October 9, 2024

The NYT creates a multicolored diagram of a Trump rally speech.


That's from "The 9 Elements of a Trump Rally" (free-access link). It should be "The 9 Elements of a Trump Rally Speech," because the article and diagram are only about Trump's speech, but there are, in fact, many elements to a Trump rally that are not Trump's speech.

There are the hours spent in line waiting to get in, during which Trump fans interact with each other. There are the further hours spent inside and waiting for the show alongside fellow Trumpsters, listening to Trump's playlist and dancing or talking. These people are hanging out at Trump's party, having fun.

How do I know that? Have I been to a Trump rally? No. But my husband has been to 3 Trump rallies (and I've watched quite a few on YouTube).

There is also the music that plays Trump in — "God Bless the U.S.A." — to the joy of the audience and then out again — maybe "YMCA." And there are the other speakers at the rally — perhaps RFK Jr. or Elon Musk.

So the article is only about Trump's speeches, and the diagram maps one of those speeches. Did the NYT writers — Ian Prasad Philbrick and Ashley Wu — identify the true "elements" of a Trump rally speech? I'm sure someone who likes Trump could come up with 9 different elements and produce a similarly colorful diagram of the same speech or could take a Kamala Harris speech and identify 9 elements, phrased in negative terms — and produce a similar diagram.

Of course, that diagram would have far fewer lines, because Trump's speeches are around 90 minutes and Harris's rally speech — here's one from last week in Wisconsin — seems to go about 15 minutes.

ADDED: Here's my husband, Meade, wearing the hat he bought at the Juneau, Wisconsin rally.

IMG_0627

He has the nerve to wear that while walking the pathways of Madison, Wisconsin. I never wear any political paraphernalia — at least not anything relating to current politics. I did once, in the last year, wear my McGovern button. Am I lacking in courage? I don't even like to say who I'm thinking of voting for. But I am courageous enough to post my husband's hat selfie.

121 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...

Now do Commie-la, themes as follows:

> Unburdening
> Repetition
> Suspected drunken slurs
> Rehashed talking points
> Complete 180s
> Long pauses
> Ethnic patronizing

Jersey Fled said...

Didn’t know Harris’ speeches are only 15 minutes long. That’s like two or three sentences for her, right?

Aggie said...

I guess Kamala's must be salad-green, both sides of the page.

Seriously, is this a new level of derangement? It reads like a sophomore's prank homework project. I wonder if they were dressed in safari wear when they researched it.

Quaestor said...

Kamala doesn't do sentences. She does giggle-blather.

jaydub said...

I hope that article was on the oped pages because it is 100% opinion/BS from some pathetic TDS sufferer. I don't understand who they are trying to sway because no one but fellow TDS patients would believe that garbage, let alone even buy a NYT paper.

BUMBLE BEE said...

An apolitical drummer friend of mine went to a rally. His impression was that it was like going to an all day rock festival of the late 60s.
He enjoyed the people, very mellow.

Quayle said...

This looks like something that really means something .......... to people to whom this kind of thing means something.

J Severs said...

Are the green 'political violence' intervals for when someone shoots at Trump?

Howard said...

I thought it was a painting by Hans Hoffman

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Lumpers vs. splitters. Bleh.

Promises made Promises kept said...

I admit that Trump was lying about Obama's birthplace, his affair with Stormy Daniels, 2020 election results, immigrants eating pets, and FEMA being out of money. Here's why I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt about Blue State mothers killing their babies after birth. ~ Trump Rally Attendees

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Imagine the hilarity of a Harris speech analysis.

Rob C said...

I guess it's the nerd in me but a picture like that makes me think a disk defrag needs to be run...

This is just another effort to "cover" Trump without acknowledging the substance of his speeches. (A lot like how Vance's debate performance was hand-waved away as chameleon-like, etc.)

Promises made Promises kept said...

Nuking a hurricane might not work. But it was reassuring that Trump was willing to try.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

That would be so much easier to digest as a pie chart or spiral graph, if you want to keep the continuity.

Promises made Promises kept said...

Harris would project more strength if she admitted controlling hurricanes and aiming them at Trump's home state.

Quayle said...

lol

Did you order your Handmaids Tale Outfit yet?/ Rachel Maddow is a Psychopath said...

we need a Trump-Hate-Media Cult chart

rehajm said...

Diagram a sentence from a Kamala word salad NYT. Seriously, this is a skill you should have…

wendybar said...

Media wastes it's time on this crap when they hide what the left is doing. The media needs to go. They suck.

Did you order your Handmaids Tale Outfit yet?/ Rachel Maddow is a Psychopath said...

Please Watch JRK jr.: "Kamala is a tyrant."

RideSpaceMountain said...

I'm still stoked about buying Greenland from Denmark. Then we could send you there. Bring a coat.

Dave Begley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dave Begley said...

Kamala's diagram would be all black symbolizing lack of content.

Did you order your Handmaids Tale Outfit yet?/ Rachel Maddow is a Psychopath said...

Is it illegal to have an affair in the Soviet America? Only if you have an R after your name.
Myorkas just told us FEMA is out of money. Was he lying?

Did you order your Handmaids Tale Outfit yet?/ Rachel Maddow is a Psychopath said...

The Birther stuff was planted by Hillary Clinton. There are people who have witnessed pet eating. are they lying?

rehajm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rehajm said...

In purple-y states where there’s a big rural population lefties take a look at guys like Meade and three words cross their minds- every day carry…

Did you order your Handmaids Tale Outfit yet?/ Rachel Maddow is a Psychopath said...

Illegals being offered access to voting

Did you order your Handmaids Tale Outfit yet?/ Rachel Maddow is a Psychopath said...

The war machine /money grubbing left don't give a crap about the environment.

Achilles said...

It is fun to watch Rich descend further into dishonesty and rage.

They are not just terrible people. They are realizing that they are going to be in the political wilderness soon.

Everyone thinks you are a stupid venal ass hat Rich. In a year you will pretend you didn't support Biden or Kamala but we will remember.

Amadeus 48 said...

Hey "Bad Genes"--give it up. You are no match for Hurricane Donald.
Your verbal flatulence might be better matched to a deep dive into the fogbank that is the life and works of Kamala Harris. Give us the good stuff. Tell us all about her naff relations with Montel and Willie. Doug Emhoff has turned out to be quite a prize, from his nanny-banging at home to his his management skills at Venables. Tropical Depression Kamala needs you to get to her truth.

Wince said...

Why were the colors used to redact rather than highlight Trump's speech?

Achilles said...

For now she can just admit to sending billions to foreign countries no questions asked while offering people in North Carolina who don't have internet a web portal to apply for 750$.

Because she and her supporters are just terrible people.

Dude1394 said...

Very nice hat Mr. Meade!

Birches said...

Dark Maga!

Promises made Promises kept said...

Achilles, did anyone tell you that every sentence you type here is full of nonsense — and since you are so verbose and type so many sentences — the amount of nonsense in your comments is multiplied?

Meade said...

Thanks, Dude and Birches.

planetgeo said...

Speaking of political paraphernalia (hats, t-shirts, bumper stickers, signs, etc.), isn't it interesting, and very telling, how the respective sides react and deal with seeing the other side's objects? Perhaps Nurse Ratched or gadmosquito can explain why only their supposedly intelligent, mature team engages in Hitler-like rage and violence at the mere sight of such objects.

Bruce Hayden said...

Really like his black MAGA hat. Red ones are boring. Got a white one, with gold lettering, at the Trump store in Las Vegas that is also nice. They got 5 in, and had them hidden. I’m a regular there, when in town (walk by it a half dozen times a day), so they mentioned it to me, somewhat quietly. Grabbed one. My partner saw it, and marched right back in and asked for a matching one. They, of course, adore her, so it wasn’t a problem. A friend in the hotel there has one personally signed by Trump. It cost him a $500 contribution to some charity, presumably picked by Trump. My new lust object though is a black one like Meade’s.

doctrev said...

I'm quite happy. The pseudoscience of the NYT doesn't even work on anyone but the most hardened partisans, and they know it. Kamala is too stupid to eve pull off the normal deceits, hence why she's supposedly building 3 million houses while Trump apparently plans to ban porn.

The oligarchy is in genuine panic: they can steal this election, sure, but then the Tucker Carlson types will say Bloomberg/ Katzenberg just may not be our greatest allies. They're in the gunsights, and they know it.

Heartless Aztec said...

Have black MAGA hat. Will travel.

Ann Althouse said...

"I thought it was a painting by Hans Hoffman"

Josef Albers

Dogma and Pony Show said...

"Didn’t know Harris’ speeches are only 15 minutes long. That’s like two or three sentences for her, right?"

This is fiscal responsibility in action: She's paying her audiences by the hour.

Bruce Hayden said...

I have a whole bunch of Trump hats, in various colors. Most say just Trump, but some say “Trump International Hotel”, where we have a place in Las Vegas. The one I am wearing right now is beige. In any case, I routinely get comments in the strangest places that they like my hat. Surprising number of Blacks and Hispanics. Of course, I don’t live in Madison…

Michael K said...

Bich is really headed for a breakdown. He gets crazier every week.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

The internet answers: Does deceit mean lying?
“Deceit is behavior that is deliberately intended to make people believe something which is not true. He was living a secret life of deceit and unfaithfulness.”

Yancey Ward said...

It is hilarious to watch Bich descend into the depths of madness.

Michael K said...

The king of nonsense responds.

tommyesq said...

Would love to know how NYT chose to characterize certain things. I watched the speech, and a considerable amount, fairly early on as I recall, was dedicated to the bravery and loss of Corey Compatore - would that have gone under "political violence" or "digressions?" When talking about the two assassination attempts, is that "political violence" or "savior?"

When Trump, who faced assassination attempts on two separate occassions by two left-wing nutjob Americans, spoke of facing an "enemy from within" more dangerous than any foreign adversaries, was that "political violence," "deceptions," of "digressions?" How was Musk's interlude treated?

Complete crap, NYT. I guess I should at least be glad that the article includes Trump's describing Harris as "a Marxist, communist, fascist person” under the "insults" heading - at least they are implicitly admitting that being a Marxist is bad.

Did you order your Handmaids Tale Outfit yet?/ Rachel Maddow is a Psychopath said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yancey Ward said...

Well, a black MAGA hat is hedging the danger and there is nothing wrong with that living in Madison. Almost no one is going to see a black hat from the distance and take a closer look to see if it is a Trump supporter wearing it.

Now, a red MAGA hat is like being in the bullring if you were it in Madison.

Original Mike said...

"He has the nerve to wear that while walking the pathways of Madison, Wisconsin. "

I've even stopped wearing my Dad's Plumbers Local Union hat. It's Trump red.
There are some insane people in this town and I don't need the hassle.

More power to you, Meade.

Did you order your Handmaids Tale Outfit yet?/ Rachel Maddow is a Psychopath said...

Please do not ever forget the FBI lied./collective media censorship Is there a pretty painting for NYT/FBI lies?

planetgeo said...

Bruce, next time in Vegas, ask them if they can make one in rainbow colors, so if any leftist nutter asks what the MAGA stands for, you can say, "Make America Great, Asshole." With or without the comma.

David53 said...

I have the black stealth MAGA hat like Elon wore. I will wear it in December after he is elected. I am a stealth Trump voter, there are millions of us.

Narayanan said...

any indication Elon Musk PAC bounty hunters haunt these venues for self selected

Yancey Ward said...

Exactly- whenever Trump talks about Comperatore I guarantee the NYTimes calls that "political violence" and probably does the same when Trump talks about the attempts to assassinate him. The "deceits" tag will get attached to stuff for which there actually is no objective truth- like talking about the theft of the 2020 election- to the NYTimes that is a lie despite the fact that the NYTimes doesn't actually know or can prove the election wasn't stolen.

Narayanan said...

can her cackle be put into song sheet notes with octave ranges

Gusty Winds said...

He has the nerve to wear that [Make America Great Again Hat] while walking the pathways of Madison, Wisconsin. Mead, those are some brass balls you're wearing. You might now be my favorite person in Wisconsin. Waukesha County salutes you!!!

Will Cate said...

Their use of the number 9 also harkens back to "The nine types of..." recurring theme of Matt Groening's "Life In Hell" comic strip, from the glory days of alternative weekly newspapers.

Did you order your Handmaids Tale Outfit yet?/ Rachel Maddow is a Psychopath said...

Recall (dig back thru all the lies) We were told by certain online lying trolls that Trump supporters are trying to kill Trump.
uh - no.

tommyesq said...

The birther stuff actually originated from Obama himself in a 1991 promotional booklet promoting Obama's books. As reported by ABC in 2012, the booklet states "Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii." And then, of course, Obama refused to produce a birth certificate, further fueling the controversy.

Christopher B said...

love the defrag comment.

Gusty Winds said...

ADDED: Here's my husband, Meade, wearing the hat he bought at the Juneau, Wisconsin rally. - AWESOME!!! Is there a liability policy you can purchase in case some Madisonian faints and is injured from this micro-aggression?

Meade for Governor of WI 2026.

Bob Boyd said...

Terrifying.

Political Junkie said...

Quite the colors on that NYT chart.
I am a little pleased that they used "deceits" rather than "lies".
Agree with the hostess that there are so many factors/elements in a DJT speech.I have never been to one and am apolitical in publicly expressing my views, but view with awe DJT's showmanship. Bravo!

Gusty Winds said...

Everybody here understands wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat in Madison, WI is like wearing the Star of David in Tehran, right???

Political Junkie said...

There is a neighbor's truck that has a Reagan/Bush 1984 reelection sticker on its bumper. Always makes me chuckle.

traditionalguy said...

Wait a second, I thought The Professor’s #1 goal was to avoid being bored. So a Trump stand up comedy act should win her support.

Or maybe Kamala attempting to speak is a comedy act. She laughs at her audience falling for it.

rhhardin said...

There's no color allocated for hate speech.

CJinPA said...

Am I lacking in courage?

My wife wanted to put a Trump sign up. I disagreed. No one will be swayed by a sign in a presidential race. It's just to antagonize your neighbor. Life is too short for that.

rhhardin said...

A moving dot on a Venn diagram would be good for speech analysis, if there are only three evils involved. You'd have to go to a Karnaugh map somehow with more sins available.

rhhardin said...

There's one Harris/Walz yard sign on my bike errand route, and about ten Trump yard signs.

Dixcus said...

Althouse wondered: "Am I lacking in courage?"

No, Ann. You're not lacking in courage. You have an acute sensitivity to your own physical safety, which you know deep down would be in danger if you revealed any pro-Trump leanings in the community that you created; the danger from the people you have surrounded yourself with.

You know the violence inherent in the Democrat Party that you have voted for most consistently throughout your lifetime.

You're smart. Not like they say. Not dumb. Smart.

Original Mike said...
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walter said...

Do the diagram of Butler 1.0

Saint Croix said...

Kamala diagram:

Word Salad
Cackle
Alcohol consumption

Saint Croix said...

The Importance of Non-Reproduction Rights

Saint Croix said...

Joe Biden is a great, great man.

Saint Croix said...

I have seen zero Kamala signs in my neck of the woods. (Charlotte). No signs, no bumper stickers.

I've seen maybe two Trump bumper stickers, and no yard signs.

A lot of secret voters in Charlotte!

Achilles said...

You are a stupid person Rich. Nobody thinks you are presenting anything intelligent or honest. Everything you pretended to be is a lie. Harris supporters are just terrible dishonest people.

Saint Croix said...

I loved that rabbit with one ear.

Achilles said...

Those are actually nice looking hats.

Pretty sure they are racist or something though.

walter said...

My faves are the Biden Harris signs folded in half.

walter said...

"Turn the page"

Butkus51 said...

To think they wasted 8 years thinking about 1 man.

LinSee127 said...

In a Sept. 3 post on the linguistics blog Language Log, Mark Liberman analyzed Trump’s speaking style at rallies.

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=65814

Trump said (quoted in a Sept. 1 NYTimes article):
“You know, I do the weave,” he said. “You know what the weave is? I’ll talk about like nine different things, and they all come back brilliantly together, and it’s like, friends of mine that are, like, English professors, they say, ‘It’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen.’”
Liberman (not a Trump fan politically) points out that “false starts and parentheticals” are common in “transcribed extemporized speech.” They are effectively signaled in speaking, where the listeners can hear and see “prosody along with gesture, posture, and gaze.” Without those cues, the transcript can appear incoherent.
The quote about the “weave” comes from a Trump rally speech (Johnstown, 8/30). Later in Liberman’s post, he posts a long passage from the speech, using line breaks to distinguish parentheticals. (Highlighting them with different bright colors, so readers can’t see the words, gives a wildly different impression.)

n.n said...

Framing, handmade tales, etc are consistent with NYT JournoListic ethics and Diversity dogma.

Earnest Prole said...

Amusing how such a useful nine-part schematic gets under the skin of Althouse and her dopey commenters. Trump is a once-in-a-lifetime political force and his signature mode of communication is the rally. Like a jazz musician, Trump anchors his performances with traditional elements but mostly improvises; themes go on and on until fully explored:

1. Savior: Trump’s explicit portrayal of himself as savior and protector is unique in modern politics.

2. Insults: Trump’s deployment of insults is world-historical.

3. Deceits: Trump’s use of deceits as coded in-group language is masterful — Scott Adams offers an insightful explanation in his conversation with Sam Harris.

4. The hits: Trump’s core message appeals to something like 70 percent of the American electorate.

5. Political violence: Check.

6. The Trump agenda: Like a jazz performer, Trump anchors his performance in traditional elements.

7. Digressions: Like a jazz performer, Trump uses improvisational riffing to exploit the full potential what he’s trying to communicate.

8. Anti-democratic statements: Check.

9. Stumbles: When you riff without a script for 90 minutes instead of reading words off a teleprompter for 15, you stumble.

Lazarus said...

Someone at Obama's literary agency claims she was responsible for the claim. The bio the agency put out contains other stretchers. Barack Sr. wasn't Kenya's finance minister. Barack Obama wasn't much of a journalist at Business International Corporation. His book "Journeys in Black and White" was never published and most likely never written. Did the mistakes come from Obama himself or from her trying to turn a resume into a bio that would sell her client?

stlcdr said...

A rally is more than the words. Democrats/Media like to simply quote Trump because, just like any transcribed conversation, sounds like chaotic gibberish.

Lazarus said...

Maybe Philbrick or Wu had too much Roland Barthes in college.

The way that Trump is "weaving" makes the color-coding absurd. On that day in Erie, Trump spoke about shoplifting, how Harris's San Francisco encourages it, and how "one violent day" or "one rough hour" could end the shoplifting (Would it? Could it?). Is that "Violence"? "Digression"? "Deceit"? Substantive? I'd say he's addressing a real issue and riffing off it. Heaven knows, Biden and Harris have done a lot of riffing and haven't actually addressed the real issues.

FullMoon said...

Wearing the hat takes guts. Putting a Trump bumper sticker on wife's car would take balls.

tommyesq said...

rump’s explicit portrayal of himself as savior and protector is unique in modern politics.

Wait, didn't Obama promise that if elected, he would stop the seas from rising?

AndrewV said...

In my reliability blue suburb of Portland, Oregon I wouldn't expect too many Trump signs because people don't want their car keyed or their house egged. However, I have only seen two houses with Kamla Harris signs out front. That is pretty telling omen about a real lack of enthusiasm for Harris.

GRW3 said...

Not a NYT reader, so here is an opening question. Are the color codes hyperlinks to the actual text? Or is it just a kindergarten version of redacting? So, a couple catch my eye. First "Deceit", which I figure the thesaurus coughed up for the "Lies", most likely opinions or statements of fact that contradict progressive orthodoxy. Then there is "Insults", most likely telling the truth about a Democrat politician or supporter. Finally, to comment on, "Violence" which lately, interestingly, has been what they call his reminding people that two Democrat inspired loons have already tried to kill him.

Original Mike said...

"Wait, didn't Obama promise that if elected, he would stop the seas from rising?"
And the racial healing. Don't forget all the racial healing.

Earnest Prole said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Political Junkie said...

Bingo - No need to put out unnecessarily personal info. Doesn't influence anyone else. The sign post feels better.

Yancey Ward said...

Her hard drive is from an early 1990s IBM machine.

Political Junkie said...

Last sentence should be "The sign poster feels better".

Earnest Prole said...

Yes, that’s why the word portrayal is preceded by the word explicit. No doubt Obama thinks he’s God but it’s Trump who actually mouthed the words, “I will be your protector.”

Michael K said...

bich may not have any other source of income so we should leave him/her alone.

Rusty said...

define,"Hate Speech".

Rusty said...

I think wearing that red jacket took more guts.

Michael K said...

Trump is, in my opinion, a sort of reverse Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt came from a rich family and Trump made his own money after a family head start. Roosevelt gave us "Progressive" as a model and Trump has shown how it has evolved into fascism. TR has a lot to answer for. Especially, Wilson.

Meade said...

“ I think wearing that red jacket took more guts.”

LOL. I agree!

Darcy said...

Way to go Meade! The black MAGA hat is already iconic thanks to Elon. Do I dare hope that there are enough sane voters to get it done, though? The crowds encourage me.

Enlighten-NewJersey said...

I once had the nerve to wear a Bush-Cheney '04 shirt into a New Jersey diner. This caused a man to scream and yell profanities at me as I walked to my table. He then proceeded to the table and slapped me across the face. He ran out before anyone could react.

Four years before that someone mowed down the landscaping in my front planting beds with their vehicle to rid the Bush for President sign in my yard. That cost me thousands. I see Trump signs in yards around town and think man, are those people brave. Same feeling about Meade.

Leland said...

I've seen one Harris/Walz bumper sticker. I see more former Biden/Harris bumper stickers than Harris/Walz. There is no point counting Trump 2024 or Trump/Vance bumper stickers, because the big flags in the bed of trucks are numerous enough.

Jim at said...

Harris would project more strength if she admitted controlling hurricanes and aiming them at Trump's home state.

Maybe you should take a couple days off.

Art in LA said...

Sadly, I hesitate wearing my red caps when I go play tennis (or elsewhere) ... it's like the Crips and Bloods out here! Unfortunate that our politics have evolved to gang lawfare.

Craig Mc said...

"...and Harris's rally speech — here's one from last week in Wisconsin — seems to go about 15 minutes."

In the future, everyone will be tortured for 15 minutes.

Oso Negro said...

"Balls!" said the Queen, "if I had them I would be Meade"

Michael K said...

Some videos on X showing crazies attacking Trump signs in front yards. Then there is one showing a crazy running up to a Trump sign that was electrified. Funny but I would not sell that homeowner insurance.

walter said...

Balls would be going into Minoqua Brewery tasting room in Madison.

TaeJohnDo said...

Every election I put out an "Elect Mustard - The Condiment of Choice" sign I got several years ago at The Mustard Museum.

PM said...

Kandinsky called. He wants his sketchbook back.

JIM said...

I love how our brave and unflappable journalists always run toward the fire. Wouldn't it have been more effective to do a side - by - side comparison between Trump and Harris?

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