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 The Republican presidential hopeful often fails to finish his
thoughts during his speeches, abruptly breaking off a sentence or
substituting a vague word for a more precise one.
Those half-finished sentences aren't throwaways. They're enthymemes,
a rhetorical device at the heart of a persuasive speaking style that
has helped catapult the billionaire to the top of national polls
ahead of the November 2016 election.
To his supporters, Trump is a politician who doesn't sound like one:
He says what he thinks, happily insults rivals and can appear
unscripted, particularly when he leaves his thoughts to trail off
unfinished or peppers sentences with ambiguities.
Take his comments during a recent Republican debate in which he
defended his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United
States: "I talked about Muslims," he said. "We have to have a
temporary something, because there's something going on that's not
good."
It was left up to the listener to decipher what Trump was saying.
What this means in practice is that supporters can tailor his
statements to their own beliefs, rhetoric professors said. It also
allows Trump, consciously or not, to avoid boxing himself in with
quotes that rivals can use against him.
 Strictly speaking an enthymeme is a form of argument in which at
least one premise remains unstated. The concept isn't new - it was
described by the Greek philosopher Aristotle - and has been used in
American politics in the past.
In practice, enthymemes come in various forms, including dramatic
pauses, unfinished sentences and the place-filling "somethings"
Trump employs, according to the experts, who study U.S. public and
political speech. In each case, listeners fill in the blanks.
Trump has used enthymemes when taking on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly
and one-time rival Carly Fiorina; he has used them in describing his
opposition to a New York City mosque; he routinely uses them in
speeches when talking about subjects ranging from immigration to
trade wars.
In the case of Kelly, Trump, recounting a heated exchange between
them during a televised debate, said she had "blood coming out of
her eyes, blood coming out of her - wherever."
His statement caused a furor among many who concluded Trump had
meant Kelly was menstruating and hormonal and therefore irrational.
Trump denied it and supporters came to his defense, pointing out he
had never spoken the words.
Trump’s habit of leaving listeners to fill in the blanks isn’t new;
it’s apparent in recorded interviews done well before his
presidential bid. And it’s not clear whether he does it consciously.
His spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, called it a symptom of a racing mind.
"People have said Mr. Trump's speeches are like a game of chess - an
intricate web of great genius," she said.
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WHEN ENTHYMEMES BACKFIRE
Enthymemes can have a potent effect on listeners, said Baylor
University rhetoric professor Martin Medhurst. "You have involved
them psychologically and helped to persuade them by having them
persuade themselves."
But the rhetorical device carries risks, especially in instances
where the unfinished thought is so vague that listeners can complete
it with either a positive or a negative statement.
In a Jan. 29 speech, for example, Trump described his views that
China is exploiting the United States. "They've taken our jobs,
they've taken our base, they've taken our money, and I love China,
they get along great with me, I told you I have all these people, I
do business with China, they agree with me. They can't --."
A clip of the statement was shown by Reuters to a group of students
in a public policy class at New York's Hunter College, who disagreed
among themselves about what Trump's next words would have been.
One student, Alexandre Alvalade Ximenes, a freshman studying
political science and philosophy, completed Trump's unfinished
thought this way: "They can't believe how intellectually inferior we
are."
Another, Matthew Locastro, also a political science major, filled in
the blank with, "There's no way they can disagree with him because
of his working relationship with them."
Trump isn't alone in using enthymemes to effect.
In an interview last September with Rolling Stone, Trump mocked the
looks of Fiorina. "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?
Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?"
To some listeners, Trump was communicating that he thought Fiorina
was ugly. Trump later denied he meant that.
Fiorina responded with her own enthymeme: "I think women all over
this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said."
(Reporting By Emily Flitter, editing by Paul Thomasch and Ross
Colvin)
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