https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmXj613HPN8
This ad is targeted mainly for the supporters of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but also for potential voters (both Republican and Democratic). You can tell this ad is meant for both political parties because Trump posted this on his page knowing his Republican followers would see it, but at the same time, he wanted to notify Democratic supporters of Biden and Harris that this is what they are promoting. These are the type of people that are voting for them. This is their following. Trump posted this video with the intention of informing its viewers that the Democratic supporters of Biden and Harris are aggressive. Biden and Harris are even promoting and encouraging extreme violence towards the police department and other citizens. These horrific acts are being done in Democratic states. The ad is trying to get you fearful of a Democratic country.
Watching this video can give you literal chills. At first glance, you would think it’s a horror movie trailer, but it’s the sad reality of what’s going on in Democratic states in America. This is real life. This evokes a feeling of distrust to know that Biden and Harris are publicly endorsing their followers to continue the violence being done and are even saying that they shouldn’t stop. Joe Biden is denouncing the violent protests claiming it’s “peaceful”. This may make some disappointed to know that these are the same people who will be voting in the presidential election and gear them towards picking Trump instead of Biden.
This is most definitely a negative ad. It’s evident because the video shows nothing but violence and aggression. This video resembles a movie trailer for a horror film but in actuality, it’s real footage of America, Democratic America. This compilation of short clips from the riots shows fire being set upon police vehicles and buildings, explosions, looting, violence between police and citizens, and complete and utter destruction in their own neighborhoods. There’s climactic music being played in the background. Dramatic transitions are installed between each video. The whole video just seems dark and terrifying.
This ad uses all three persuasive techniques. Logos, ethos, and pathos are implemented throughout the video. Logos is derived from the conclusion and the end goal of the video. The video assumes that anybody with reason would see that Biden and Kamala’s intentions are not good for our country and therefore vote for Trump. Biden, Kamala, and their followers are creating and/or promoting chaos and destruction, according to the video. Ethos is displayed in the ad by portraying Trump as a more reliable and efficient presidential candidate in comparison to Biden. Biden and Harris openly promote the violent riots being shown. A question the video producers think would go through your head while watching is, “Why would someone want a president who would support and allow this to go on?.” Trump makes it clear he doesn’t agree with the aggressive movement and wants to put an end to it. Pathos is exhibited during the entire video. Citizens are crying out in pain, brutally attacking other citizens and police, and destroying property with fire all with dramatic music playing in the background. The way the video is arranged is purposely like that to have people feeling a certain negative way towards Biden, Harris, and their followers. Watching it would make others feel upset and possibly fearful of how the entire country would be if Biden becomes in charge.
I believe that this ad is highly effective and successful in persuading viewers to vote for Donald J. Trump for the presidential election. This is because it’s shown that Biden and his following are detrimental to America.
Hey Cheyenne, although these clips are very infuriating I do hope you understand that all of these clips are under Trumps America, Biden was not president when any of this happened and to say that these riots are the face of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is essentially what the president is trying to do is extremely inconsiderate to the very black live that need protecting and to add on to this thousands of Americans he claims to love so dearly died under his presidency because he refused to take action over a virus he knew about for weeks and he admitted to lying about it, he continues to lie to the people of this country day after day. Our country is already in “flames and ruins” and the blame can be put on no one else besides Donald J. Trump.
ASHA
When you say these riots and all this anarchy is happening under “Trumps America”, you’re implying that they would not be happening if Biden was President. Did you forget that the Black Lives Matter movement started during the Obama Administration, where Joe Biden was the Vice President? Did you forget about the Riots in Baltimore, Ferguson, etc…you’re being so disingenuous… you can’t blame Trump for riots like in these clips that go on for days, sometimes months, ( ALL in Democratic-run cities) because he’s offered to stop them. He’s willing to send the national guard and other federal resources to stop these violent riots, BUT the Democrat leader in control of the city REFUSES Trump’s help. “Trumps America” is a silly term because we are the United States. He’s not a monarch. We have state and federal jurisdictions. If Trump would override the State jurisdictions, you would complain that he is a dictator.
Trump is speaking out against this anarchy, the Democrats are not. Four days of speaking at the DNC Convention and they never mentioned it. They only started recently, VERY SOFTLY, condemning the violence and that was only after poll data came back saying Americans are largely against these riots.
Black lives matter unfortunately is connected with many of these radicals you see rioting in this video. Some members openly call for them, as well as burning the system down. The Democrats do not condemn the violence because they are afraid of offending potential voters. You blame Trump, but everyone participating in these riots HATES Trump. Weird right?
Trump and the Republicans are pro-law enforcement. The Democrats are not. Trump is using this to persuade voters of all sides, especially Independent voters, that if they believe in law and order as well, they should vote for him.
As for the Corona stuff… Trump banned travel from China and Joe Biden and all the other Democrats called him xenophobic. How many lives did he save doing that? The Democrats received the same intelligence briefing Trump did in early February. Why didn’t the Democrats warn us? If you want you can Google clips of the CDC and other virologists saying there’s no need to panic. Nobody knew how bad this virus was. Trump downplayed because he didn’t want to cause a panic. Do you really think he purposely wanted Americans to die? Imagine if Joe Biden was President and refused to ban travel from China… how many Americans would have died then? If you want to say his administration should have handled it better at the beginning that’s a fair argument. I just believe it would have been worse under a Joe Biden Administration. Remember plenty of Democratic politicians were also saying don’t worry about it as late as March, our governor, Andrew Cuomo, being one of them. Once everyone realized how deadly this virus was in mid-March, his administration took a lot of action. You can even see the clips of Democratic governors thanking the administration for the actions he took.
Cheyenne, This is a powerful and skillfully crafted video. I agree with you that it has been edited to resemble a movie trailer for a scary movie. Its dominant mode is certainly pathos, but you also need to identify the emotion that is being evoked. Remember that all ads are trying to manipulate viewers in a variety of ways. Here we make assumptions about what we are seeing that may or may not be true because we have no context for any of the video clips included in the ad. What did you make of the audio clips? Where do they come from? What message does using them convey? What about the images of Biden himself included in the ad – what are they supposed to suggest? Whether you find the ad convincing or not, it is not making use of Logos – which would be an argument that rests on logic and facts; it’s clearly relying on Pathos exclusively. We see that particularly in the final line of the ad, “you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.”