Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week,” Martha Raddatz spoke with Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine about the election’s most pressing issues including Donald Trump’s claims that the election is rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton. Kaine explained that he believes Trump is turning to conspiracy theories as scare tactics because he lost the first two presidential debates and fears losing the election. Ironically enough, Kaine chose to use a scare tactic to fight Trump’s claims.
The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary – but also at many polling places – SAD
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016
Scare Tactics & Voter Turnout
Kaine said that Democrats are asking “GOP leaders to stand up for the integrity [and legitimacy] of the American electoral process” because questioning the validity of the nation’s elections is a threat to democracy. By employing this kind of rhetoric to describe Trump’s claims, Kaine is also engaging in the use of scare tactics. His claims that Trump’s statements are a threat to democracy is understandably frightening to American voters. Although there is truth to Kaine’s remarks given that the general election stage is meant to legitimize the political system, his rhetoric also contributes to the doomsday nature of elections. Though Kaine seeks to build confidence in democracy as his rhetorical objective, the Clinton campaign also depends on a higher voter turnout. Should voters be turned off by the mudslinging of this election or Trump’s claims that it’s rigged anyway, a lower voter turnout could favor Trump. Therefore, Kaine needed to reaffirm the importance and validity of this election despite Trump’s conspiracy theories whilst still propping up Clinton’s campaign message and serving as her surrogate. It will be interesting to see what the turnout numbers are come November 8 and how it plays into a Clinton or Trump victory.
This is a perfect example of several things that we have learned and discussed during this semester. Communicating scare tactics is a great example of a strategy used frequently in rhetorical communication, especially in political communication. As Kaine uses this strategy, the purpose and intended function of his communication is to convince the audience that electing Trump will be threatening to democracy. By doing so, the rhetoric of his message may convince undecided voters to support his presidential running mate, one of the main functions of the VP`s election process role. By expressing this to the audience, Kaine`s strategy can be seen as employed communicative rhetoric to best support his running mate`s potential for the presidential title.