From ‘Bloodbath’ to ‘Vermin:’ Analyzing Trump’s Rhetorical Tactics | WSJ

Trump’s language - I'm calling on crooked Joe. Corrupt Attorney General of New York. Deranged Jack Smith. Birdbrain, I mean, Nikki becomes President - [Narrator] Donald Trump has never shied away from incendiary rhetoric. - Now, if I don't get elected, it's gonna be a bloodbath. - [Narrator] In recent months, Trump has attacked immigrants, political opponents, and even warned of chaos if he were to lose the presidential election this year. - I don't think you're gonna have another election in this country if we don't win this election. - Trump has increasingly used kind of tough language. He's gone off for his critics even more intensely than he had in the past. - He's discovered that there is a segment of the population that responds to inflammatory rhetoric, and he's tapped into that segment. - Here's a look at Trump's rhetorical tactics and why it could be both effective for his campaign and dangerous for the people he attacks. Immigration - Trump from the very moment he descended the escalator at Trump Tower in 2015 to announce his candidacy for president, which many saw as a long shot, he immediately began with some tough rhetoric about immigrants. - They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume are good people. - He recognizes the political benefits of using rhetoric that might be more inflammatory than other people use. - [Narrator] Kurt Braddock researches how communication techniques influence social behavior. - We need to recognize that just because something is legal and something is protected by the First Amendment, we can't ignore the repercussions of that language. - Fast forward to this election season while discussing immigration at a rally in New Hampshire on December 16th, Trump used this language. - They're poisoning the blood of our country. - [Narrator] Which many say echoed the manifesto of Nazi party leader, Adolf Hitler. Then at a rally on December 19th. - They're destroying the blood of our country. That's what they're doing. They're destroying our country. They don't like it when I said that, and I never read 'Mein Kampf". They said, oh, Hitler said that in a much different way. - [Narrator] On April 2nd, at a campaign event in Michigan, Trump used dehumanizing terms to describe immigrants who entered the country illegally. - They're not humans. They're not humans, they're animals. - [Narrator] And later that day, at a rally in Wisconsin. - On day one, we will terminate every open borders policy of the Biden administration and begin the largest domestic, deportation operation in American history. Starting with all of the criminals that are pouring in. - [Narrator] Though illegal crossings at the US Mexico border have set records over the past few years, decades of research has found that immigrants are less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes. One study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin Madison, using data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, found that between 2012 and 2018, US-born citizens in the state were over two times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes than undocumented immigrants. - Although Donald Trump and those like him, aren't calling overtly for violence against immigrants, by dehumanizing them and by making them seem as though they're one large mass and not a group of individuals, we call that deindividuation. When we do that, we make individuals more viable targets for violence because we take away their humanity, and it's easier to perform violence against individuals who aren't quote human. - [Narrator] A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to "The Journal's" questions regarding the former president's comments. Trump acknowledged his use of inflammatory language in a March interview with Fox News. - If you don't use certain rhetoric, if you don't use certain words that maybe are not very nice words, nothing will happen. Trump’s rhetoric after Jan. 6 - [Narrator] Trump's attacks extend beyond immigration. - The communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin. - [Narrator] He has gone after judges, court staff, and prosecutors, leading to gag orders in three different legal cases. - A lot of it does stem from the investigations he faces over January 6th and other matters. Trump has really come to view the January 6th events and his supporters differently over the months. He's gone from being somewhat critical of some of those who caused damage and did unlawful things to more generally casting them all as patriots, - They ought to release the J-6th hostages. They've suffered enough. - One thing that Trump does very well is to appeal to his base and pulling individuals into his base. So he does have this populist rhetoric strategy down to a T. He's very, very good at that. - [Narrator] At a rally in Ohio on March 16th, Trump said. - We're gonna put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you're not gonna be able to sell those guns. If I get elected, now, if I don't get elected, it's gonna be a bloodbath for the whole, that's gonna be the least of it. It's gonna be a bloodbath for the country. That'll be the least of it. - When individuals, when they admire a politician or they, they're ideologically aligned with a politician, if that politician makes a statement that even implicitly advocates for the use of violence, it does a couple of things. Number one, it improves the person's attitudes about the use of violence as a means of political expression. Number two, it normalizes the use of violence, meaning that people think others will engage in violence as well. And finally, just as importantly, it makes people feel as though that if they use violence, it would be a viable means of achieving political change. Response to Trump’s rhetoric - [Narrator] A "Wall Street Journal" poll conducted in March found that Trump is leading President Biden in six of the seven most competitive states in the 2024 election. According to the poll, Trump holds double digit leads in all seven states when voters are asked who can best handle the economy, immigration, and border security, - Trump's comments really kind of cut two different ways, on, among his supporters, they can't hear enough of it. They like him being unvarnished, tough. - Have no choice. - The Republican electorate, or rather the Republican elected officials and party leaders across the country are less enamored with that view, and a lot of 'em are, are skittish about how that's gonna affect their own races and just the party they've seen you know, the past few cycles that Republicans have done poorly. - [Narrator] Democrats, on the other hand, have seized on Trump's rhetoric to warn about threats of civil unrest. - This guy denies January 6th. Listen, listen to what he says. - Every bit of protected speech should remain that way, but we also had to be cognizant and recognize that rhetoric, language, it matters. Just because something can be done or something can be done within the confines of the law, doesn't mean that it doesn't have negative repercussions. And we've seen that again and again and again. (mellow music)