In addition to the false statements that GOP presidential nominee Trump makes use of in his speech, there are also several fallacies present throughout. These errors in reasoning undermine the logic of the argument at several moments throughout the speech. As previously stated, Trump’s statement regarding the shooter’s birthplace create an Appeal to Ignorance fallacy. The Communication Department at CSU Fullerton described the Appeal to Ignorance as the attempt “to use an opponent’s inability to disprove a conclusion as proof of the validity of the conclusion.” By creating a birth story that the speaker believes the audience will not be knowledgeable about, Mr. Trump is able to persuade the audience to support of his plan. Additionally, when the enthymeme of radical islam is presented, the fallacy of Hasty Generalization is presented. By saying that the immigration of persons from a certain religious group is the cause of terrorist activities and that the immigration policy needs to be reformed in order to remedy this issue suggests that the occurrences are not isolated incidents but instead, a generalized issue resulting from practicing a specific religious faith.
Of the fallacies presented in this speech, the most prominent is the Red Herring. The Red Herring was described by the Communication department at CSU Fullerton…show more content… Due to the fact that God is referenced three times in this speech and then followed by the mention of prayer, a fallacy is created because a false assumption is made that everyone in the audience is of the same belief system. As President Obama is known as religious, by mentioning God and prayer it is implied that there is a specific deity to pray to. However our Nation has inhabitants of varying faiths as well as individuals who claim no religious affiliation, so it is considered a fallacy to suppose that all Americans are practitioners of the same religious
