By Tom Fowdy
Although he often comes across as erratic, offensive, and crude, Donald Trump is unquestionably one of the most rhetorically powerful and influential politicians of modern times. None of this is the unintentional ramblings of a madman but a concerted strategy. His ability to dominate media coverage with endless controversy and bizarre statements is precisely what makes him so effective: love or hate him. Although he is not "eloquent" in how he presents himself, there is power and clarity in his abruptness and simplicity.
Thus, Trump has been able to undermine his political opponents, often with very simple nametags such as "Crooked Hilary," "Sleepy Joe Biden," and "Little Rocket Man," to name a few, has immortalized slogans such as "Build a Wall," "Make America Great Again," (MAGA) which have iconified his political agenda in mere words, and more. However, more importantly, and critically to this piece, Trump has also learned the art of rhetoric in mastering market manipulation, that is, using the power of his authority as President to make markets move up or down according to his will, simply by radiating statements which impose the psychological effect of optimism, or pessimism.
This rhetorical game has been a key element of Trump's trade war. When Trump announced sweeping tariffs upon the entire world, markets imploded. Given that Trump uses stock markets as a barometer criterion of his success, that is hardly a good sign. Naturally, the administration was sensitive to this wave of self-imposed pessimism. This led Trump to partially row back on the tariffs, reducing all measures on countries to 10% with the exclusion of Canada, Mexico, and China, with the latter increasing to astronomical proportions. It is worth noting that the psychological effect of Trump's initial tariffs was so severe that when he reduced a "partial" relief, he communicated the impression he was retreating, which made markets recover (although not to where they were).
As a friend pointed out to me, Trump effectively shifted the "Overton window" and moved the goalposts so far that even a partial, feigned concession felt like a massive relief. This shows how the President skilfully attains leverage in the weaponization of rhetoric towards realizing his political goals. His typical strategy is to overwhelm his opponents by promising political outcomes so extreme that they accept a change in the status quo in his favor rather than the promised destruction or chaos he threatens to bring. Trump has no problems seeking to push every boundary and button and aims to go further than other people by doing unthinkable things and not allowing his bluff to be called.
And where will Trump go from here? Over the coming weeks and months, the President will repeatedly seek to spur optimism by inferring that many deals are imminent and being made, which will give markets false hope and make them rise, he will also say this in relation to China. These statements will be made even if no progress is made, and even if nothing comes of it he will fundamentally succeed in altering the psychology of the said markets to become confident and thus accept the new "status quo." Again, this is how Trump shifts the psychological "Overton window" and, therefore, never needs to revert to the "pre-status quo," which will pose defeat for him.
An interesting contrast is when short-lived British Prime Minister Liz Truss introduced an ideological and overtly ambitious "mini-budget" in 2022 that sent markets crashing and forced her out of office in over a month. Truss, who often comes across as laughable and unconvincing, crumbled under pressure. U-turned and ultimately resigned as Prime Minister. Trump on the other hand, has a sense of overwhelming confidence and shamelessness in his personal psychology that makes him invulnerable to "regret" and "disgrace," thus setbacks do not faze him, and he is able to overcome any kind of political opposition towards him readily. When someone tried to shoot him through the head, he held up his arm in a sign of triumph.
Remember, this is a man who has been held "civilly liable" for "rape." For anyone else, that's life-destroying, but not for him. The President may tactically back down at times, but he does not apologize, manifest any signs of weakness, or, most importantly, waver in his goals. Trump sets out what he wants to do, makes it clear that his ends justify the means, no matter how extreme they may be, and thus rallies his support behind that. Why should America inflict a self-imposed economic disaster upon itself? Precisely because "the entire world is ripping you off on trade, and therefore, we need to impose massive tariffs to make them pay and bring it back."
While Liz Truss is a joke who commands no authority for unwanted, ill-thought-out ideological budgets that have no public support, Trump uses simple and powerful rhetoric to set the agenda and derive goals from it, and if there are any problems, he doesn't retreat, he just steers rhetoric in his direction. Trump isn't an idiot, whether you love him or hate him, and he is not a man you underestimate.
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