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#mythought on The art of rhetoric from the first presidential debate.



After spending an hour watching, I felt regret because I got a headache from all the quarrels. But when we look on the bright side, observing how they talk, I can learn some rhetoric techniques like how to respond to personal attacks and use literature to connect with the audience.


Trump:

  • Interruption strategy: overrides the opponent while giving a presentation, eliminating the opponent's expression, and increasing his voice's power.

  • Personal attacks: This is very effective in taking down the opponent. If the opponent falls into a trap and considers it's personal, the opponent will lose points in front of the viewer when showing anger and losing control.

Biden:

  • Smile: When your opponent attacks you, smile to ease your attack, and show that you don't consider it personal. A journalist from Nytimes commented: Biden laughed when Trump personally attacked while Hilary Clinton did not!


  • Understand viewers: In this debate, Trump only looks at opponents, while Biden looked at viewers and conveyed his message. I consider this as Biden's success because building an image that Biden cares about people. After all, this debate is about discussing citizen's problems rather than dividing and defeating the opponent.


  • Using a literary device to persuade: Biden repeatedly used literary methods to make his rhetoric connect more deeply with listeners. For example: "Close your eyes and think about how many empty chairs in your dining table. How many relatives have died because of COVID."

Source: Nytimes



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