wanting to change the framework of the Constitution and implies that they will destroy what the nation was built upon. Even though this speech promotes segregation, Wallace manages to never degrade the black community directly. By scapegoating the Government, Wallace strategically makes this an argument about the protection of Constitutional rights. By making his argument seem like he is simply trying to protect his country and not coming across as a racist, the audience views him as a good man with good intentions.
Victimization is an element that demagogues rely heavily on. Roberts-Miller states it’s when “the ingroup is being victimized by the situation […] and the claim is that the ingroup has responded to this victimization with extraordinary patience and kindness” (Roberts-Miller, para. 24). The element of victimization is used by Wallace to place blame on others. Wallace brands Southerners as victims and makes them feel like desegregation would ruin their futures. By using victimization, Wallace appeals to the emotions of his Southern audience by making them fear desegregation. Wallace’s use of victimization is apparent when he says, “We can no longer hide our head in the sand and tell ourselves that the ideology of our free fathers is not being attacked and is not being threatened by another idea, for it is” (Wallace, para. 13). Wallace is implying that the in-group has been submissive to the Federal Government’s control for far too long and it is time that they stand up for what they believe in. By mentioning that the “ideology of our free fathers,” is being attacked, Wallace is implying that the values that Southerners have known all their lives are in danger. Here he is making Southerners out to be the victims of the Federal Government’s fight to desegregate the nation. This creates fear in the audience members because it makes them believe that the government is trying to change them and take over their lives. Wallace uses an example of control by stating, “It is the spirit of power thirst that led the same president to launch a full offensive of twenty-five thousand troops against a university, of all places, in his own country and against his own people” (Wallace, para. 19). By strategically using the phrases “attack” and “against his own people,” Wallace makes it seem as though the government is against the nation and therefore the ingroup is the victim of the attack. Wallace says this to show his audience that the government is not on their side.
Wallace displayed various elements of demagoguery in his speech during the civil rights era. As our nation has evolved, demagoguery is still used by politicians today. One politician who is labeled by some people as a demagogue is Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Trump has been perceived as a sexist, racist, and overall cruel man. Because of those descriptions, it has been questioned if Trump is a demagogue. But racism, sexism, and cruelty does not necessarily mean he is using demagoguery. We will analyze Trump’s rhetoric in contrast with Wallace’s use of demagoguery to help us come to the conclusion of whether or not Trump is a true demagogue.
Trump establishes in-groups and out-groups in the fight to become the leader of the nation. In December of 2015, Trump called for the shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. This is a clear example of polarization and creating in-groups and out-groups. Trump is making it seem as if all members of the Muslim community are a threat to the country and creates an “us vs. them” mentality. This establishes fear in Americans because they do not want “evil” people entering the nation. Trump not only does this with the Muslim community, but also with Mexicans. Trump places Mexicans in an outgroup by stating, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with them. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists” (Trump, para. 9). When Trump uses the phrase “they’re not sending you” he is implying that the ingroup, which are American citizens, is the better than Mexican immigrants. He also claims that immigrants from Mexico are dangerous to America, which establishes more fear in the audience. Trump is going as far as to create a physical barrier to keep the outgroup out of the country. The wall is a symbol of Trump’s distinct use of polarization. Like Wallace, Trump makes it clear to the audience who the ingroup and outgroup are. In regards to polarization, it can be determined that Trump exhibits strong symptoms of demagoguery.
Trump also displays uses of victimization and scapegoating when talking about the struggles of our nation. He states that America’s problems are due to out-groups and not Americans themselves. To display this, he states, “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.” Trump is generalizing a group of people and making it seems as though they are the source of all of America’s problems. Trump is blatantly stating that America has fallen victim to the Muslim religion. With ISIS being a prevalent threat to our country and the world, Trump is creating fear in Americans that all Muslims are related to ISIS and will bring terror to the country. Trump says this in order justify his policies against Muslims and not wanting them in the country. Because Trump established that Muslims were a part of the outgroup, he uses the element of scapegoating to place full blame on them for America’s growing problems. Roberts-Miller explains that scapegoating is effective because, “it takes a tremendously complicated situation, about which people are very anxious, and makes them feel better, by presenting a simple solution that anyone can grasp: elimination of the outgroup and promotion of the ingroup” (Roberts-Miller, para.18) This concept is precisely what Trump is endorsing by stating the best way to solve terrorism is to have a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the country. Through the use of victimization and scapegoating, both Trump and Wallace create a sense of pride in the ingroup, which makes their audiences more susceptible to their beliefs. Trump’s use of victimization and scapegoating are two more examples on how Trump exudes symptoms of demagoguery.
In comparison to Wallace, Trump lacks certain elements of demagoguery such as demonization. Although Trump tends to be offensive in his word choice towards the outgroup, he never labels them as a product of the Antichrist. Even though Trump has made it clear that he is against the Muslim culture, he never states that the people are ungodly. In fact, Trump rarely mentions God in his arguments which he strategically does to appeal to a greater amount of people. Therefore, unlike Wallace, Trump doesn’t use the element of demonization and has no symptoms of demagoguery in that regard.
After analyzing Trump’s speeches in contrast with Wallace’s use of demagoguery, it can be concluded that Trump conveys symptoms of a demagogue. Roberts-Miller states, “if one thinks of demagoguery as a disease, there are symptoms, and a person might have a mild or severe case of demagoguery” (Roberts-Miller, para.7). Therefore, even though Donald Trump lacks elements such as demonization, he strongly exudes other elements. If demagoguery was looked at as a scale ranging from a mild demagogue to a severe demagogue, we would conclude that Trump lies in the middle. As people continue to watch Trump’s speeches, it is important they are aware of his usage of demagoguery. Because demagoguery is manipulative and sometimes hidden to the average citizen, it becomes a dangerous and effective strategy. If people didn’t fall for Trump’s usage of demagoguery, maybe Americans would see through his empty policies and stop voting for him. Without Trump and his demagoguery ruling the country, we could actually keep America great like it has always been.
Works Cited
Donald Trump. “Presidential Announcement Speech.” Trump Towers. June 16, 2015.
Roberts-Miller, Patricia. “Democracy, Demagoguery, and Critical Rhetoric.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 8.3 (2005): 459-76.
Marli Overgard 