Every year,
on the third Monday in February the nation comes together to honor our past and
present presidents. This year due to the
election of Donald Trump as President, the day took on an unusual meaning with
the holiday being labeled “Not My President’s Day”. Rallies were held in more than two-dozen
cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. Many
participants carried signs reading “Not My President” and “Resist” while
chanting, “No Ban, No Wall”. Protesters were expressing their discontent for the
President’s un-built wall on the Mexican border and his executive order on
travel by immigrants.
On my search about this event I came across an
article that targeted anti- Trump supporters. This article begins with the
sentiment, “If it’s one thing President Trump has done in his short time in
office, its change they way millions of Americans enjoy what was once leisure
time.” So from the start, this article is already has a negative attitude about
President Trump. The author of this article is using tactics that evoke strong
feelings towards our new president. The article talked about a “Not My
President’s Day” Facebook page that was created showing unity among anti-Trump
supporters. The blog also uses a picture
from a tweet of former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe
Biden saying, “We’re cancelling President’s Day”. This visual image suggests that if you
supported Obama than you should be against Donald Trump. The article later
lists every location of every rally being held on President’s Day. Ultimately
this article used the appeal of being a part of a group. The Facebook groups
and visuals of Barack Obama, are utilized to entice the reader to want to be a
part of this group.
In contrast
the article titled, “Not My President’s Day Protests an Abject Failure”
communicates a different perspective about the rallies being held around the
country. The article title clearly expresses the author’s view that the rallies
are a failure in contrast to the first article which regards the rallies as
successful. The demographic audience is geared towards Trump supporters and
protestors that are seeing no success in their efforts. The article looks down upon
the hype of the rallies stating that the over zealousness of news stories are
leading readers astray. Many headlines about the rallies stated, “Thousands of
Demonstrators Across U.S. Say‘s Not My President’” but the article illustrates
that in each city there was only a small number of protestors. This tactic
shows that the rallies did not have as huge of an impact as the public was lead
to believe. For example, in Washington, D.C. only about 700 people marched
against Donald Trump. When the numbers are broken down, 700 people marching
seem like less of an impact than thousands. The number of the anti-Trump
extremist, according to the blog, is dwindling down. The author explains that
the public will grow tired of rejecting President Trump by learning to accept his
policies. The author believes that ultimately the protests are not going to affecting
Donald Trump’s presidency. The author uses fear and compliancy to urge
protesters to give up.
The two
articles highlighted about the President’s Day rallies clearly exhibit two
different opinions. It is up to the reader to decide which article is more
compelling.
Sources: How to Celebrate. (2017, February 19). Retrieved February
23, 2017, from https://www.good.is/articles/not-my-presidents-day-calendar
20170, J. P. (2017, February 21). Limbaugh: 'Not My
President's Day' Protests an 'Abject Failure' Retrieved February 24, 2017, from
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/02/21/limbaugh-not-presidents-day-protests-abject-failure/
