Many of my American FRIENDS are at a loss. They grieve the election result by not understanding how ANY AMERICANS could vote for Donald Trump… Not only this, they also are dismayed at the REPUBLICAN (TRUMP’S) picks for the official duties of running America… They had so much hope in the WOMAN of COLOR !!! And so should everyone else have had ! So… THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND !

THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND !   

BY GUS LEONISKY

I could try to explain in situ but I would get pilloried, possibly murdered, for TRYING to make them understand… UNDERSTANDING THE RESULT would legitimise DONALD TRUMP AS PRESIDENT…  a fact they cannot accept… so I nod and keep my trap shut, otherwise they would believe that I support TRUMP, of all horrors…

There was an interesting show on RADIO NATIONAL (RN-ABC Australia) this morning (01/12/2024) about the art of argument discussion… on the Aristotle principles for a speaker's ability to persuade an audience based on how well the speaker appeals to that audience in three different areas: logos, ethos, and pathos. Considered together, these appeals form what later rhetoricians have called the rhetorical triangle.

Logos appeals to reason. Logos can also be thought of as the text of the argument, as well as how well a writer has argued his/her point.

Ethos appeals to the writer’s character. Ethos can also be thought of as the role of the writer in the argument, and how credible his/her argument is.

Pathos appeals to the emotions and the sympathetic imagination, as well as to beliefs and values. Pathos can also be thought of as the role of the audience in the argument.

BUT ONE CAN NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING IF THE PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO LISTEN…

So, what do we do?…

Say nothing and let’s not argue or discuss WHY Trump won…

Mr American FRIENDS got really dismayed to hear MANY people say : “I’m going to vote for the felon…” What? ARE YOU NUTS????

But this is DE-MO-CRA-CY…. and democracy works on the laws of numbers and also on Logos, Ethos and Pathos abilities of the candidates — plus a FEW major MODERN factors which we shall discuss now…

MEDIA…

The forum of the Roman where one could be an orator OR THE PULPIT OF A PRIEST have long vanished in favour of TV, radio, internet and printed media. 

This means that other than the candidates, opinionators can influence views and the result, as well as present evidence for the arguments.

On both sides there was some doozies… 

On the left, mostly the TRADITIONAL LEGACY media

On the right, some “gutter” press and a lot of alternative media on the net. 

Ratings became paramount and if we judge by comparing a show like STEPHEN COLBERT on free to air media — vs GREG GUTFELD on Fox, one can see already a similar divide in proportion of viewers to that who voted for Harris and Trump. 

ADVERTISING is another part of media. ADVERTISING demands you change brand of underpants by enticing you to a better elastic band. It’s highly manipulative…

SWINGING VOTERS

In general in a BINARY democracy (LEFT vs RIGHT) there are two immoveable nearly equivalent blocks of core voters who will vote for THEIR PARTY no matter what. They rarely defect. The decision of who shall govern is thus made by the swinging UNAFFILIATED voters who need to be convinced of the values from one side or the other…

The proportion of SWINGING VOTERS is around 15 per cent in most WESTERN democracies. One needs to win more than half of these to get the gig.

These voters are from any racial, gender or age groups. 

MANY TRICKS are used by orators and opinionators to make these PEOPLE swing one way or the other — often using RACE, GENDER and AGE as props for arguments…

CHANGE

Unless there are MAJOR factors to the contrary or in favour of one candidate only — (say Putin in RUSSIA... we hate him because he gets more than 80 per cent of the votes FOR GOOD REASONS [for the Russian people, except for a few opponents] which we hate because we’ve been EDUCATED to be Russophobic) — people like to change and try something different ESPECIALLY if what they have isn't satisfactory "ENOUGH".

The position here is for the candidate/party seeking re-election is to illustrate that CHANGE will be bad — and for the challenger intimate that CHANGE will be for the better.

CHARACTER OF THE CANDIDATES

This often ends up as a CLOWN circus show. The better clown WINS.

PREJUDICES

This goes behind the scenery of Logos, Ethos and Pathos.

No matter how well the arguments are presented, we won’t believe them because we have BEEN CONDITIONED not to believe them OR SOMETHING NEW is frightening. This is often the case with controversial issues from global warming, WARS, to vaccination.

REALITY vs FICTION

The cost of living is worse under JOE BIDEN.

The cost of living is better under JOE BIDEN.

Defending democracy in YUCKRAINE demands sacrifices.

“WE” do not feel this sacrificing to be NECESSARY.

ALL THE WARMONGERS went to support Harris.

Donald Trump wants PEACE.

Trump is a RACIST, SEXIST, RAPIST, FASCIST PIG

The Biden administration has been FASCIST by restricting freedom of speech.

Trump has been declared a FELON but the charges have been subjected to appeals and have since been dismissed by ORIGINAL judges.

RUSSIAGATE was proven to be a furphy.

Trump is still in bed with PUTIN.

BIDEN did some dirty deals with YUCKRAINE and CHINA.

Hunter BIDEN’s laptop was RUSSIAN disinformation

Hunter BIDEN’s laptop was not Russian DISINFORMATION but it exposed JOE Biden’s dirty deals.

Confused….??????

OFFERINGS

Kamala HARRIS had no CONCRETE policies on offer. NOTHING TO SELL, but female and color.....

Trump had “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” ideal.

OBAMA had “Yes, we can”… but he sold the US down the river of WARS and delusion.

HARRIS eventually became OBAMA’s protégé though he would have had to know that SHE WAS NOT READY (NOT UP TO THE JOB), considering her mediocre effectiveness as Vice-President FOR FOUR YEARS.

Trump could prove that HARRIS was not up to the job, even if she distanced herself from Joe BIDEN’s policies of which she was a part of. IMMIGRATION was Kamala Harris greatest FAILURE. Going full WOKE was a bit of neckbrace....

It could also be shown that IMMIGRANT CHILDREN in CAGES were more numerous under OBAMA than under Trump.

Trump as a RACIST, SEXIST, RAPIST, FASCIST PIG was NEVER proven beyond reasonable doubt, except in the mind of MY AMERICAN FRIENDS who are still at a loss…

They won’t change and that’s a pity or not…

For many people, the DEEP STATE (Pentagon) runs the show and TRUMP IS TRYING hard to shake this up with his “unusual” APPOINTMENTS — including ELON MUSK, which NEARLY half of the AMERICANS despise… FOR THEY — my American friends included — BLAME HIM for Trump’s victorious election…

Despite the HUMANOIDS BEING NUTS, the earth is still SPINNING as it should…….

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.