Hafid 1

Kenza Hafid

11/27/2020

Mock Paper 1

English IB (HL) 11A

Gaslighting Incites Racism

“When Donald Trump was elected, many truths that White Americans were either

willingly or naively oblivious to were forced onto their consciousness. ” In this quote, Mona

Eltahawy highlights that many Americans were naively forced to vote for Trump. Manipulation

and gaslighting is one of the most common schemes which American leaders utilize in order to

construct a political ideology that is accepted by the American society. The term “gaslighting” as

discussed in the article ”Gaslighters-In-Chief Are a Proud American Tradition” is a form of

psychological manipulation used to exert control over others. We can see traces of gaslighting in

American politics through former President Donald Trump who has been a reminder of the

“willful amnesia that grips American media and White Americans”, when it comes to racist

presidents that promote White supremacy. This article is through the perspective of A liberal

Muslim woman known for her strong written attacks on issues of race and gender. It depicts the

citizens of America being gaslighted by their president therefore becoming afraid to speak up

against White supremacy in America. Eltahawy uses sarcastic diction, aspects of syntax and

allusions to create a contemptuous tone to expose the deeply rooted racism, bigotry and white

supremacy within the United States.

Eltahawy utilizes diction and allusions to reveal her contempt for Trump. This is

exemplified through her diction when she makes use of words like “corralled” to describe
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members of the White House. “Corralled” is customarily used in an animal context therefore we

can see that she is using an animal term to imply a negative connotation to represent her lack of

respect for the president. This irreverent tone is further established when she mocks Trump

throughout the article. This can be seen in her response to Trump's speech when she explicitly

writes “I literally laughed out loud.” This demonstrates that she views the leader of the country's

word’s as a joke to the extent where she bursts out laughing. It can be seen that she also ridicules

him by alluding to The Onion which is a satirical newspaper used to criticize someone through

exaggeration. This is demonstrated through the quote “To hear a president who has incited

racism, bigotry, and White supremacy condemn the very things he has come to be associated

with, was as if the satirical newspaper the Onion had written the prepared statement. ” The

purpose of comparing Trump to a satirical cartoon is to signify that his performance was so

awful that it looks like something out of The Onion. Therefore, the reason behind her cynical and

mocking description of Trump being ‘a joke’ is to prove him being an inadequate president.

Lastly, the term “gaslighting” which is referenced multiple times throughout the article is an

allusion to the play “Gas Light” written by Patrick Hamiltion. The term gaslighting was coined

in this play ​where the protagonist's husband slowly manipulated her into believing she's going

mad. By turning down the gas light and convincing her she was seeing things. We can see traces

of this exact manipulation through Trump. Who condemns racism, bigotry and white supremacy

yet at the same time promotes such things. In correspondence to the play, Trump gaslights his

audience and convinces them that they have formed their own racist ideas when in fact he has

been encouraging such bigotry. ​To conclude, her use of irreverent language demonstrates her

contempt towards Trump.

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Another way Eltahawy develops her contemptuous tone is when she shifts her attention

from Trump to former Presidents Reagan and Bush. The purpose of this is to explore how this

gaslighting precedent had already been set and is in fact the “the fruition of decades of racism,

bigotry, and White supremacy”. It can be seen that her contempt is not only reserved for Trump

when she alludes to Reagan and calls him a “patron saint”, which is defined as someone thought

of highly. When she uses the word “patron saint she is clearly not being sincere and exaggerating

his image. In order to reflect the thoughts of Americans while she later proves his racism through

the quote “To see those monkeys from those African countries, damn them.” Eltahawy

deliberately proves that he is racist while comparing him to a patron saint in an ironic manner

which divulges the reality of his evil nature which was hidden due to his manipulative

tendencies. In addition, Eltahawy extends her criticism to Bush when she writes “Take the

rehabilitation of George W. Bush. A man whose two terms as president included wars against

two Muslim-majority countries as revenge for the 9/11 attacks and under whose watch the

Guantanamo prison camp was filled with Muslim men who have never been charged or tried for

anything, is now being portrayed as a sage and elder statesman; an angelic grandfather and

artist.” Through this quote, Eltahawy juxtaposes the way Americans glorify Bush in contrast

with his horrific actions. This is done sarcastically in order to insinuate Bush’s evil nature using

irony and mocking demeanour uncovering his true character. Eltahawy exaggerates her

description when she refers to Bush as “sage, elder states man and angelic”. This is done

hyperbolically as his illustration shown to the world is just an illusion covering the reality of his

immoral and nefarious intentions. To conclude, Eltahawy proves the racism within the American

presidents and yet how they continue to be glorified by Americans who are too blinded to see the

racism, bigotry, and white supremacy within their own leaders.

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Lastly, Eltahawy utilizes syntax to construct an irreverent tone. This is established when

she uses parallelism when she repeats the line “racism, bigotry, and white supremacy” in this

exact order throughout the text. It is also the subtitle, where the font is much larger than the

article. This bold emphasis is purposefully done as Americans refuse to acknowledge these three

things. Therefore, since Eltahawy continuously accuses them of ignoring it, she uses this

repetition of grammatical structure to emphasize the importance and severity of this issue. She

repeats this line 9 times throughout. In addition, after each long paragraph. Eltahawy creates this

scheme where she ends with a short sentence and makes it a paragraph on it's own. This is

exemplified when she writes short phrases such as “White power will always protect its own ”.

After a long paragraph she breaks this cycle with a short sentence to emphasize the power white

supremacy has. These short sentences hold a lot of meaning and ensure that the readers focus on

the main idea at the end. Lastly, Eltahawy uses a sentence fragment when she writes

“Unironically.” as it's own sentence after “Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism.” She intentionally

uses incorrect grammar in order to be facetious to mock Trump and his hypocrisy. All in all,

Eltahawy uses unusual syntax schemes in order to demonstrate the lack of importance she has for

trump.

It is undeniable that Eltahawy is not only critical but absolutely brazen in her attack on

racism deeply rooted within the American political system. This is clear through her polemic

tone and persuasive diction. She likely has only one purpose in mind which is to inform the

readers about this racism that American society is deliberately ignoring. She is not interested in

being diplomatic, her interest rather is to simply give a wake up call to Americans in denial of

the reality of the situation. Through her unusual choices in syntax, sarcastic diction and her

references to allusion she has successfully revealed the truth behind the white leaders of
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America. She exposed the hypocrisy within the country by exposing the acceptance of the

discirmiantion against the minority due to gaslighting from its leaders. Eltahawy, as an activist,

is directly responding to this terrible situation where minorities are being killed by racist and

ignorant Americans. It is clear that her goal is not to convince people that racism is bad but to

make people aware of how deeply rooted racism is within American society. Eltahawy presents

her bold claims to directly challenge American citizens and their inability to confront its racist

leaders. She illustrates how this White supremacy within the leaders of America is expected as it

is “an aberration rather than the fruition of decades of the racism, bigotry, and White supremacy

of their party.”

Works Cited

Eltahawy, Mona. “Gaslighters-In-Chief Are a Proud American Tradition.” ​Medium,​ ZORA, 9

Aug. 2019,

zora.medium.com/gaslighters-in-chief-are-a-proud-american-tradition-551bf80b06c6.