The Straw Man Fallacy

Donald Trump calling Hillary Clinton a bigot is a classic straw man argument.

The straw man fallacy is a gross misrepresentation of fact. In debate theory, it is the proposal of something so outrageous, the opponent is forced into defensive rhetoric to defend the fallacious assumption, rather than focusing on important, relevant and factual arguments.

At the minimum, it is a disingenuous attempt to divert attention from Trump’s own flailing campaign. At worst, and this is what I truly believe, he is a vile con man, a snake oil salesman, who will quite literally, say anything that pops into his brain. He has a hair trigger and does not think about things logically or rationally.

Throughout this historic election cycle, Trump has demonstrated an unprecedented ability to keep the message off topic. The media stays in a constant state of readiness, awaiting what comes next from him. With each and every disturbing comment, slight, criticism or policy statement comes stunned disbelief from both the media and mainstream American voters.

Simply saying I’m not a racist and then immediately following it up with a racist diatribe seems to be his modus operandi. Cloaking his hatred and bigotry on his prolific Twitter account by pronouncing Many people are saying does not, in fact, hide the truth and the truth is the vitriol and divisive rhetoric are coming directly from Trump’s particular brand skewed ideology.

Donald Trump has, if nothing else, re-branded himself from simply an obnoxious reality star to the face of the white nationalist movement. So, what exactly is his end game? It certainly does not seem to be winning the presidency. If his strategy is to bring populism and white nationalism to the forefront, then mission accomplished? Well played, Mr. Trump. Well played.

One thing is very clear, as with the entire campaign, the presidential debates are going to be must-see television and the straw man tactic to debating may very well be Trump’s approach to besting his opponent. Hillary Clinton needs to differentiate herself from him and speak to policies and issues. If she can keep him on-topic, she should have no problem whatsoever defeating him with wit and grace. I look forward to that day!

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