What’s Trump’s secret? Short sentences, short words

Former speechwriter Barton Swaim argues that Trump's simple sentence structure refreshes ears tired of typical politician-speak.

Donald Trump speaks in short sentences full of short words, and that’s a key to his appeal. So argues Barton Swaim, former speechwriter to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, in the Washington Post.

Swaim offers excerpts of Trump speeches that he calls “mostly preposterous,” but pleasing to ears tired of typical politician-speak that’s “complex and careful—sometimes sophisticated, sometimes emotive, sometimes artificial or over-scripted, but always circumspect and inevitably disingenuous.”

Trump, on the other hand:

We have a military that needs help, and especially in these times.

We have nuclear weapons that—you look at “60 Minutes”—they don’t even work.

The phones don’t work.

They’re 40 years old.

They have wires that are no good.

Nothing works.

Our country doesn’t work.

Swaim concludes: “… for people who’ve grown weary of politicians using vague and convoluted language to lull or impress their listeners, to preserve their options and to avoid criticism, Trump sounds refreshingly clear and forthright. I don’t share their view, but I find it hard to blame them.”

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