Trump's Style of Arguing (Logic 101)

It's probably pretty well known by now--it's been going on for a long time--that when he is attacked in any way, Donald Trump fights back, lashes out. He tends to do this in a manner which is childish and illogical: he attacks the person rather than what they said about him. This is worthy only of a school child, and is known as the argumentum ad hominen. That means simply attacking the person rather than his ideas or comments or argument. In logic, it's considered one of the fallacies.

His latest is that he attacked former President Jimmy Carter. Carter questioned Trump's legitimacy as a president because his election may have depended on Russia's interference in the US presidential election in 2016.

Trump's response: Not trying to refute or dispute what Carter said, but saying Carter was "a  terrible president." Now, to try to be logical for just a second, let's suppose Carter was a terrible president--probably at least a somewhat arguable proposition. Even if he was, does that have any bearing on what he said?

As I said, and as anyone knows who has paid attention to things Trump has said for two or three years, he does this over and over again. I wonder how many people are swayed by this brand of terrible logic. As I have said before, I have to think that many people who listen to Trump, who pay attention to what he says, don't have the habits of thinking critically. Trump lies over and over (The New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN have often called attention to some of his lies). Sometimes it's not immediately apparent that something Trump said was a lie--we need to hear from "fact checkers" like the ones just mentioned--but other times even a moment's thought should tell the hearer that what he has said is not likely to be true. For example, some of his ridiculous and ego-serving assertions, like saying he's the greatest president ever. Other times there are photos, videos, and so forth that can tell us that Trump on an earlier occasion said the exact opposite of what he's saying now.

So my assertion is, Trump possibly would not be president if people were critical thinkers more of the time. And the people who continue to support him continue to uncritically take in what he says and take it as truth. It's very scary when he expects his assertions to be accepted and he can discredit the media by calling it "fake news." Manipulating public opinion by discrediting the media is a tactic used by dictators like Hitler.

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