Wahid 1

Dawood Wahid

Miles

Pre-AP English

1 March 2018

Columnist Article 3

Citation

Blow, Charles. “Lie, Exploit and Destroy.” nytimes, 8 February 2018,

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/opinion/trump-lie-mueller-

investigation.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fcharles-m-

blow&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&

version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collection. Accessed 1 march 2018.

Part 1: Article Analysis

Charles Blow article discusses that President Trump is someone who lies and exploits in order to

sell his brand and to protect only one person, himself. The article begins with Blow describing

Trump as someone who avoids reasoning for “intuition.” That President Trump does not like to

explain complex things that may require explanation to the public. Blow claims that Trumpism is

about “heat over light” and “hostility over comity,” trying to prove that the President always

makes the wrong decisions. According to Charles, Trump is a crazy liar who can't be improved

or corrected and that his lawyers warn him against talking to Robert Mueller who is incharge of

the Russian investigation. They fear that President’s lying could put him in more legal danger.

Blow also claims that Trump cares about himself and his valuables more than he cares about the

health of the the United States and its stability.

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Tone

Blow principally uses a furious tone to describe how President Trump is a liar who will do

whatever he can to protect himself and to show that he puts himself above the country. Despite

some informative tone, the author’s tone remains very serious to show his concern that this

country is being harmed by Trump.

Context

Some background information is needed in order to understand this article to the fully such as the

ongoing Russian investigation. However, an american adult or teenager will be able to receive

the message that is article is sending even without knowing much about the Russian investigation

and the current state of the American government.

Appeals

Blow uses logos to appeal to the audience's sense or reasoning in order to convince them of his

views. He also uses ethos when he states that former Vice President Biden said, “The President

has some difficulty with precision,” in order to convince the reader through the credibility of

someone such as a former Vice President.

Strategies and Devices

Charles Blow uses repetition in order to cement a point in his reader mind and convince them of

his views that President Trump is not a good leader. This can be described in, “ He has enormous

power and an enormous ego.” The author also uses anecdote to show that president trump called

democrats “un-American” and “treasonous” in a speech near Cincinnati in the recent past but he

is the one who has connections to the Russian investigation. Lastly, the author makes use of

complex syntax by delivering many complex and compound sentences in order make his views

and arguments look strong.

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Organization

The article follows chronological order with some cause and effect, and extended definition with

examples. Cause and effect is used in order to show how that Trump’s lies always lead to another

lie in order to cover up the previous one. This is shown in, “Lie begets lies and another is always

needed to cover the one that came before.” Blow uses extended definition with examples when

describing how Trump lies to protect his skin and than the audience is provided with examples of

events that have occurred to show he is a liar such as Joe Biden claim that the president has a

hard time with “precision”.

Diction/Word Choice

The article is readable and could be understood by high school students. However, there is some

vocabulary that the reader may have to search up in order to understand some of the authors

claims. Blow uses words like “lie” and “exploit” to show President Trump is a liar and cheater

but also words like “ecclesiastical” and “gullibility” are used to make his claims look stronger.

Part III: Personal Response

Blow starts the column by talking about how President avoids reasoning and explaining complex

issues to the people of the America. The author claims that “Trumpism” is “heat over light”. The

column is closed by restating the main claim that Donald Trump is a liar and exploit who will

destroy in order to protect his own self. The author announces his main claim around mid half-

way of his article. The intended audience for this article are the citizens of the United States and

those who voted for Trump as President. I know this because when Trump takes an action as

President, it does not affect the country, but it affects the people because the people make up the

country. Most of the author's claims are personal opinions and observation with some facts that

relate to the Russian investigation. Unstated assumptions the article makes is that Trump is a
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should be removed as President of the United States. I agree with some of the Authors claims

such as that Trump lies to protect himself and calls Democrats “treasonous” but he is the one

who has connections to the Russian investigation. However, most of it is based on personal

opinions and observation so I will need information on the side where Trump has benefited this

great nation, America. This article has reinforced my opinion on Donald Trump by showing how

he lies to protect himself.