In regard to Donald Trump’s comments concerning women that were released last Friday, I would like to look not on the comments but instead his apology and lack thereof. A typical apologia speech is used to apologize for an action or comment someone in the public eye has done or said. And we’ve heard our fair share not just from politicians but celebrities, athletes (see Tiger Woods circa 2010), or public figures. These speeches have many different tones and can be taken many different ways. You can explain your behavior in a positive light, or you can justify the thing and try to remove it from the news cycle, deny it, differentiate public and private behavior, bolster the legitimacy of the action, or you can simply confess. Even with all these options, Donald Trump decided to not to stick with any of these options and instead blaze his own trail.
During his apology video, as you can see below, he does at least start by apologizing to America. But then he goes into this odd part when he says that these comments don’t reflect who he is. This would have been a perfect time for him to differentiate public and private behavior but instead he says that’s just not who he is. All of this take place in the first 25 seconds. The rest of the video is just a political ad, with a pivot at the end to ensure that he fires off a shot at the Clintons. In terms of what this video was supposed to do, he really didn’t accomplish much. The rhetoric was harsh and intimidating, something that women, who the video is trying to speak to, don’t find appealing. Also, the fact that his apology lasts for approximately 25 seconds keeps it from sounding sincere at all. Hell, even Tiger’s is 14 minutes long and he’s not even running for president.
I completely agree! Even though he gives an unapologetic apology what he says afterwards doesn’t help him in any way. Not only could he have differentiated between public and private behavior, but he could have also used that as a chance to explain that he has changed. In class we discussed Bush and how he approached his DUI arrest. This would have been a great strategy for Trump to use.
I definitely agree. This was a prime opportunity for him to humble himself and fess up to this ordeal but the way he went about the apology was pretty lackluster. I certainly feel that he could have won some respect from voters in terms of character had he been genuine and wholehearted about this, but this again is a prime example of the way he goes about handling himself.