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Abstract

Despite having no prior political experience and much less funding than many of his opponents, during the 2016 American presidential election, Donald Trump dominated the Republican primaries before proceeding to win the general election. This thesis seeks to examine the rhetorical strategies of Trump’s campaign and his debate tactics through the conceptual framework of ancient Chinese military thought, articulated in texts such as the Art of War and more broadly in The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China. Instead of treating Trump’s rhetoric as merely erratic and politically incorrect, this project attempts to understand the strategic efficacy of Trump’s rhetoric by using principles such as tao (the way) and shih (the strategic configurations of power). Drawing on game theory, media studies, and classical texts on rhetoric, the project situates Trump’s campaign within our modern attention-scarce media environment where speed and virality outweigh coherence and specificity. In this context, Trump’s reductive and compressive rhetoric, through, for instance, his use of nicknames and hyperbolically simple narratives allows him to dominate the attention-scape of our media. This thesis uses classical Chinese military philosophy to construct a framework in which political campaigns can be viewed as a game of resource management and logistical planning that is expressed through rhetorical battles. Ultimately, it proposes that Trump’s communicative style exemplifies a form of rhetorical warfare that is oriented towards efficiency, resourcefulness, innovation, adaptability, and the momentum of public energy.