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President Trump's Address to Congress


On Tuesday February 28th President Trump gave what was called the most important speech his young presidency. This speech was his Address to Congress and he used it to address the nation on what he has been working on and will be continuing to work on in the coming months. This speech was quite well received and far from Trump’s usual laughable rhetoric. His speech was much more presidential than normal and mainly stayed away from his campaign propaganda, although he did mention “Make America Great Again” one time. He very effectively used ethos, pathos, and logos in his speech and these were very easy to notice.

His speech included ethos when the politicians in the room would stand and applaud after Trump would state one of his goals. The Vice President, Mike Pence, and Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, both made it clear that they would give a standing ovation to every point that Trump made and appear as supportive as possible. All the Republican representatives would do the same to make it look like they approve of what he was saying. Trump may not have been doing these actions personally, but they still relied on the authority of those who were standing to applaud because they know the most about what he is saying. He used pathos by bringing in a young woman with a chronic disease to support his need for a new healthcare plan. He also had the wife of a navy seal who was recently killed in battle come to his speech and gave her a round of applause. He used this to show his support for veterans and their families. His final guests were the families of people who were killed by illegal immigrants. This provided emotional support for his policy of tighter borders. He used logos by stating his policies and showing how he was working on them. This gives the viewer faith that he might know what he is doing.

I believe that this was one of President Trump’s best speeches so far. He should absolutely conduct himself in this way all the time. It made him much more respectable and although some of the Representatives did not agree with everything he said. He was still much more reasonable and he did not shove his propaganda in the faces of the viewers. This was a very refreshing change to Trump’s usual behavior.
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  1. AnonymousMay 7, 2017 at 4:08 PM

    I agree, and would even say that this is still Trump's best speech to date. His effective use of rhetoric makes it clean that there are two sides to Trump. The first is his campaign side, where he says outlandish things to gain attention from the media and his more presidential side, which is scripted, as well as thought out.

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