With the last Presidential debate happening in just hours one can only assume that Republican Candidate Donald Trump will focus on voter fraud. He has always accused the election of being rigged but as his numbers in the polls decline we see him focus his rhetorical strategy around the corruption of the American political establishment and the media.
The American Constitution was signed with a primary goal of elections being fair. This is a core value of American Democracy and Trump accusing the system of being corrupt further pushes home his point of being a political outsider and anti-establishment. This rhetorical strategy would give Trump and excuse if he looses however, it could spark a national problem regarding the legitimacy to Clinton’s Presidency if she took home the win.
To further this rhetorical strategy of pushing the argument that the election is rigged he has used surrogate speakers, such as former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to help draw attention in the media on this issue. However, House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he will no longer work for Trump’s election and is “fully confident” the election will be conducted with integrity.
Trump has also strategically used women surrogate speakers, such as his wife, to speak out again the sexual assault allegations against him. These allegations of sexual assault are definitely not helping Trump in the polls. After having a difficult time reaching women voters these claims come at a time that is detrimental to Trumps campaign. The allegations on top of the 2005 video that was released have only pushed potential voters away. His strategy of considering what he said “locker room talk” hasn’t seemed to work for him following the second debate. Maybe it also had something to do with that fact the he barely (if even) apologized for his comments.
At this point, I see Trumps rhetorical strategy as a failure and almost as a scare tactic in a lot ditch effort to win undecided voters. I do not predict any changes in the polls after this debate. I think that Trumps poll numbers have flatlined. I do not think that he will win over anymore undecided voters but I also think that his long time supporters will continue to support him.
I agree that Trump will take the “rigged” route of rhetoric, especially after the election. It’s an easy out for this non-politician if he loses. His long time supporters definitely will continue to fight for him because of what we talked about in class concerning the fact that many die-hard Trump supporters feel like they have a lot to lose if Trump does not win. I think you did a great job depicting his strategies against the backdrop of the situations that he finds himself in.