TOW #9 - America Elects a Bigot

On November 10th, 2016, NY Times political writer Charles M. Blow posted an article titled, “America Elects a Bigot”. This strongly-titled article was published in response to the events of the American election in which Donald J. Trump was chosen to be the President-Elect of the United States. Writing to the people of America, Blow aims to show that if America is to remain successful, then this man must be under constant pressure from the people. Blow is able to prove this purpose through his use of strong diction and repetition of phrases. Early in the article, he writes, “It is hard to know specifically how to position yourself in a country that can elect a man with such staggering ineptitude and open animus.” (Blow Par. 5). Through the use of words like ineptitude and animus, Blow attempts to show the people just how unfavorable of a President Mr. Trump is. These words, which most would consider to be quite sophisticated, are more likely to grab the attention of the reader and they highlight his lack of skill and his open disliking of many different types of people who he has spoken out against. This is all in effort to show that Americans cannot morally let him do whatever he wants. To drive his point home, Blow tells that, “Also, let me be clear: Businessman Donald Trump was a bigot. Candidate Donald Trump was a bigot. Republican nominee Donald Trump was a bigot. And I can only assume that President Donald Trump will be a bigot.” (Blow Par. 6). By repeating phrases calling Trump a bigot, the idea becomes more likely to be ingrained in the head of the reader. Like his use of diction, this also highlights his horrible treatment of many ethnic groups. Overall, I do believe that Mr. Blow was able to effectively prove his purpose as I do not believe that a man like Trump is deserving of representing the values of our country and that Americans must carefully watch him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/opinion/america-elects-a-bigot.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-abc-region&region=span-abc-region&WT.nav=span-abc-region&_r=0