WASHINGTON – At a recent rally in western Wisconsin, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke to his supporters about violent crimes committed by immigrants, but then stopped mid-sentence and said, “Make America Great Again.” “I will do it,” he told the attendees. Not now.
“That’s what we’re going to do…don’t worry…we’re not there yet,” President Trump said in a speech in Prairie du Chien on September 28. “No, I’m just saying this is dark. This is dark speech.”
It was one of many things that happened in recent weeks.
Mr. Trump has been particularly abusive toward immigrants since entering politics in 2015, but he appears to have stepped up his rhetoric in the final weeks of his third general election campaign. In President Trump’s comments, his political opponents have gone from being incompetent to being “mentally ill.” Immigrants are killers with “bad genes” and World War III is just around the corner.
A computer analysis by The New York Times found that Trump used “32% more negative words than positive words during the 2016 campaign, up from 21% today.” The analysis also notes that President Trump’s rally speaking time has increased, averaging 82 minutes this campaign, compared to 45 minutes in 2016.
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Other studies reflect the same trend. A UCLA study released in August stated that “former presidents’ use of violent vocabulary increased over time.”
Trump supporters don’t seem to care about the direction of Trump’s rally riffs. Some people start shouting, “Fight, fight, fight!” At a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, President Trump repeated the mantra he shouted after a bullet damaged his ear and drew blood. The rally was the first of two assassination attempts against him this election year. Cory Comperatore, a rally attendee, was also killed in the attack.
Shane Cheshire, 37, a church maintenance worker who attended both the July rally that ended abruptly due to gunfire and the Oct. 5 re-meeting in Butler, said President Trump has been involved in two assassination attempts. “I experienced evil myself.” He also said President Trump feels obligated to address the many threats facing the country.
“He’s just trying to point out the reality of the situation,” Cheshire told USA TODAY.
President Trump called for unity in the aftermath of the shooting, and at a second event in Butler over the weekend, the former president honored the victims of the shooting. But he also said, “We have an enemy from within, and I think that’s much more dangerous than an enemy from outside.”
Also, “Our world is an evil and very sick world.”
Political analysts say Trump, who has always delivered tough speeches, appears to be getting even more intense in his third general election campaign in 2024.
“President Trump becomes more aggressive in response to stress, and when he feels like a loser, he becomes more aggressive,” said Jennifer Mercica, an American political speech historian who teaches at Texas A&M University. speak
But Trump and his aides said he was simply telling the truth and presenting things as they are.
“We can’t play the game,” President Trump told supporters in Juneau, Wisconsin, on Sunday. “I want to be kind, I want to be kind, I think I’m a good person. But I can’t do that… If I lose this election, this country will be over.”
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President Trump has recently stepped up his personal attacks on his opponents, taking several steps.
Harris and Biden are not just “incompetent.” President Trump has said in recent weeks that they are “mentally ill,” has also described Harris as “stupid” and “stupid as a stone,” and that her running mate, Tim Walz, is simply “a weirdo.” Not only that, but the governor of Minnesota has said so too. It has been used against Trump, with the former president also calling him a “total idiot” and a “sick man.”
Police can’t just crack down on crime-prone cities. In President Trump’s view, there should be a “really violent day” against suspected lawbreakers. “It’s been a tough time,” Trump said in Erie, Pennsylvania, last month. “And I mean really bad. Word gets out and it’s over quickly.”
Meanwhile, President Trump has repeatedly said that immigrants could “walk into your kitchen” and “slit your throat” and that “the very fate of America is at stake in this election.”
President Trump has long argued that the country is on the brink of World War III, a claim he has strengthened in light of military conflicts involving Israel, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. He has claimed that Israel would “cease to exist” if Harris became president, but Harris has long supported Israel and continued U.S. aid amid the escalating war between Israel and Hamas.
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Democrats continued to use dark rhetoric during the 2024 campaign. Before withdrawing from the White House race, President Joe Biden built his reelection bid around the campaign message that Trump’s victory this November could mean the end of democracy as Americans know it.
According to an analysis by the Washington Post, as Mr. Biden became a lame duck after ceding the stage to Mr. Harris, the Democratic Party’s election strategy decreased references to “democracy” and increased references to “freedom.” He says he has shifted to a brighter vision for the country. Public statements by both candidates. Still, in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Harris warned of the “very serious” consequences of Trump returning to the White House, and in an interview with Howard Stern on Tuesday, she said her Republican opponent ” He said he had a desire to become a dictator. The crowd of Democratic candidates also began their own “lock him up” chant about the former president and his unprecedented four criminal charges.
“He has nothing to ‘impress’ the American people, only darkness,” said Sarafina Titica, a spokeswoman for the Harris campaign.
During his election campaign, Mr. Trump has promised to cut costs for Americans, expand domestic energy production and introduce large-scale immigration policies, but he has provided few specifics.
Opponents and political analysts say another reason for Trump’s somber tone is that he is increasingly concerned about polls showing a close race with Harris in key battleground states. , said the results showed stronger support for the Democratic Party compared to poll numbers from when Biden was leading the polls.
Throughout the campaign, President Trump acknowledged that aides and Republican lawmakers have urged him to focus on issues rather than personal attacks. He also said he believes the latter option is more effective in swaying voters who could decide the election.
Analysts say that while President Trump’s language has gotten rougher, his goal remains the same: to try to scare voters about his opponent, whether it’s Hillary Clinton, Biden or Harris. said. In 2016, President Trump branded Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate for the same cycle, a “crooked person” and led a chant to “lock her up.”
“Unfortunately, this is nothing new, as Mr. Trump has been carrying out humanitarian attacks against the opposition since he began his candidacy in 2015,” Mercieca said.
In an interview with Harris on Tuesday, Stern referenced Trump’s numerous threats to prosecute his political opponents and told the Democratic presidential candidate, “If he wins, you never know, you’ll feel safe in this country.” Do you want to stay in this country?”
Harris responded, “Howard, I’m doing everything I can to make sure he doesn’t win.”
A UCLA study released in August based on President Trump’s speeches from 2015 to 2024 found that candidates “embraced populism, including references to ‘the people’ and included more use of ‘we’, but now uses ‘we’ more often.” “They” often target “outgroups,” such as immigrants or perceived “elites.” ”
Asked for comment, President Trump’s press secretary, Stephen Chan, did not directly address the topic of the Republican candidate’s remarks, but said that Trump “has more energy and stamina than anyone in politics, and that this is what this country is going to do.” He is the wisest leader I have ever seen.”
Liz Maher, an anti-Trump Republican consultant, said that while President Trump is constantly making outrageous statements, most of them contain at least “a grain of truth.” Not now. For example, during last month’s debate with Harris, Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, ate their pets.
“Right now he’s just saying things that are completely fabricated without any kernel of truth,” Mair said.
Longtime Trump watchers said the tone of Trump’s speech was part of a strategy to attract key swing voters likely to decide November’s election.
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, columnist Jonah Goldberg said, “President Trump’s increasingly offensive comments are an effort to win over undecided voters, especially those who don’t vote often.” .
“Policy differences are unlikely to motivate people to vote if they don’t normally vote,” Goldberg wrote. “But it is said that America’s very existence depends on America’s potential.”
