Donald Trump’s Godsend!

With the election drawing to a close, FBI director Comey announcing that the Clinton email case would be reopened was a damaging blow to the Clinton campaign. Hillary and her campaign are already going after director Comey for reopening this case so close to the election. This has been an obvious blow to her campaign for presidency, but it has been an amazing turn of events for her opponent Donald Trump. He not only is utilizing this rhetorically, but it also takes the eyes off of his own numerous scandals.

What the Case Reopening Means for Trump

Donald Trump’s campaign was quick to utilize the reopening of the campaign to go after Hillary Clinton’s character. Even though Trump initially slammed the FBI for how they handled the case, with it being reopening he is now claiming that he has always had confidence in the FBI . This shows how Rhetoric shifts to fit, the situation. When the FBI claimed that there was no evidence to persecute Hillary Clinton Trump attacked them, but now that they are opening up the case again he is fully supporting them. Trump also has been claiming that Hillary is untrustworthy and is using the recurring scandal from her emails to further push that narrative.

It is safe to assume that for the Trump campaign this October surprise coming so close to election day is being used to try to jolt them to victory, it is also being used to take some of the heat off of Trump’s own scandals.

Trump’s Godsend

This not only occurred near the end of the election, but also during a time when Trump was being criticized for lewd comments he made about women. With the eyes finally being pulled off of him, Trump is trying to milk the email scandal for everything it is worth in the last days of this election and is trying to increase momentum for his campaign. Not only was his sexual misconduct swept under the rug, but also his lack of tax returns is also being left out of the media circus. Now the media is focused on Clinton’s emails and she has a dark cloud over her, while Trump is trying to avoid scandal in the last days of the campaign and stay on point .

He is allowing the reopening of this case, and the scandal of the Clinton campaign to hurt Clinton. By staying on point, he is appearing more presidential and making himself look like the trustworthy one in the final days of the election. The only question is will this be enough, we will find out once this election is finally over.

Hillary Clinton Email Case Reopened

With the election winding down, on October 28, 2016 FBI director Comey announced that the FBI is reexamining new emails related to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server. This stems from Emails that the FBI found recently and is related to inappropriate behavior related to Anthony Weiner, and the emails were found on his laptop. I will be examining how this will have a negative rhetorical effect on Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Negative Implications for Clinton Campaign

Anthony Weiner is a known democrat and has a history of inappropriate behavior, and the new Secretary of State emails were found on his laptop while he is being investigated for sending illicit messages to a fifteen year old girl . The emails were found, while during the investigation law enforcement went through Weiner’s ex wife Huma Abedin’s laptop. This democrat scandal, coupled with the fact that Huma Abedin is Hillary Clinton’s current aid . Amongst the backdrop of current email scandal that has arisen from Wikileaks , and the election soon drawing to a close this has been a horrible turn of events for Hillary Clinton. For her opponents and the media this has been a field day.

Trump used this as more ammunition to claim that the election is being rigged, and that the Justice Department is fighting the FBI to protect Hillary . Thi is a good move for his campaign rhetorically as it gives more fuel to the fire that Hillary Clinton is a untrustworthy establishment shill who doesn’t have to follow the same rules as the rest of us. At a Trump rally when he brought up the case was being reopened his supporters were more then excited, and he pushed the notion that she is a criminal and corrupt.

 

 

The media on the other hand, is attempting to sensationalize the issue and further draw this story out. Often reporting how the Clinton campaign is one the defensive in handling this situation. This story is steeped in enough scandal as is, but now that you add the sexual backdrop, that comes with the fact that it is linked to Anthony Weiner’s sexual misconduct that only further adds more controversy for the media to play off of. Sex sells in American politics.

Rhetorical Significance

Which each passing day, the cumulative scandals created by Hillary Clinton’s emails only further cause her more issues in this election. As she is already seen as untrustworthy and as she had just only narrowly been found not guilty, the reopening of the case is just further evidence to deteriorate her campaign. This October has had many surprises for both campaigns, this might be the issue to finally get the eye off of Trump’s sex scandal. Considering this new reopened case is a mix of a sex scandal and another case of Clinton seeming untrustworthy, it is possible that Trump can use this to take the election in November. Her campaign is already mobilizing to fight this.

Clinton will maintain that this is a non issue, and that even director Comey has said that this investigation should not effect her being President. That being said, in the public opinion this only further makes her appear untrustworthy.

Hillary Clinton Email Scandal: Russian scapegoat

Ever since the DNC was hacked by what is suspected to have been the Russians, the media has been scrutinizing Hillary Clinton for her lack of safety and questioning if they can trust her in a position to handle sensitive material. Her Campaign has begun to bring up the fact that the serious issue is Russian hackers trying to influence the American elections. In the article I will I will discuss how the Clinton campaign has used the Russians as a scapegoat to draw attention away from her using a private email server.  This stems from a long history and animosity between Hillary Clinton and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Russian Animosity

As secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a well-known figure in international politics. This influence has made her a lot of enemies, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin is one of them .They have publicly criticized each other along with hindered each other’s international goals. The Clinton campaign usually puts up a more negative view of Russia , as opposed to the Donald trump campaign which has been seen as a little too friendly to Putin. This makes sense considering the Democratic party is the incumbent party, and as we discussed in class the challenger(Republican party) tries to make anything the incumbent do look terrible. So any issues with Russia will cause the Republican Trump campaign to blame the incumbent party, and offer a better solution to Russia. This shows that Russia is already trigger term used in politics by the Republicans. The democrats are turning Russia into a dangerous entity, and saying it is dangerous for them to be so close to the Republicans.

 

Russian Scapegoat

Hillary Clinton turned the issue off of herself in dealing with the email controversy, by making it seem like this was a plot by Russian Higher ups . This plays to a fear of outsiders attacking the U.S.  and urges the listener to focus more on the fact that Russian hackers attacked her survey and not that she mishandled confidential material. Another fact that she uses to her benefit is that Donald Trump is suspected of getting aid from Russia. The Vladimir Putin and Trump have said positive things each other , and Donald Trump does dealings in Russia. She has effectively turned this issue against Republicans and shown their party leader as being too friendly with an enemy.

Whether the Russians hacked Hillary Clinton’s email server or not, her campaign has found its scapegoat, and as Donald Trump continues to propose his positive view of Russian leader Vladimir Putin t will only push this back onto Republicans. In the last debate Hillary challenged Donald directly about his links to Russia as soon as her email link was brought up calling him a puppet. She claims that Trump urged Putin to do this hack, and is trying to interfere in our elections. This further makes Trump look untrustworthy and takes the eyes off her for this scandal. This has become a very effective rhetorical strategy for her campaign, and shall continue to be utilized as long as her “hacked” emails are still being questioned.

WikiLeaks Email Leak

WikiLeaks the journalistic organization that focuses on exposing secret information to the public, launched a searchable email archive of over 30,000 emails sent from Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Recently during the current presidential campaign on October 7, 2016 Wikileaks released 2,060 emails sent between her and her campaign manager John Podesta . This Wikileaks leak happened amongst the controversy of Hillary Clinton’s private server already being hacked by what is to be suspected to be the Russians. In this article I will discuss the rhetorical implications of the wikileaks hacks and how they affect the overlying situation of the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Email Contents

The contents of the emails varied from detailing Clinton’s scripted jokes, statements, private views, and general campaign strategies. The most damning contents of the email leak were that they displayed a series of transcripts which recorded private statements she made when giving private speeches to Wall Street . Hillary has long faced scrutiny from progressives that she attempts to garner support from, and has frequently stated that she would be hard on Wall Street. The contents of the Wall Street transcripts show a different story as it shows her pandering to the Wall Street audience and telling them things that are the opposite of what she frequently said in public.

This was very damning to her public image and frustrating to progressives who feel that big business is destroying our economy. Politicians often try to pain themselves as men and women of the people, but this confirms an image of Hillary Clinton that she has long held. She is in bed with the same big businesses that she claims, that she will keep under control. This makes Hillary lose a lot of rhetorical face, as now their worst fears have been confirmed. She has a public face and private face.

Hillary Clinton’s Personality

Another issue that came from this email leak is that it shows how scripted how many of her mannerisms are. Hillary Clinton has always been viewed as being very charismatic and unrelatable and this shows even more that her personality is very forced. This will only further show her as far from the average American which is a fundamental characteristic for campaigning politicians, and add more points to her opponent Donald Trump who has far more gas on the personality bus then she does. Also her laugh is disturbing….

 

The Clinton campaign can still bounce back from the Wikileaks email leak, but this further adds fuel to the fire of making Hillary appear more untrustworthy. It also seriously adds a level of uncertainty about the character of her and the Democratic Party as a whole. Although the emails may not be evidence of heinous illegal activity, they have still been very damning of her campaign.

Republican Outrage to Clinton Email Controversy

When Hillary Clinton was found to have used a private server in handling confidential material, the outrage was swift and fierce. The media and especially the Republicans continuously brought up the issue in an attempt to stir controversy out of the situation and to defame Hillary Clinton. The Republicans mainly persisted that the situation was not being properly investigated, and that the situation should be further investigated. Trey Gowdy, the Republican U.S. Representative, who has a history of pushing for investigation on how Hillary Clinton handled the 2012 Benghazi attack , jumped onto the Clinton email situation and not only attacked her but also FBI director James Comey for the discretions in what Hillary Clinton said and the FBI’s investigation. Pushing the notion that the FBI did not thourougly investigate Hillary Clinton as well as they should have.

With Hillary Clinton being a prominent member of Barrack Obama’s candidate, and the democratic front runner for President it is no surprise that partisan politics came into play regarding the emails. At the Republican National Convention the email controversy was a major topic of discussion, with Christ Christie rousing the crowd into a frenzy over the possibility of her being guilty of putting the U.S. in danger. Two Republican Senator Committee heads Charles Grassley of the senate judiciary committee and Ron Johnson of the senate homeland security committee both stated that they will seek an independent review of the deleted emails. Of all the Republicans none have had as much to gain for doing so as Donald Trump.

 

Donald Trump’s Response to Hillary Clinton’s Emails

As the Republican party frontrunner he is her main challenger for president and the current leader of the Republican party. He is also in charge of riling up the republican party base, and turning any information he can against Hillary Clinton into public outrage. Trump has used Hilliary Clinton’s emails as proof that she is not only a danger to the United States, but is also unfit to be president. In a speech Donald Trump made the claim that Hilliary Clinton created a private email server with “premeditation” although he messed up the word and said “premedication” he still asserts that she knew that she was putting the United States at risk with her private server.

To the republicans, Hillary Clinton’s email are fodder to further increase the rhetorical narrative that we discussed in class, that she is untrustworthy.