We all remember those infamous words from June 16, 2015, from now Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump. When Trump declared his candidacy, he said: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” and proceeded to call them drug lords, criminals, and rapists. This harsh, angry rhetoric played to the emotions of millions of American voters — especially those fed up with our immigration policies. These voters attached their emotional support to Trump, hoping for change from the GOP days of the Bushes’ “compassionate conservatism.”
Trump’s Plans:
In a recently released deposition regarding these comments and his new hotel, Trump revealed that he believes he won the Republican nomination because of his stance on immigration. His 10 point plan calls for building a wall on the Mexican border, ending catch-and-release, and terminating Obama’s executive amnesties. These policies have led to massive crowds at Trump’s rallies and even campaign merchandise supporting the wall:
Rhetorical Approaches:
So, what does all of this aggressive rhetoric and crazed support mean for the GOP and immigration? Well, first off, we can look at the symbolic world view of politics. As the only constant in political life is change, it shouldn’t be all too surprising that the GOP is changing its views on immigration. While George W. Bush stood for immigration reform to include Latino support within the party, Trump is driving out that support. He has taken the party from a moderate approach on immigration to a hard right approach on the topic.
Secondly, as noted in Westen’s Political Brain, emotions can distort facts. Those hardcore Trump supporters who believe all 11 million illegal immigrants should be deported are riding on fear and anger. They might not necessarily be looking at all the facts tied to illegal immigrants — that the majority of them are not criminals or rapists. Instead, these voters have attached their feelings of fear and angry to Trump and his vision.
Lastly, Trump does a fairly decent job of persuading. As a major persuasive communication principle, Trump appeals to the whole brain with images, sounds, and words. The perfect example of this matter occurred early on in his campaign when he visited the border near Laredo, Texas. He visited a place where people experience illegal immigration firsthand, and he eventually won the endorsement of the National Border Patrol Council. Naturally, this endorsement persuaded others to believe Trump is correct on illegal immigration.
All of these factors combined show us that Trump has indeed struck a chord on illegal immigration, and has gained momentous support because of his change in symbolic world view, play to emotions, and persuasion to the entire brain.
I agree with you! I believe Trump has found a way to use emotion to harness unwavering support, especially on the issue of immigration. He promotes fear and anger towards towards illegal immigrants, which strengthens people’s support for him and his policies. I think it is very important to talk about how Trump has shifted the Republican Party’s view on immigration since Bush and how this will impact the Latino vote. Trump is causing the right to lose millions of Latinos and I don’t believe the Republicans can withstand losing so many votes due to his policy. It could be very detrimental to the future of the party.
Trump has absolutely used emotion to play with the minds of his voters. He is well known for his adamant beliefs and his unwillingness to change, or even tweak, his policies and view points. That being said, if voters would open their eyes and not let themselves be so swayed by emotion, they would recognize his rhetorical strategy and tactics and see that he hasn’t really changed or softened his viewpoint on illegal immigrants by making a visit to the Mexican border. He did this simply to win over the voters who were previously not voting for him because they thought his policies were too tough on the illegal immigrants. All things said, Trump needs to truly soften his viewpoint instead of just pretending too, because he is going to need the support of the Latinos to win the election, and as he stands today, there is no way he will gain any of their support.