Rhetorical Precis
Paul Krugman in his column, Things Can Only Get Worse, inquires that Donald Trump's ability to handle bad laws as the new President of the United States will reside in an underdeveloped response. Krugman supports his queries by first listing the possible situations that might require President Trump’s reaction such as the economy, healthcare and crime. Krugman then explains how he predicts Trump will react based off of an analysis of Trump’s previous responses to stress, such as bad press. He’ll just ignore it. Lastly, the author leaves the audience with a challenge of hobbling together and preparing for much worse to come. Krugman's purpose was to point out a major weakness in our president’s ego in order to foretell America’s possible future. The author writes in an ambivalent but caustic tone in response to Trump’s actions. This work is significant because it legitimizes many of the worries held in response to Trump holding office.
Rhetorical Analysis of two rhetorical strategies
In his column, Things Can Only Get Worse, Paul Krugman uses logical hypothetical situations in order to discredit any hope of Donald Trump doing a decent job as the President of the United States. He first deems Trump unfit to govern by discrediting his current actions such as throwing temper tantrums over small numbers as insignificant as his inauguration crowd. Versus internalizing his emotions and choosing a proper time to voice his frustrations, as not only the bigger person but the president of the United States, Donald Trump wastes his first press conference ranting about nothing. And when addressed with political material he skirts around the entire question. Krugman then starts to pose logical hypothetical situations to theorize how President Trump might react in the future based off of past reactions. He using situations as common as an economic crisis, health care, and crime. All of which Donald Trump might promptly ignore because it threatens his enlarged ego. But unlike their leader, Trump supporters are likely to just off of his bandwagon. Maybe then Trump will understand just how wrong he it.