Duluth, Ga. (AP) – No single view has dominated American politics since 2015 Donald Trump On stage, Red waxed for more than an hour in front of a chorus of “Make America Great Again” hats.
The routine of his stream of consciousness, his interrupting one thought with another, is not something Cicero or Lincoln would recognize. The former president and Republican candidate describes his speech style as “weaving”, which ranges from dystopian warnings to light-hearted storytelling to policy announcements.
“You give a speech, and my speeches go on for a long time because of the weaving, you know, I mean, I weave stories into it,” Trump explained to popular podcaster Joe Rogan last week. “If you don't do that – if you just read the teleprompter, nobody's going to get very excited. You have to knit it. So you have to — but you always have to — as you say, you always have to get back to work immediately. Otherwise, it is no good. But weaving is very, very important. There are very few weavers around. But it's a big pressure for you – you know, it's a big job – it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work.”
in his last weeks Third presidential campaignTrump's presentation has become as disjointed and noticeably darker as ever. But the crowds keep coming, cheering his nationalist populism, laughing at insults and chanting with fists raised and his liberal pledges to make America strong, proud, healthy, prosperous and, of course, great again. Is.
Trump's speeches, although never identical, all use consistent devices and themes. He uses humor, boastfulness, anecdotes, complaints, and grandiose promises. There are non sequitur, imaginary lies and weak attacks on opponents. He sprinkles vulgarity and exaggeration. He even occasionally reads some signs from a teleprompter, mocks another politician when he uses them – and then claims he doesn't use a teleprompter or doesn't need one. Is.
vice president kamala harrisTrump's Democratic rivals encourage voters to see him in person, suggesting doing so would only confirm that he is erratic and unfit for office. Other critics compare his extended performance skills to those of authoritarian leaders. Or they argue that the “weaving” is merely cover for the cognitive decline of a 78-year-old man who would be the oldest newly sworn-in US president in history.
Here's a study of “weaving” as it deployed one night last week in suburban Atlanta.
Epic admissions and ample details – even lies – make the case
Perhaps the most significant moment is Trump's entrance. His walkout music, an instrumental that reflects his brief stint as a professional wrestling promoter, is Lee Greenwood's “God Bless the USA”. The former President stands silent and solemn on the stage while the crowd sings.
on a Recent Turning Point USA Rally In Duluth, Georgia, pyrotechnics and large video screens put him center stage, increasing the impact as his on-screen image towered above the crowd. Trump looked at the thousands of cellphones that were recording the scene.
With the last notes of Greenwood's opening hymn, Trump immediately calmed down and praised his audience, saying “thousands of proud, hard-working Americans and patriots, which is what you are.”
Then, in a more formal tone he seemed to turn to the prompters: “I would like to start by asking a very simple question. Are you in a better position now than you were four years ago?”
What to know about the 2024 elections?
It's the famous question that Republican Ronald Reagan used to defeat Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980, and Trump uses it as a way to tie Harris to the presidency. Joe BidenBut as the crowd in Duluth shouted “no,” Trump moved on to sweeping promises, hyperbole and hyperbole that doubled as an indictment of Biden and Harris.
What to know about the 2024 elections?
“I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of criminals into our country,” he pledged, adding that all immigrants are criminals.
“We are going to heal our country fast,” he said. “America will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before. This election is a choice between whether we will have four more years of incompetence, failure, and disaster, or whether we will embark on the four greatest years in the history of our country.
In Trump's language, Biden and Harris are not just bad. He called him the “worst president” and “worst vice president” ever. Harris, he warned, “will forever destroy your family's financial situation.” He single-handedly blames Harris for “open borders”, taking liberties with immigration and crime statistics and falsely suggesting that the vice president alone controls US immigration policy.
He said Harris “didn't get any votes” – a reference to her becoming the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out following the party primaries. “Therefore,” Trump insisted, “he is a threat to democracy” – a Trumpian staple of his opponents' most aggressive attacks against him.
By the time he completed his studies in Duluth, he had teased Harris as a “low-IQ person” and “not a smart person.”
Thousands of people laughed on each side.
Change and accuracy are never necessary
Trump does not speak in a linear pattern because he speaks to an extreme. From his first Harris takedown, he moved on to an expression of compassion for Hurricane Helene victims and then lashed out at one of his favorite topics: his public position.
“Our hearts are with you and we are praying for you – despite the election, everything. Elections,” he said. “Do you see what's happening here? Here, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee? And Georgia. Election. The polls are through the roof.”
A few minutes later, while the crowd was calming down, he used his signature slogan “MAGA” to encourage cheers.
“What a great crowd it is!” He replies laughing. “What a nice crowd.”
He returned to statistics showing the impact of inflation on American families. He asked, “Should I sue CBS and “60 Minutes” for manipulating the Harris interview answers,” which were, in his words, “from the lunatic bin.”
“This is election interference and fraud,” he said while presenting the charges, which are part of serious criminal cases against him.
Trump mocked Harris for saying she would raise taxes, but misrepresented her proposals as universally applicable. (She targeted corporations and the wealthiest individual filers.) Trump's 2017 tax cut, meanwhile, was “the biggest tax cut in history,” he said. (At most a charitable interpretation, which ignores inflation.)
However, specifications are not the end line
After driving from the mountain town of Lula, Georgia, to attend their first Trump rally, Timothy and Amanda Browning came to different conclusions about Trump's style.
Timothy Browning said, “I like it, because it shows how authentic he is.” “There are lulls – but you have to stick with it because there's always a zinger coming.”
Amanda Browning laughed when she remembered leaning over to her husband and whispering that Trump “could definitely use a speechwriter.”
Nevertheless, co-owners of an event venue and catering business in Lula reaffirmed their loyalty to the former president.
Timothy was wearing a T-shirt bearing a sexual insult to Harris, which was coined by some conservatives after Biden named her his running mate in 2020. Browning said, however, that he does not consider himself, Trump or the former president's supporters angry.
Instead, the Brownings emphasized Trump's first-term economy and his pledges for another term. Talking about his business, he pointed out the typical price rise seen since the pandemic-era inflation. He was not interested in supply chain disruptions from the pandemic or turmoil in world oil markets caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Trump, he said, presided over a better situation for him than Biden and, by extension, Harris.
Timothy Browning summarized his findings in Trumpian terms.
“I hear him,” Browning said, “putting America first.”