One of Hillary Clinton’s election strategies is to convince voters that Donald Trump is unfit to be president. She and her surrogates utilize several rhetorical means to accomplish, including fallacies. This past Monday, Vice President Biden launched a foray of Ad-Hominem and Slippery Slope fallacies against Trump at a rally in Sarasota, Florida.
Sunshine State’s Significance
Florida is a key target for Clinton and Trump. This map from 270towin.com, shows the swing states of the the 2016 Presidential election as of August 4, 2016 below.
As a swing state, Florida plays a vital role in deciding the election winner. Biden acknowledged this at the rally, “You have an incredible opportunity here, as usual, Florida holds the key…Hillary wins Florida, there is absolutely zero path, zero path for this man to make it to the White House.” Triumphing over Trump in Florida, ultimately provides Clinton with a huge win and denies Trump crucial electoral votes.
Ad-Hominems Abound
Clinton continuously attacks Trump’s sanity and presidential caliber. After Trump’s tweets about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, Clinton responded with her own tweet that called Trump “unhinged.” The full tweet can be accessed at this link: https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/781869125903773696. Biden continued this narrative Monday with ad-hominems. An ad-hominem fallacy attacks a person or their character. According to the article, “VP Biden campaigns for Hillary Clinton” by John Rogers, “Biden questioned Trump’s temperament to be president, citing the 3 a.m. Twitter rant the Republican frontrunner spouted about the former Miss Universe.” Biden later stated, “It bothers me, his lack of any sensibilities to what the American spirit is.” These qualify as ad-hominems because they address Trump’s temperament and empathy, rather than his policy. You can read Biden’s other statements about Trump at this link: http://wfla.com/2016/10/03/vp-biden-to-campaign-for-hillary-clinton-in-sarasota-monday/.
Fear the Slippery Slope
Biden committed another rhetorical sin when he employed a slippery slope to incite fear among voters. He warned, “Everything you worked for, not a joke, in heartbeat, will be wiped out. Not only economically in terms of foreign policy, but in terms of rational social progress, civil rights, civil liberties.” A slippery slope assumes that one event will lead to a disastrous event that snowballs from there. Biden wants the crowd to assume electing Trump will cause the collapse of almost every aspect of American life. Yet, he provides no evidence for this claim.
Followup
While voters may accept Biden’s fallacies, they are not acceptable in the rhetorical realm. Voters must be wary of these tactics employed by surrogates like Biden. They should not base their votes on fallacies. Instead, people should look beyond the fallacies at the candidate’s policies and positions, and base their decisions off of sound rhetoric. I encourage those who attended the rally in Sarasota, and voters in general, to check the facts and the rhetoric.