As Trump surrogates continue to drop and disappear left and right, the few that still remain stand eerily strong as Trump surrogates continue to spout anything to promote their leader amidst a crumbling campaign fraught with all the divisive fear rhetoric and scandals we’ve seen over the past year. One in particular is Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, in his most recent interview with Megyn Kelly on a Fox News segment has once again raised eyebrows and concern with the deflection of Trump’s sexual assault allegations and his own personal (ad hominem) attack of Megyn Kelly on live TV. Analyzing this conversation rhetorically, one might find an interesting analogy argument deflecting Trump’s comments comparing them to Clinton’s lack of coverage in media, ad hominem attacks on Megyn Kelly and way this can all be viewed in light of gaffes/image-mistakes looking forward.

Gingrich attempts to deflect Megyn Kelly’s question about Trump’s sexual assault accusers by attacking her character (ad hominem), telling her on live TV she is “fascinated with sex, and you don’t care about public policy“. He tries to blame how sex sells in America for why Clinton’s scandals don’t get air time and why Trump gets so much more flak on and by the news. Rather than just attacking the liberal media, the attack becomes personal on Megyn Kelly and she wants nothing to do with it. It pushes the narrative once again momentarily away from the sex abuse accusers but on to Gingrich’s attack (which is terrible in its own right). This is just another example of an analogy saying Hillary is full of scandal (like Trump) but doesn’t get the media attention and that’s the dissociation tactic many Trump surrogates/supporters use to pull apart the bad things about the Trump campaign and try to stick them on Hilary, the media and really anything else.

Going further, prospect.org’s Stan Adele talks about how this wasn’t a gaffe but a part of the larger brand that has become Trump, misogyny. This points out an interesting detail in the way Trump surrogates talk about Trump. Many scapegoats that are produced from Trump surrogates include 50 Shades of Grey, Beyoncé, the liberal media, etc… . This seems to fit in the larger narrative that has continued and will continue to feed Trump supporters doubling down on their support. They blame the media for making Trump comments “gaffes”, Gingrich is just the newest edition to the ongoing frame that Trump supporters/surrogates frame and argue that the media is biased and that the system is rigged. It fits so well! To blame that you’ve been gaffed fits a world view as sabotage to move away from the reality of racism, sexism, xenophobia and fear based rhetoric and feel like a victim of a system that wants to oppress you.

Moving forward, we will continue to see deflections of Trump comments and accusations as gaffes by the liberal media to sabotage the election and be seen as enemies to America by those Trump supporters that buy into the twisted fear based world Trump and his surrogates have created. It’ll be interesting to see how more intense the Trump surrogates/Trump himself will attack those who seem to be in their way, all the while shaking faith (for many) in the foundations of our democratic system one day at a time as we creep towards November 8th.

Trump’s family:

Throughout Trump’s campaign, the support of his family has been an important factor. In many ways, his family has seemed to be highlighted and focused on more than any other in campaigns past. This has not been without reason. Trump’s campaign has focused a lot on him being relatable and always being transparent. He doesn’t sugar coat his words with political speech or beat around the bush. His children, in the same way, were not trained for politics and have had to depend on their own strengths and abilities to support Trump. This has given Trump and edge over Hillary, who has repeatedly struggled to gain America’s trust and appear transparent.

Hillary’s response:

As a result, Hillary’s campaign has strategically done what any campaign should, used their opponents biggest strength as their biggest weakness. Trump’s family, specifically Ivanka has been one of the biggest components of his campaign. His family has complimented his anti-political campaign by giving Trump the necessary support he has needed. Because of Trump’s campaign focusing so much on getting rid of political correctness, many Republican’s are not as vocal for endorsing Trump, making his family’s support vital. As a result, Hillary’s campaign has constantly attacked Trump and his family in order to disqualify Trump and his family’s character and also, indirectly keep the focus off of Hillary and her own mistakes. This has given Hillary copious amounts of time to prepare and appear presidential, while the media continues to paint Trump and his family as unqualified.

What you can expect to see:

Conclusively, over these next few weeks you can expect Hillary’s campaign to continuously try to disqualify Trump and his family by promoting negative characteristics about Trump and critiquing every comment his family makes in response. His family as a result will have to tread carefully and be very precise with what comments they choose to make. They need to address some of the issues, and then move on. Hillary’s campaign is wanting the public to remain focused on Trump’s past actions leading up to the election. Trump’s family could play a part in shifting that focus to other parts of Trump’s campaign.

 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/politics/ivanka-trump-donald-trump-crude/

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-10-19/trump-s-family-keeps-low-profile-in-home-stretch-of-campaign

With November 8th just a couple of weeks out now, it has become more important than ever for both presidential campaigns to hone in on their strengths and focus on getting to the White House. That being the case, it has become increasingly crucial for the surrogate speakers of both candidates to really align their efforts and push through any media resistance to achieve their goals – which makes the fact that Trump’s surrogates seem to be single-handedly undermining any progress that the GOP candidate could’ve made over these past few days that much worse.

Doubling Down on Deflection

With the media now seemingly solely focused on the various scandals surrounding Trump’s growing list of blunders and sexual assault accusations, it has become a staple of his surrogates to deflect from the controversies in the attempt to steer the conversation back towards policy. However, with such glaring evidence existing in the form of audio clips and video footage working against their candidate, it only stands to make their case worse, making them seem either exceptionally un-empathetic towards the alleged victims of his various missteps or, in some cases, just extremely out of touch.

Legitimately Making It Worse

In addition to the amount of deflection Trump’s campaign has been engaging in as of late, there is also the fact that some interviews with his various surrogates end up making headlines for being the exact wrong thing to say. For example, this past week, Trump surrogate and former Republican Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, made news for claiming that Hispanics won’t be much of an obstacle for Trump in her state due to the fact that, “They don’t get out and vote.” With Trump’s numbers already dwindling with Hispanic voters, Brewer’s comments couldn’t have come at a less opportune time, and it will interesting to see whether or not this latest addition to the media frenzy will be enough to turn Arizona blue.

Preparing to Take a Loss

Though Trump’s surrogates may not be completely unified on all fronts, it seems as if they can all agree on one thing: the vast and all-compassing corruption of our political system that has led to the mass rigging of the polls – in some cases, before they are even set up. In any case, it would appear that the Republican candidate’s surrogates will continue to support his claims that the election process has been set up to work against him – of only to soften the blow of their seemingly inevitable loss in the coming days.

Donald Trump’s campaign has been struggling to maintain a chance at winning the presidential election in the last few weeks. Not only has his support begun failing among the common American people, he has started to lose a lot of his support within the GOP, which can very well cost him the election. Many of those whose support he has lost have had the potential to be powerful and influential surrogates for his campaign, such as John McCain and Condoleezza Rice. What he has been left with is a group of extremists whose support for him is borderline becoming a cult. If someone in his campaign does not come forward as a voice of reason and find a way to reconcile the widening gaps within the Republican Party, Trump will lose this election.

What is Left: The Conspiracy Theorists 

Now that Trump has completely abandoned the idea of acting like a respectable candidate, it seems that all he has left to support him are people like Congresswoman Renee Ellmers. She has backed the “rigged campaign” conspiracy, though she seems to be willing to offer no defensible reason as to why it may be rigged. When interviewed by CNN, she pushed back against Chris Cuomo’s requests for proof, making statements such as “You want proof? I’ll give you proof,” then going on to give nothing to substantiate her claim. She is devaluing herself as a reputable public speaker, which is a red flag for someone who is supposed to be a surrogate and will likely be costly to the campaign, as many Republicans now feel there is no surrogate that they can relate to.

Family Sticks Together… Kinda 

If there is one group of people that a candidate should be able to depend on, it is their family. While Melania and the Trump children have not denounced their support for Trump, they have in many ways taken a step back. Most recently, Ivanka has come out saying that she is not a surrogate for Trump’s campaign… she is just his daughter. While this might seem innocent, this statement could be condemning for the campaign. Throughout the entirety of the campaign, she has never stated her opposition to being referred to as a surrogate until now. This may cause many people in the GOP to jump ship, considering Trump’s own daughter has begun to disassociate herself from the impeding political loss.

Trump’s recent comments in speeches and tweets about the election being rigged while shocking in nature as a candidate for the nation’s highest office, fit a larger and ridiculous narrative doubling down on his audience to keep Hilary voters at home and his fired up to go vote. While it seems many major surrogates for Trump are either pulling their support or magically disappearing, Mike Pence has offered some words of potential clarity acting as Donald Trump’s “anger translator” of sorts to better understand Trump’s message. Trump has repeatedly come out and warned against a rigged election, calling into question the legitimacy and function of our democratic voting process. Mike Pence sorting through Trump’s rigged conspiracy theories is utilizing elements of dissociation to avoid the narrative that Trump is calling into question confidence in our US democracy (one of the elements found in effects of our political debates).

Dissociation:

Pence has responded in multiple interviews saying we “will absolutely accept the results of the election” and sticking to the words from the first debate, “As Donald Trump said in that first debate, and I will say to you today, we will accept the will of the American people”. Mike Pence is attempting to dissociate Trumps current comments about conspiracy of the election and pick apart only elements of bias from the media as the focus on the conspiracy/rigging. Pence goes on in an interview with the Chicago Tribune to argue his point, “the American people are tired of the obvious bias in the national media. That’s where the sense of a rigged election goes here”. Mike Pence’s comments are in an attempt to avoid the next point and issue, an element of effects of our political debates, building confidence in US Democracy.

Building Confidence in US Democracy??

Looking forward through our nation’s disturbing rhetorical political discourse, Trump’s comments offer a chilling prelude to what was said at the end of the third debate tonight with Trump claiming he would evaluate the election results as they came in as to whether he would accept them and move on. A major element of our political debates in the US is to build confidence in our US Democracy, but with statements like that coming from Trump claiming that the whole nation and world is out to get him undermines the function of our debates and calls into question our election process. Not something to be taken lightly. I think Pence in making the comments he did saying they would accept the outcome, it’s one of America’s unique traditions was attempting to keep the Trump election grounded in anyway possible to keep any question away that their campaign doesn’t believe in the US Democratic system. Just like the “Luther” was the angry translator for President Obama at the 2015 White House Corespondents Dinner, Mike Pence has become the “Luther” for Trump. Except this time around it’s no joke and Pence is strategically staying away from the narrative that suggests Trump is questioning our democratic voting system as validated in our political debates that he seems so eager to pick apart like a child.

Melania Trump hasn’t taken on the typical role of a campaign spouse. She’s rarely seen on the campaign trail with her Husband, isn’t involved in fundraising, and hardly ever gives interviews. However, don’t let that lead you to believe she doesn’t stand behind Donald’s Campaign messaging, and rhetoric.  Two Days before the 3rd Debate Melania decided to sit down for an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper to discuss Donald’s recent controversies.  Melanie is arguably one of Trump’s most valuable Surrogate as somebody that can attest to the “Real Donald”. She can hopefully change the narrative from the man he was in the past, to the man he is today.  

Standing by her man

Many people would assume that Melania would use the benefit of being Trump’s Spouse as an opportunity to attest to his behavior when he is not in front of the camera (or hot mic). Let the voting public know that Trump isn’t the sexual Deviant that he is being portrayed as. Instead, Melania doubled down on a lot of the rhetoric Donald has built his campaign message around.  She blamed the media for lying to protect the Clintons and making Donald look like somebody he isn’t.  Melania thinks the timing of these accusers stepping forward all of a sudden is suspicious, while ignoring the claim from the 2nd debate by Donald that he had never sexually assaulted a women in the past.  In response to what her thoughts were when she first saw the Access Hollywood tape, “I was surprised because that is not the man that I know.” She then went on to make excuses for why the conversation even took place by saying, “It was only a mic, and I wonder if they even knew that the mic was on, because they were kind of a boy talk, and he was led on, like egged on, from the host to say dirty and bad stuff.”  Melania admits that she was surprised by the content of the tape, but not surprised that the tape came out. She feels that the Clintons and the Media are working together to discredit Trump, and this is just business as usual.

What did we learn?

Anybody thinking that Melania would be apologizing for her husband’s comments or actions from the past got their answer in her response to one of Anderson’s questions. He asked about Donald disparaging the appearance of a woman. She replied, “Well, that’s him. He’s raw.” With that said, I doubt we’ll hear from Melania that much more before election day.

The political world has continued to turn nasty as the coming election draws near. With just a  few weeks left, both campaigns are fighting to draw every last vote that they can. On Hillary’s side we have Michelle Obama speaking out about sexual assault, hyping on Trump’s derogatory comments made against women, while Trump’s campaign continues to try to diminish the affects of his words from years passed. By Donald Trump’s side, there is Melania Trump, who outside of the past couple of weeks, has been quiet for most of his campaign. Now she is using the recent events as a platform to continue to try to convince voters of Trump as an “innocent man”.

Melania Trump, in a televised interview by Anderson Cooper from CNN, stated that Trump was led into “boy talk” and that he was simply egged on to say “dirty and bad things”. She then further supported this statement by saying that she knows this to be true because the comments made were not a true reflection of the Donald Trump she knows. Trump’s campaign is again using Melania as a source of female support in his campaign in order to appeal to the female voters, but much more than that, also trying to maintain the voters he already has by convincing them that he is in fact the Trump he appears to be, not what has been released over the past couple of weeks. Her use of the words “boy talk” was very much so a strategic rhetorical strategy trying to downplay the gravity of what was said, but also appealing to the male audience. That simple statement in and of itself largely dismissed the claims that have been brought against him over previous weeks.

Over the next couple of weeks it will be interesting to see what each campaign chooses to focus their attention on. Hillary’s campaign has done a good job of continuously bringing up Trump’s past and if they are smart, they will continue to try to dig up what they can find to present to the public. However, this is only going to go so far with the Trump audience. They need to target voters who are still undecided. As for the Trump campaign, they may want to consider a different approach rather than just being dismissive.

 

Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/17/politics/melania-trump-interview/index.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/17/melania-trump-interview-cnn/92315100/

With Hillary Clinton currently leading in most polls across the U.S., it is safe to say that the Trump campaign is scrambling to make these last days leading up to the election count. That being the case, the role of Trump’s surrogates has become even more crucial than ever if the Republican candidate still hopes to have a chance at the White House. With his surrogates now up in arms and fiercely defending their candidate’s statements and actions in every possible way, it will be interesting to see how the rest of October plays out for Mr. Trump.

Desperate Strategies

As it stands, it would appear that Trump’s surrogates are determined to defend their candidate’s actions in the wake of the multitude of controversies he is now involved in, taking a defensive and deflective form of apologia to a whole new level.  A recurring strategy in recent days has been for surrogates to attempt to re-direct the conversation to issues that “matter,” citing their desire to discuss policy as their main reason for doing so. However, it is increasingly unclear which issues said surrogates are desiring to talk about, as it has never quite been made clear by the Republican front-runner what actions he will actually take once in office – besides “looking into it,” of course.

Prepping for a Loss?

Recently, Trump surrogates – as well as the man, himself – have been quoted more and more as saying the election will be “rigged,” claiming that the media and the establishment, itself, are conspiring against the Republican candidate and will ensure that he loses no matter what. In addition to planting such seeds across various social media outlets, Trump’s surrogates have also gone on more mainstream talk shows, such as NBC’s “The Today Show,” echoing their candidate’s claims and emphasizing the needs for more “monitored” polling and voting sites.

It Remains to be Seen…

Though these new tactics are exceptionally interesting to analyze from a rhetorical standpoint and the twist they’ve put on certain traditional techniques, it remains to be seen how all of these changes will affect the overall election come November 8th. If Trump has anything to say about it, though, he and his surrogates will continue to extend their brand of unapologetic and inflammatory rhetoric to the mass public, allowing voters to make of it what they may – while simultaneously decrying the very system that he seeks to become a part of.

The “October Surprise”  

Donald Trump’s disrespectful attitude toward women has been a hot topic for a while. Recent tapes that have come out in which Trump talks about having sex with married women and grabbing women by their genitalia may very well be the kiss of death for the Trump campaign. If Trump surrogates such as Scottie Nell Hughes and Betsy McCaughey do not stop trying to normalize his behavior by attributing it to the culture created by Fifty Shades of Grey, Magic Mike, and Beyoncé rather than addressing the underlying issues, Trump will become further alienated from his supporters and can say goodbye to his shot at the presidency.

Framing, Framing, Framing 

Many of Trump’s surrogates are trying to blame the backlash that came alongside the recent video on the ability of liberal media to set the agenda and then frame issues the way they want them to be seen. Donald Trump Jr. has attempted to claim that Trump’s statements were taken out of context by liberal media and are actually part of what “makes him a human.” Whether this “makes him a human” or not, if Trump cannot win over the moderate Republican women, he will not win the election; rising accusations of sexual assault and incriminating videos will not help him with his attempts at winning over the female electorate.

Fueling the Fire 

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has already utilized attack ads that displayed Trump’s cruel comments about women [ad]. She has so far been very successful at one of the main strategies of attack ads: labeling Trump and defining him as a misogynist. Amidst this ad, recent allegations of sexual assault, being accused of calling a former Miss Universe “miss piggy,” and now the Trump tapes, Trump is in a downward spiral in support of Republican women. He seems to be failing at responding to the attacks, as little to no attention has been taken away from his controversies. Even statements of support from strong Trump surrogates such as Minnesota state Senator Carrie Rudd (citing “more important issues” as her reason for retaining support) do not seem to be enough to help save his chances among women. Trump and his surrogates have two options at this point: find a way to show women that he does not think they are inferior to him or lose the election.