A Comparative Analysis Of Donald Trump's Victory Speech And Other Political Speeches

Thematic Analysis of Political Speeches

Discuss about the Difference In Victory Speeches Of Trump And Others.

Speeches form an integral part of any election or most other political activities and purposes. A political speech is a speech that helps in delivering comments and opinions through expressions based on political or governmental happenings (Schumacher and Eskenazi, 2016). These opinions depict the importance or failure of any government action or proceedings or decisions which are usually framed or enacted to affect the nation or the citizens as a whole. One such type of speech is the political speech related to victory or the outcomes of an election results. The form of such speeches is generally thankful and encouraging. In this report the difference in between the political speeches of Trump and other victory speeches are studied and analyzed in detail (Jamieson and Taussig, 2017). To proceed with and analyze the study, the various factors and components of Donald Trump’s speeches have been pointed out and discussed.

Studies state how the form and culture of American culture has changed over time and has been portrayed to the highest extent and have been exemplified by Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. The form of speeches and campaigns has changed from the traditional forms to economic nationalism. The scope and horizon of political thinking has broadened in the last few years (Lamont, Park and Ayala?Hurtado 2017). This is so because the demographical, economical and cultural thoughts as well as the perceiving factor of the citizens have changed and have undergone a lot of modifications. The nature of Trump’s issues related to inclusion, cultural diversity, the role of the state and economic justice have all changed over time. Over time the pattern of use of themes in dialogue delivery and speeches have also changed in America. Communication has always been important for the politician or the leaders to connect to the people and persuade them for the win or the victory. Patterns of pitch variability, formality and grandiosity have always played an important role in this aspect.

According to Ahmadian, Azarshahi and Paulhus (2017), the speech of Trump was different and pivotal to change the course of the questionable and highly criticized political platform. There were many features that differentiated his speech from the speech of all other politicians on their victory and brought about a new perspective to the way in which speeches are delivered. Studies assert that this has also impacted the form of formal and informal conversations in the context of politics in America as well as other countries around the world. It is claimed in the papers that Trump has quite meticulously followed the speeches of other republican contenders and used the flow and a few components of those speeches in his speech to avoid any kind of controversy or political agility that was existent throughout during his campaigning proceedings.

Comparison of Trump's Victory Speech and Other Political Speeches

Data is collected for this report through secondary measures. Various journals and articles are reviewed and the analysis is carried out on the basis of these papers. The collection of primary data is ambiguous and difficult for this study as it encompasses reviews from a huge population of the entire United States and introduction and calculation of a lot of variables will be necessary for this purpose which is beyond the scope of this paper.

The data collected on the basis of opinions or reviews from different articles and journals and are flexible in nature. These opinions and reviews are studied in detail and the entire speech of Trump is studied and all the traits and themes of this speech are classified and studied in detail. This is then compared with the characteristics and traits of the victor speeches of other leaders and politicians both in America.

Themes

A thematic analysis is carried out for the distinction between the type of speech delivered by Trump and other American republican contenders (Dorsey, 2016). The various themes are discussed one after the other in details in a successive manner:

The first theme is that of grandiosity that has been a major theme and component of most American contestants and has formed a very important feature of both election campaign speeches and inevitably the victory speeches. There is a very fine line of differences in between narcissism of a vulnerable nature and grandiosity and Trump has always been on the edge of crossing the line in the victory speech. However, this feature of his victory speech has actually gained him much of the attention and popularity whether positive or negative ((Ahmadian, Azarshahi and Paulhus 2017). The feature of promoting himself on his own has been of great value even in his professional life, let alone the political and the financial success.  Studies conducted in this regard assert that a charismatic leadership is often featured by such speeches that have grandiosity in them. It sheds light on the assertive nature of a leader that has long been a characteristic of speeches of many traditional leaders in the states.

The next theme that encompasses many of the speeches of Trump and forms an important phenomenon of his victory speech is the use of informality and fervor. The concept of reassurance has been noticed time and again in his speeches. Instead of using sophistication involved with rhetoric, he uses normal and simplified language which is easy to understand by the common mass and is of a more friendly and comfortable approach. Studies confirm that the absence of formal nature in speeches has been proven to be a matter that has caused success in most of the elections and victory speeches as this helps the politician form an indirect bond with the common mass ((Ahmadian, Azarshahi and Paulhus 2017). The lesser the complexity, the lesser is the power of the politician in terms of appeal to the mass of people that have voted for him. This also up to a small extent helps in gaining the trust of the people who are against or have not voted for the politician.

Impact of Trump's Victory Speech on American Politics

The last theme that is used to analyze the quality and the difference of the components of Trump’s victory speech from other speeches is the mean of the pitch of voice during the delivery of speech. It has been studied and claimed in many papers that the use of gentle and a low pitch in the dialogue delivery and victory speeches by men is perceived and considered to be more appealing as compared to a high pitched voice. This has been followed by Trump in all his speeches including his victory speech. In this context, the most influential type of communication followed by Trump that is not followed in most other speeches is the use of pitch variability (Ahmadian, Azarshahi and Paulhus 2017). This has highlighted the dynamics of the extravert nature of Trump that clearly talks of his personality as a leader.

On carefully studying the language and the transcript used by Trump and other leaders it is noticed while other presidents elected have generally started the speech with addressing the people or the country Trump has started his speech with a direct “Thank You”. This brings to light the theme of informality and fervor. While the former President Mr. Barack Obama addressed the issue of democracy, trump addressed the issue of unity ad called for unification of the entire state. In this context, he also addressed the mass that has not voted for him (Bbc.co.uk. 2018). The concept of congratulating and reckoning their efforts has been the same for Trump as has been for other leaders and politicians. This is generally followed by the act of thanking the family by most Presidents and was followed by Donald Trump as well. However, before going on to thanking his family, Trump talked about the immense potential and capability of growth of the country and promised higher values of national income factors and revenue generation for America. However, unlike most other Presidents elected in America Donald Trump did not thank God or mention anything along the same lines. Trump has for the most part of the victory speech, promoted an image of him which is that of a builder and an assertive leader.

Conclusion

Speech delivery and dialogue framing by the politicians is very important as it depicts the trait and behavior that forms an integral part of the personality that they carry and impact other people’s lives with. Communication is very important and this regards and caters to the forming of an impression on the target audience. Victory speeches are one of the most important constituents of any political agenda or election proceedings. It helps depict how grateful a leader is to the common people and how serious he is about his role. It also helps perceive the importance of the initiatives or reforms he is about to make. This paper effectively depicts how the various themes of traditional political speeches have been meticulously followed and used by Trump is all his speeches including his victory speech and how the victory speech of Trump was different from that of the others.

References

Ahmadian, S., Azarshahi, S. and Paulhus, D.L., 2017. Explaining Donald Trump via communication style: Grandiosity, informality, and dynamism. Personality and Individual Differences, 107, pp.49-53.

Bbc.co.uk. (2018). Available online at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37921876/trump-v-obama-how-their-victory-speeches-compare

Dorsey, J.M., 2016. The Rise of Trump and Its Global Implications-Trump’s Middle East: Back to the Future.

Jamieson, K.H. and Taussig, D., 2017. Disruption, Demonization, Deliverance, and Norm Destruction: The Rhetorical Signature of Donald J. Trump. Political Science Quarterly, 132(4), pp.619-650.

Lamont, M., Park, B.Y. and Ayala?Hurtado, E., 2017. Trump's electoral speeches and his appeal to the American white working class. The British journal of sociology, 68(S1).

Schumacher, E. and Eskenazi, M., 2016. A readability analysis of campaign speeches from the 2016 US presidential campaign. arXiv preprint arXiv:1603.05739.