Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The U.S. House of Representatives impeached American President Donald Trump for a second time in 2021. Trump was accused of fomenting an insurrection against the democracy he was sworn to protect, one of the most serious accusations that could be made against a president. In 2022 President Joe Biden, and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken, declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a speech attacking Russia for war crimes. As with Trump, commission of war crimes is one of the worst accusations that can be leveled against a military leader. This paper analyzes these three important texts as instances of persuasive attack. These attacks addressed the two essential components of an attack, discussing offensiveness of the actions and blame for these actions. This analysis reinforces the utility of the Theory of Persuasive Attack and helps illuminate important recent discourses employing attacks.

Keywords

Blame impeachment offensiveness persuasive attack Russian invasion of Ukraine Trump

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abramowitz

Webster

(2016) The rise of negative partisanship and the nationalization of US elections in the 21st century. Electoral Studies 41: 12–22.

Abramowitz

Webster

(2018) Negative partisanship: Why Americans dislike parties but behave like rabid partisans. Political Psychology 39: 119–135.

Benoit

(2013) Mudslinging: The nature of attacks in political campaigns. In: Rountree

(ed.) Venomous Speech and Other Problems in American Political Discourse. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp.129–147.

Benoit

(2015) Accounts, Excuses, Apologies: Image Repair Theory and Research, 2nd edn. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Benoit

(2017) Criticism of actions and character: Strategies for persuasive attack extended. Relevant Rhetoric 8: 18.

Benoit

(2020) Character assassination and persuasive attack on CBS’s face the Nation. In: Samoilenko

Icks

Keohane

, et al. (eds) Routledge Handbook of Character Assassination and Reputation Management. New York, NY: Routledge, pp.295–306.

Benoit

Delbert

(2010) Get a Mac: Mac vs. PC TV spots. Relevant Rhetoric 1. Available at: http://relevantrhetoric.com/PersuasiveAttackinMusic.pdf (accessed 14 April 2012).

Benoit

Dorries

(1996) Dateline NBC’s persuasive attack on Wal-Mart. Communication Quarterly 44: 463–477.

Benoit

Glantz

(2017) Persuasive Attack on Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican Primaries. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

10.

Benoit

Harthcock

(1999) Attacking the tobacco industry: A rhetorical analysis of advertisements by the campaign for tobacco-free kids. Southern Communication Journal 65: 66–81.

11.

Bishop

(2009) The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. Boston: Mariner Books.

12.

Blinken

(2022) War Crimes by Russia’s Forces in Ukraine. US Department of State. Available at: https://www.state.gov/war-crimes-by-russias-forces-in-ukraine/ (accessed 24 March 2022).

13.

Burke

(1945) A Grammar of Motives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

14.

Castor

(2015) Accusatory discourse. In: Tracy

(ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Language and Social Interaction. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, pp.1–5.

15.

Cathey

Nagle

(2022) Biden calls Russia’s Putin a “war criminal” over invasion of Ukraine. ABC News. Available at: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-calls-russias-putin-war-criminal-invasion-ukraine/story?id=83486935 (accessed 24 March 2022).

16.

Cook

(2022) The “Big Sort” continues with Trump as a driving force: Number of blowout counties spiked in 2016, endured in 2020. Crystal Ball. Available at: https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/the-big-sort-continues-with-trump-as-a-driving-force/ (accessed 8 April 2022).

17.

Gonzales

(2021) Decline in ticket-splitting reaches beyond Congress: Voters in 2020 backed the same party for president and state legislature in more than 90 percent of districts. Roll Call. Available at: https://www.rollcall.com/2021/05/26/decline-in-ticket-splitting-reaches-beyond-congress/ (accessed 27 May 2021).

18.

Icks

Shiraev

(eds) (2014) Character Assassination Throughout the Ages. New York, NY: Palgrave.

19.

Jones

(2020) Trump’s job approval rating steady at lower level. Gallup. Available at: https://news.gallup.com/poll/313454/trump-job-approval-rating-steady-lower-level.aspx (accessed 8 July 2020).

20.

Kika

(2022) Bucha killings: Russian torture chamber discovered in Kyiv suburb. News Week. Available at: https://www.newsweek.com/bucha-killings-torture-chamber-found-1694946 (accessed 7 April 2022).

21.

Legge

DiSanza

Gribas

, et al. (2012) ‘He sounded like a vile, disgusting pervert. . . An analysis of persuasive attacks on Rush Limbaugh during the Sandra Fluke controversy. Journal of Radio & Audio Media 19: 173–205.

22.

Morris

(1988) Finding fault. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 7: 1–25.

23.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2022) Ukraine: Civilian casualty update 23 March 2022. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2022/03/ukraine-civilian-casualty-update-23-march-2022 (accessed 2 April 2022).

24.

Pomerantz

(1978) Attributions of responsibility: Blamings. Sociology 12: 115–121.

25.

Raskin

DeGette

Cicilline

, et al. (2021) Trial memorandum of the United States House of Representatives in the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump. Available at: https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/house_trial_brief_final.pdf (accessed 12 March 2022).

26.

Ryan

(1982) Kategoria and apologia: On their rhetorical criticism as a speech set. Quarterly Journal of Speech 68: 254–261.

27.

Ryan

(1984) Baldwin vs. Edward VIII: A case study in kategoria and apologia. Southern Speech Communication Journal 49: 125–134.

28.

Ryan

(1988) Oratorical Encounters: Selected Studies and Sources of Twentieth-Century Political Accusations and Apologies. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

29.

Samoilenko

Icks

Keohane

, et al. (eds) (2020) Routledge Handbook of Character Assassination and Reputation Management. New York, NY: Routledge.

30.

Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecondimpeachmenttrialofDonaldTrump (accessed 13 March 2022).

31.

Security Council Report (2022) Ukraine: Vote on draft humanitarian resolution. Available at: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2022/03/ukraine-vote-on-draft-humanitarian-resolution.php (accessed 2 April 2022).

32.

Shiraev

Keohane

Icks

, et al. (2022) Character Assassination and Reputation Management: Theory and Applications. New York, NY: Routledge.

33.

Spector

(2016) The Vietnam war and the media. Encyclopedia Brittanica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Vietnam-War-and-the-media-2051426 (accessed 6 April 2022).

34.

Tracking sanctions against Russia (2022) Reuters. Available at: https://graphics.reuters.com/UKRAINE-CRISIS/SANCTIONS/byvrjenzmve/ (accessed 2 April 2022).

35.

Van Dijk

(2008) Discourse and Context: A Sociocognitive Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

36.

Van Dijk

(2012) Society and Discourse: How Social Contexts Influence Text and Talk. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

37.

Waxman

(2022) Historians on what Putin gets wrong about ‘Denazification’ in Ukraine. Time. Available at: https://time.com/6154493/denazification-putin-ukraine-history-context/ (accessed 7 April 2022).

38.

Zelenskyy

(2022) There is ample evidence that it is Russian troops who destroy peaceful cities, torture and kill civilians. Available at: https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/ye-bezlich-dokaziv-sho-same-rosijski-vijska-znishuyut-mirni-74089 (accessed 6 May 2022).

Persuasive attack on President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References