Palis 1

Stephanie Palis

ENGW 1111

Professor Enos

22 January 2017

To Be (or Not to Be) Humbled?

The United States political system was designed to only have two successful political

parties at one time. Third-party candidates are often unsuccessful because their ideas and

personalities do not appeal to the majority of the population. Although the ideologies of the

Democratic and Republican parties differ, the two parties can often find even ground when

proposing presidential candidates. In recent years, both parties have proposed candidates who

have relatively moderate personalities that appeal to the majority of the population. In Frank

Brunis article titled The President Who Buried Humility, he notes that recent presidents such

as Barack Obama and George W. Bush have been humbled to be elected to such an honorable

position. He suggests the period of humility may be ending and a new age of arrogance has

begun with the election of Donald Trump (Bruni). In this article, Bruni is able to successfully

prove Donald Trump is unfit to be the next president by using rhetorical appeal elements and

visual design choices in combination with his own opinion.

This article is written by Frank Bruni, who has an overwhelming amount of experience in

the field of journalism. He has worked at the New York Times since 1995, and in that time, he

served as a White House correspondent for George W. Bush. Bruni was also the first openly gay

op-ed columnist for the New York Times and writes from a liberal perspective. His liberal views

can be clearly seen as he reports on relatively controversial issues such American politics, gay
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rights, and higher education issues in his columns (Frank Bruni). The inclusion of a link to

Brunis biography by clicking his name in the article is done strategically. His biography proves

that Bruni is not a random, uneducated man rambling about his qualms towards a Trump

presidency. Rather, it shows that he has experience in politics (on both sides of the political

spectrum). His experiences and knowledge make him a credible writer. After reading both his

biography and his article, one can see that the article is highly opinionated, but still incorporates

elements that show Brunis credibility. This style gives an appeal to readers through the

rhetorical writing technique of ethos. Brunis experience and credibility play an important role in

deciding who will read the article.

Bruni truly writes this piece to cater to the audience that he is writing for, but he is still

able to include his personal views on the issue. The New York Times is known for attracting a

liberal audience of a higher socioeconomic status. During the presidential election, the New York

Times endorsed the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, on account of the fact that most of its

readership are liberals. It is clear Bruni caters his writing towards the prospective readers when

he writes, His campaign was an unprecedented orgy of self-congratulation (Bruni). Bruni

knows the liberal readers will most likely agree with this statement as it directly pokes fun at

Trumps campaign. Since the article criticizes Trump, it has the possibility to also appeal to a

centralist audience who were not attracted to either candidate during the general election. Bruni

praises former Republican president George W. Bushs inaugural address. Bruni is strategic in

the way he goes about stating his view. His praise shows that the article does not advocate for or

against one specific party. Rather, it criticizes a specific aspect of a particular party- Donald

Trump. Also, since the article is political-based, Bruni expects the reader to know a reasonable

amount of information surrounding the drama of the 2016 election. Bruni references a few of
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Trumps well-known Twitter rants and the controversy surrounding his personal ties to his

business (two very controversial topics throughout the election), but overall there is very little

political policy or ideology is addressed. By not referencing enormous amounts of policy, Bruni

is able to attract a larger audience of readers who are generally aware of political happenings and

major political transitions.

The purpose of this article is to inform readers about the danger of a Trump presidency.

Bruni points out problems with Trump spanning from his lack of political experience to his

uncontrollable temper to his threat to womens rights. In addition, Bruni uses this article as a way

to reinforce the dislike of Trump in his readers. Since the article already attracts liberal readers,

Bruni does not need to change the ideology of the readers. Instead, he simply needs to reinforce

the dislike of Trump by providing reasons and arguments why the reader should not like Trump.

Although it is clear the article has a liberal leaning, Bruni attempts to sway the ideology to a

slightly more moderate view. Bruni wants others to know about the threat of a Trump presidency

and by taking a more moderate stance, he widens his audience for the article.

The more recent call to write was Trumps recent inauguration, but Brunis call to

write" spans over a larger period of time. The article was written on January 21st, 2017, which

was the day after Trump officially became the 45th president of the United States. Still, ever since

Trump declared his spot in the presidential race, people have always thought it to be a joke. Over

the presidential cycle, the media has reported on and broken down the dangers of a Trump

presidency. The article incorporates quotes of Trumps campaign, in addition to, quotes from his

inaugural address which encompasses the timeline of his campaign. For example, Bruni includes

a quote from Trump at the Republican National Convention saying, I alone can fix it, which

represents a theme in his campaign that has the potential to spill over into his presidency. Bruni
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harps on these important issues and potential problems that are of interest to his audience as he

analyzes a Trump presidency.

Bruni appeals to his audience primarily through his use of logic. He uses a series of

comparisons to previous presidents to criticize Trump. Bruni begins the piece by pointing out

that both former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush both used the word humbled

in their inaugural addresses. He notes that the word was pure clich but showed that even

someone self-assured enough to pursue the presidency was taking the measure of that

responsibility and asking if he was worth it (Bruni). Even though both of these men were

elected president by the American people, they still questioned if they were worthy of the

position- a sign of humbleness. Bruni directly contrasts these two inaugural addresses with

President Trumps most recent address. He points out how instead of being humbled to accept

this important position, he took it as an opportunity to brag about how he won, and to trash

them [four out of the last six presidents], talking about a Washington establishment blind and

deaf to the struggles of less fortunate Americans (Bruni). By using this comparison, Bruni is

able appeal to the readers (who is most likely liberal minded) logic by pointing out the flaws in

Trumps personality. Bruni suggests that these flaws could overshadow his presidency in the long

run and could negatively affect Americans

The author also taps into the readers emotions towards a Trump presidency. Bruni

appeals to the emotions of the reader upon his or her first look at the article. The articles sub-

headline is Donald Trumps inauguration heralds a new age of arrogance and says something

sad and scary (Bruni). This headline alone not only gives the reader context to the subject of the

article, but it also evokes fear in the reader. For the months following Trumps election, people

feared the possible outcomes of a Trump presidency. The article feeds these fears because Bruni
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is pointing out the threats of Trumps egocentric personality to the fate of the people of the

United States. When visiting his recently opened hotel, He [Trump] pronounced its principal

ballroom gorgeous and declared that a total genius must have built this place. He was

referring to himself (Bruni). Bruni uses this quote to show that Trump never misses an

opportunity to complement himself and his accomplishments. The author is trying to show that

Donald Trumps lack of humility differs from previous presidents. He is able to achieve this

purpose by pointing out flaws in his personality and using a variety of quotes from Trump to

back up his claims.

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Although the brunt of Brunis argument can

be found in the text, there are also some design

elements that Bruni adds to strengthen his argument.

The main image features an altered image of the Seal

of the President of the United States. The bald eagle

Figure : Seal of the President of the United States
in the center of the seal is holding a total of four

hand-held mirrors in its talons and wings. The eagles face can be seen in the reflection of one of

the mirrors. The use of this image is a design choice of Bruni to represent Trumps lack of

humility. Likewise, it represents his overwhelming sense of vanity and thoughts of superiority. In

addition, Donald Trump is infamous for tweeting the

first idea that pops into his mind without fully

thinking of the consequences. Bruni includes

multiple tweets from Trumps twitter feed directly in Figure 2: Trumps Tweet

the article which provides the readers with examples of Trumps tweets. Brunis decision to

include snap-shots of Trumps tweets versus just including the body of the texts breaks up the

main text of the article. It also serves as an opportunity for the reader to read addition tweets

from Trump, which Bruni most likely suspected would add to his claim.

The visual design choices made by Bruni are supplemented with his interesting choice of

words to create his own take on the issue. Since this piece is written as an opinion paper, it

incorporates an overwhelming amount of persona. Bruni tears apart each of Trumps quotes and

thoroughly analyzes it. For example, Bruni writes, He [Trump] characterized his election as part

of a historic movement, the likes of which the world. Forget about his loss of the popular vote.

Or his 40 percent favorability rating. Or the puny crowd at his inauguration. Bruni uses sarcasm
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to influence the readers to think just about everything Trump says has no logical basis. The

sarcasm also shows the authors voice, which is used to portray Trump in a bad light. Bruni also

has an interesting word choice when it comes to describing Trump. Some examples include

preening cartoon, braggart, and Russian nesting doll of self-infatuation (Bruni). The

Russian nesting doll description is cleverly used by Bruni in reference to Trumps supposed ties

to the Russian government. These words not only serve to insult Trumps personality, but also

provide moments of comic relief throughout the paper. He refers to Trumps inaugural address as

using pared-down language, simple sentences and a sluggish delivery and considers it the

Goodnight Moon of Inaugural Addresses (Bruni). Goodnight Moon is a title of a popular

childrens book that uses simple language and is often read as a bedtime story. Therefore, Bruni

characterized Trumps address as simple and boring. The combination of these descriptions to

characterize Trumps address are used to insult his speech, rather than praise it. Brunis persona

in the paper provides excellent comic relief, while it simultaneously adds to his argument.

Bruni truly creates an opinion piece that is eloquently catered to his audience. He

understands the readership of his paper and understands the fears held by many Americans

following the recent election. Bruni is able to coherently combine his own opinion with actual

quotes from Trump to create a convincing claim. Although Bruni is unable to predict the future

of President Trump, he is able to prove one thing. If Trump continues to act in the way he has

previously acted, his approval rating will continue to decrease as Americans grow tired of his

unfulfilled promises.
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Works Cited

Bruni, Frank. "The President Who Buried Humility." The New York Times. N.p., 21 Jan. 2017.

Web. 21 Jan. 2017.

"Frank Bruni." The New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.