ThreeExamples of Fallacies from the Recent 2016 US Election
ThreeExamples of Fallacies from the Recent 2016 US Election
Afallacy is a common mistake in reasoning that compromises the logicof an explanation. A fallacy can be irrelevant and due to that factlack evidence to support its claim (Copi et al., 2013). There aredifferent types of fallacies such as appeal to ignorance, plea topopular opinion, and attacking a person (Johnson, 2014). However,this paper will address the fallacies present in the recent UnitedStates election where Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were competingfor the country’s presidency. Both candidates took everyopportunity to appeal to the voters and sometimes even usedillegitimate arguments the paper will focus on addressing threedifferent fallacies evident in the election campaigns.
DonaldTrump had strong views on the foreign policy in his quest to presenthis ideas, he unleashed an avalanche of illegitimate ideas, which hadno evidence to back them up. One of the fallacies he made wasaccusing Obama’s government of creating ground for Islamic State ofIraq and Syria (ISIS) to thrive. This is an example of an appeal toignorance fallacy Donald Trump took advantage of the citizens’lack of information on the ISIS issue to prove his arguments. Theother type of fallacy is attacking the person (Argumentumad Hominem).During the campaign, Hillary Clinton released an advertisement thatfeatured members of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and white nationalistspraising Donald Trump (see appendix B). The other type of fallacy isan appeal to public opinion. Donald Trump took advantage of the factthat Americans despise the vice of corruption to influence them thatHillary Clinton was corrupt following the Email scandal. HillaryClinton was accused of using her official email to conduct personalbusiness (see appendix C).
Oneof the types of fallacies the paper will elaborate on is the appealto ignorance. An appeal to ignorance is a situation where oneindividual takes advantage of the other’s lack of knowledge orinformation on a certain issue to influence the direction of anargument or to prove the accuracy of his/her case. In mostsituations, the individual taking advantage of the others’ lack ofinformation is trying to get some favors from them in this case, thepaper will focus on Donald Trump’s appeal to the ignorance of theAmerican people. Foreign policy is a sensitive issue however it isunfortunate that most Americans lack enough information about thematter. During the campaign, Donald Trump took advantage of this factand made some atrocious comments on the issue. He accused the ObamaAdministration of creating a suitable environment for ISIS to grow(see appendix A). The issue of chemical weapon in Syria is not asblack-and-white as Trump suggests.It is reported that ISIS were usingchemical weapons in the fight against the government of Assad. Thereis likelihood that this was a plan by the rebels to force the US tofight Assad’s government (CNNPolitics).In the same comment, he also suggested that ISIS was growing.However, that suggestion is not true as evidence found recentlysuggests that ISIS has been falling due to financial and desertionproblems (see appendix A). Most of this information is not readilyavailable to the public. Trump took advantage of this fact todiscredit the government his intention being to give voters a reasonto vote for him.
DonaldTrump’s conclusion was that the Obama government was responsiblefor the ISIS menace facing the United States. It might seem that hissentiments were not completely wrong the Obama administration doesnot seem to be doing enough to deal with ISIS. According to hiscomments, it is evident that the American armed forces fell forISIS’s set up to force the government’s decision to fight Assad’sgovernment. On the other hand, the conclusion made by Donald Trumpcould be completely wrong in the comment, he uses the words “linein the sand” to refer to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Inreality, it is indicated that ISIS have severally used chemicalweapons in the fight against Assad. This might be seen as an attemptby the rebels to set-up the US government to join the fight onAssad’s government.
References
Copi,I. M., Cohen, C., & McMahon, K. (2013). Introductionto Logic: Pearson New International Edition.PearsonHigher Ed.
CNNPolitics- PoliticalNews, Analysis and Opinion. (2016). CNN.Retrieved 16 January 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/politics
Johnson,R. H. (2014). Therise of informal logic: Essays on argumentation, critical thinking,reasoning and politics(Vol. 2).University of Windsor.
AppendixA
DonaldTrump’s comments on foreign policy
Wewent from mistakes in Iraq to Egypt to Libya, to President Obama’sline in the sand in Syria. Each of these actions have helped to throwthe region into chaos, and gave ISIS the space it needs to grow andprosper(www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/donald-trump–foreign–policy-speech/)
AppendixB
HillaryClinton’s Advertisement featuring KKK and White supremacistspraising Donald Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvcgRlz2ftg
AppendixC
DonaldTrump’s Comments on Hillary Clinton’s Emails
Ocala,Florida (CNN)DonaldTrump said Wednesday that HillaryClinton "has to go to jail" because the scandal over heremail server,comments that mark a major departure from the American politicaltradition(www.cnn.com/2016/10/12/politics/donald-trump–hillary–clinton-podesta-emails/)
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