Rhetoric in a Bad Argument
Author
Institution
The article by the Washington Post on Trump’s return to the Whitehouse after treatment for COVID-19 is the source for a lousy argument using poor rhetoric. Trump states that COVID-19 that he is feeling good and that the virus is not severe as the rest of the world is taking it. He states that he is “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” He says this, yet his doctor states that he is not out of the woods yet(Sonmez et al, 2020). Stating that he is feeling terrific despite the growing tension and rising death toll in America in the past few months is a wrong argument he makes using poor rhetoric. He initially had also downplayed the seriousness of the virus by viewing it as a minor nuisance while dismissing it as a “Chinese virus”.His utterances in the article in light of official reports and the doctor’s opinion regarding his current health state show that the president is using rhetoric poorly.
While heading to the campaign homestretch in his re-election bid for the Whitehouse seat, Trump needs to look and feel okay despite the prevailing circumstances. It is a re-election bid that gives him an upper hand against his worthy opponent(Sonmez et al, 2020). The people of the United States want to re-elect a president who is of good health to get a reassurance that he can diligently serve them. Trump’s statement goes to reassure the electorate that he is okay and ready to continue working with them for an additional term.
When Trump states in his tweet that he is feeling okay and that we should not let the virus dominate our lives, he is using rhetoric poorly especially in a country where the virus has claimed the lives of 209,000 lives. It is not the first time the president has downplayed the virus. Initial reports show that he uses terms such as the “Chinese virus “to describe the pandemic and his move to control immigration which is poor rhetoric in light of the happenings in the USA(Roberts, 2020).
Donald Trump, upon his arrival from the Walter Reed facility, removes his mask and signals the soldiers from the South Lawn wing before saluting them. The action of making a double thumbs-up signal while maskless for a patient coming from oxygen supplementation shows that the gestures of the president are a poor use of rhetoric. When Trump states in his tweet that Americans should not let COVID dominate their lives, he is appealing to their emotions of pity. Trump wants the Americans to see him as a victor and associate this with his election bid to secure his job for another term. Recent data from the John Hopkins University states that more than 6.8 million Americans suffer from the disease which has a death toll of above 200,000 in the US alone. In light of these statistics, the statement by Trump is a clear depiction of the use of poor rhetoric. The president’s doctor in the article describes states that the president is not out of the woods yet as he is still under close monitoring(Roberts, 2020). The tone of the doctor is a poor rhetoric use because the president’s treatment regimen involved the use of treating severe COVID cases and has serious side effects that may affect his everyday functioning. Furthermore, he is returning to a place with rising infections and requires monitoring of his condition. The president uses poor rhetoric in a lousy argument by stating that he is feeling well yet the doctor makes a statement that is contrary to his initial tweet utterances.
The president in the article is quoted saying that Americans should not let COVID dominate their lives. In a country with 6.8 million infections and above 200,000 deaths, the statement by the president is a clear indication of the fallacy he seems to be living in because the virus has wiped out five years of economic growth with a 32.9% decline in GDP the lowest since 1947. The suggestion by the president indicates the use of poor rhetoric in a lousy argument since the virus has dominated the lives of Americans(Mutikani, 2020).
The statement by the president that he feels okay and people should not be afraid of contracting the disease is a generalization that since he is feeling okay, everyone who recovers from the illness should not fear. The writer indicates the hasty generalization in this case to demonstrate the use of a logical fallacy. The article, in this case, depicts explicit use of poor rhetoric through use of logical fallacy, therefore preventing the use of this article for use in a good academic argument. Additionally, the article shows that the president underwent treatment, and he is quoted saying that he is okay and feels well(Sonmez et al, 2020). The writer uses logical fallacy where the president states that since he underwent treatment, he is okay and there should be no need for panic. The use of logical fallacy in citing the chronology of these events reveal the use of poor rhetoric in this flawed argument; therefore, the article may not be suitable in an academic debate.
The writer uses the president’s tweet after the grave statistics that show the extent of the virus in the United States. The statement immediately after the statistics means to evoke the emotion of hope on the readers that despite the spread of the disease, they will be okay and should not allow the v to dominate their lives. Although the primary emotion the writer tends to elicit is that of hope, the person who is stating their wellbeing is still not out of the woods according to the words of the doctor in subsequent lines(Sonmez et al, 2020). The aim to elicit emotion, in this case, does not seem to serve the intended purpose hence the use of poor rhetoric in a lousy argument. For this reason, the article is not suited for use in a good academic discussion. The doctor’s statement that the president “may not be out of the woods yet” evokes worry on the reader. While the president initially shows enthusiasm in expressing how he feels, this is an indication of the use of poor rhetoric since a person who is out of the woods is telling how good they feel. For this reason, it is difficult to apply this article in an academic argument.
References
Sonmez F, Wagner J, Thebault R, Iati M, Dawsey J, & Wang Amy B. (2020, October 5). Trump returns to White House from the hospital; may not be ‘out of the woods,’ doctor says. The Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/10/05/trump-biden-live-updates/
Mutikani, L. (2020, July 30). COVID-19 crushes US economy in the second quarter; rising virus cases loom over recovery. US.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-idUSKCN24V0FO
Roberts M. (2020, September 22). US coronavirus death toll passes 200,000. BBC News.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54244515