Though he never managed to formally command words, Reagan became one of the most distinguished communicators of modern times. He accomplished this through his ability to speak casually and directly to the people. As Kathleen Hall Jamieson notes in “Eloquence in the Electronic Age,” Reagan’s grasp of modern technology allowed him to capture the attention of the American audience. Reagan was a master of storytelling and manipulation of his audience, which can be attributed to his career as a Hollywood actor. He preferred the “story” over the facts, and was a “very straightforward, plain-spoken communicator.” This style of communicating is common with Republican leaders from former President George W. Bush to current President Donald Trump. One …show more content…
As Jamieson said, “Reagan is to television what FDR was to radio.” It can also be argued that Trump is to social media what Reagan was to television. Trump has completely changed the way politicians reach the public. Trump can speak directly to his base in a matter of seconds, without the hand of the media playing even a minor role. Jamieson said that Reagan completely changed the idea of intimacy when it came to a president, because “we expect intimacy to occur between individuals, not between an individual and a mass audience.” Twitter allows increased intimacy with the president, which in turn allows greater trust and a feeling of connectedness between the public and the president. But this sense of trust must not be taken for granted. Jamieson argues that though new technology, television in Reagan’s case and social media in Trump’s case, may provide advantages for a president, it may also lead to the loss of trust. Without the “gatekeeping” effect of the media, politicians may be more inclined to stretch the truth and even tell the public blatant untruths. The idea that the president should not have a command of the facts can be dangerous. In Reagan’s speech about Irangate, he conceded that he is not the repository of either fact or truth, but that event established the need for the president to be a leader and be truthful when in times of chaos or confusion. “The …show more content…
Reagan pioneered using Skutniks, or guests of the president, at the State of the Union to illustrate themes and policy recommendations in his address. Reagan masterfully used the story of Lenny Skutnik to demonstrate private heroism. Reagan’s use of visual pathos has since been corrupted and overused by preceding presidents. Donald Trump, also a president with a career spent on camera, took Reagan’s direction and ran with it. Unlike Reagan, Trump used his guests as the foundation of his speech, rather than individual examples. Without a president that speaks with substance, using Skutniks can seem like a distraction, rather than a useful addition to narrative. Jamieson argues that “for the speaker, success carries with it a deadly tendency to transplant what worked well in the past into a new and sometimes unsympathetic environment.” Using Skutniks in the way that Reagan used them, to illustrate a point but not to overcome the message, was successful and rapturing. But the way politicians have used them since seems insincere. Today’s politicians could learn from Reagan’s subtlety and scale back the examples and guests in order to focus more on inspiring through their own words and rationale. In Donald Trump’s 2018 State of the Union Address, he focused nearly the entire speech on his previous achievements and the stories of individuals that illustrate his vision of America. But he gave very little