Smith

Spencer Charles Smith

Mr. Adam Padgett

English 102

February 08th 2016

What is causing Donald Trumps rise to political stardom?

Donald Trump is an anomaly within the presidential electorate in the United States. His

performance is unheard of with a presidential candidate with no experience such as himself. The

rise of Trump is creating many controversies not only in the reasons of how he is a leading

candidate but why the people are responding to rampant campaign tactics. Many people were

originally assuming that the rise of Trump was a political fad but with his continual rise in the

poll to number one and placing 2nd in the Iowa caucus many are coming to the realization of the

possibility of Trump as president. Which in turn is causing angst among political annalist and

causing voters to question and discover the reasoning for the political rise of Donald Trump.

Although, I am not an expert when it comes to politics or Donald Trump, I am an informed

voter. As a citizen of the United States, it is my duty to be knowledgeable about political

candidates and their stance on major political issues. My knowledge of the candidates and the

operation of the political system is what intrigues me in the rise of Donald Trump. Through

research, I am going to be able to uncover the truth and reasoning of the American People behind

Donald Trumps political rise.

Source 1:

This Micheal Scherer uses the real life experience and interactions with Trump in order to

identify his tactics and political values. Some of the major evidence within the article are in the

1

Smith

Scherer recollection of a Trump rally and of an interview he had with Trump as a perspective

Time's man of the year candidate.

Scherer is in this article is supposed to explain the aspects of Trumps rise but primarily the

reasoning for his consideration of the Time's man of the year award. However, I believe much of

the article is using author bias presenting Trump as an unlikely presidential candidate and an

unlikely man of the year candidate.

Micheal Scherer is a columnist for Times magazine, a magazine read by millions of

Americans; A trusted news source. Micheal Scherer also is a columnist for the Huffington Post,

another major accredited magazine within the US

Source 2:

This article presents the facts on trump and his political stance on most political issues

within the United States. It does this by compiling his different statements and political values

thus compiling his perspective on these issues. This allows for voters to get a glimpse of his

political ideals

This article is an informational article focused on the political aspects of Trump. This

article is supposed to be and unbiased and information textual piece due to its recognition as an

encyclopedia. However, being a for profit website could provide for inaccuracies within the

information to increase controversy and advertisement revenue.

Ballotpedia is a website that entitles itself "The Encyclopedia of American Politics". The

article cites its sources, for example, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, The

Washington Post and many other major credible newspapers and magazines. Being a .org

contributes to their creditability due to their not for profit stance.

2

Smith

Source 3:

This article is suggesting that there are only three possibilities for the rise of Trump within

the 2016 presidential race. Silvers suggest that Trumps rise comes due to a political revolt in

American citizens, a nationwide transition into republican ideals, or that his major popularity

comes from the media bubble constantly surrounding him. By limiting the possibilities and only

looking at it from a select point of views, Silvers is restricting other possible reasons for Trumps

success.

This article is attempting to uncover the primary reason for Trumps success within the

presidential race. By doing this, they are attempting to convey to the readers that there is a false

security within Trumps success thus causing complacent and uninformed voting by the American

population.

Nate Silvers is a political analyst for the news blog website FiveThirtyEight.com, he is

also a special correspondent for ABC news in political matters. FiveThirtyEight.com is an

accredited website that has won the Webby awards for best political blog in 2013.

Reflection:

The idea of Trumps success within the political spectrum is very much so arguably. There

are many possibilities to his rise and most likely it is a culmination of issues. Through the

sources, there is a common theme of distrust and false security within his campaign. However,

all of the articles cannot deny his success in the polls and his ability to maintain pertinence

within the race. These articles don't necessarily conflict with my opinion, although they are not

3

Smith

entirely true to my opinion. In order to discover the details and facts, I am going to have to

research more polls and get political data. Doing this will allow me to get the entire picture thus

unearthing the real reasoning for Donald Trumps success.

Spencer,

I think you have a really terrific idea here. It is certainly timely and interesting. You’ve

conducted some good preliminary reading for your paper. I’m left wondering what the exigency

is. So your inquiry is about why this person has gotten so popular. The answer to that question,

whatever it is, will have a “so what?” question to naturally follow. Make sure you are asking

yourself this question as you push forward, “So what?” why should we care, what valuable thing

can we learn from this research? Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

4

Smith

Works Cited:

“Donald Trump Presidential Campaign, 2016." Https://ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia, n.d.

Web. 29 Jan. 2016. <https://ballotpedia.org Donald_Trump_presidential_campaign,

_2016>.

Scherer, Micheal. "Donald Trump." Times 21 Dec. 2015: 104-14. Academic Search Complete

[EBSCO]. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

<http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/ehost/detail /detail?vid=5&sid=f250fe27-

f682-4fa7-a4bb-b2154b3bf1e3%40sessionmgr4003&hid =4102&bdata=

JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=111496488&db=a9h>.

Silver, Nate. "Three Theories of Donald Trump Rise." Http://fivethirtyeight.com/.

FiveThirtyEight, 08 Jan. 2016. Web. 29 Jan. 2016.

<http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/three-theories-of-donald-trumps-rise/>.

5