Artifice in Politics


According to Chris Hedges, artifice is “the most essential skill” for political leaders. I strongly agree with hedges assertion, as artifice is a crucial asset one must employ in order to craft a trustworthy persona and thus guarantee political victories.

In the most recent presidential election, Donald Trump effectively utilized artifice to win over the hearts of the American people. Claiming that he is an ordinary American, completely disregarding his billionaire status, Trump developed a believable “story, a personal narrative.” People viewed him as someone they could relate to – a candidate with almost no political ties or experience. This form of pathos heavily appealed to peoples’ emotions, igniting powerful feelings of patriotism. Using this to his advantage, Trump was able to meticulously craft stories and statistics that were “completely at odds with the facts,” which he still does to this very day. He upholds his “typical American man” persona, addressing the crowds as “folks!” and “people!” This is a form of “a sense of faux intimacy,” as Hedges asserts, which led Trump to successfully defeat his rather apathetic opponent Hillary Clinton.

Clinton herself has dabbled with artifice. Notorious for her e-mail scandal, the American public viewed Clinton as extremely dishonest. However, that didn’t prevent many people from voting for her, as she attempted to shake off her poor reputation through her collected, put-together appearance and claims of having nothing to hide.

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