Noah Harris

Professor Dunlevy

ENG 102

2 February, 2018

This past year my interest in media really grew watching the coverage of the 2016

election. I noticed the bias towards certain candidates, and that republican affiliated channels

would highlight stories that favored Donald Trump and also highlight negative stories on Hilary

Clinton and vice versa for the democratic affiliated networks. I also saw got a great look at the

public relations field watching the campaign speeches and debates. This election really just

seemed to be a mudslinging contest and a choice between the lesser of two evils. However, I

definitely found Hilary’s and Donald Trump’s campaigns very interesting to compare and

contrast. In fact, it introduced me to a lot of rhetorical techniques used in speech’s and media.

Immigration was one of the topics America felt the most passionate about this past

election. Donald Trump made some disgusting comments and has some views on immigrants.

“We’re going to build the wall, and we’re going to stop it. It’s going to end”. Immigration is a

complicated topic to discuss especially with the rise of foreign terrorism, however to be so cruel,

inhumane, and thoughtless of another group of people is outright racism. His position on

immigration shows no intelligence, wisdom, or compassion. Hilary Clintons view point is on the

whole opposite spectrum. “First, we rely on partners in Muslim countries to fight terrorists. (The

immigration ban) would make it harder,” Clinton said. “Second, we need to build trust in Muslim

communities here at home to counter radicalization, and this would make it harder.” Hilary

seems to at least realize that immigrants are not the same as terrorist and to group and categorize
them as such is wrong and will not be helpful in any prevention against terrorism, it will only

further tension and conflict. While her position doesn't necessarily make me feel at ease, it is

much more sensible than Donald's disgusting comments.

However, the drastic differences in opinion don’t stop there Hilary Clinton and Donald

Trumps have two completely different views for America when it comes to weapons and gun

laws. “I know we are a smart enough nation to figure out how you protect responsible gun

owners’ rights and get guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them”. I felt that out

her entire campaign that Hilary articulated herself best on this issue. Her comments also made

me feel like she has an idea of how to make gun laws stricter for the safety of the public while

still allowing those fit to carry a gun to still do so. “It’s too bad that some of the young people

that were killed over the weekend didn’t have guns attached to their [hip], frankly, where bullets

could have flown in the opposite direction”. Donald Trump’s statements are endorsing more

violence as a solution to the problem. He also referred to a tragic nightclub shooting very

insensitively displaying how little he cares for issues that don't affect him. If unclear before these

comments really show how radical Donald Trump is and how deeply these two candidates differ.

Although I am not sure what candidate to side with on this issue I honestly feel like they

both have strong and understandable outlooks on abortion. “I think that the kind of late-term

abortions that take place are because of medical necessity. And, therefore, I would hate to see the

government interfering with that decision. “I’m not sure if her specific point is valid however I

do feel that the overall idea of government not interfering with the personal decisions people

make is very respectable. If you've begun to feel like they can never agree on anything then this
statement from Trump will only make you believe that more. "I'm pro-life. And I was

begrudgingly the other way. But I have to say when those questions were asked, and that was

many, many years ago, I wasn't a politician." In the 2015 interview, Trump also said abortion

should be legal in cases of rape, incest and "if the mother is going to die," calling those

conditions "pretty much the standard three exceptions that many Republicans have." Shockingly

Trumps outlook on one issue has changed from his original despite how stubborn and

unapologetic he is. It’s one of the only issues that he seemed to approach civil, humane, and

open-mindedly. Regardless of who's position is right both candidates made a strong case for this

issue.