Applause Lines – CRQ

In the New York Times article published Sunday, certain lines in an article written by the newspapers Editorial Board titled, “A Chance to Reset the Republican Race”, caught my attention. The article stated that “At a meeting with The Times’ editorial writers, Mr. Trump talked about the art of applause lines.” As quoted in this article, Donald Trump went on to explain applause lines saying, ““You know,” he said of his events, “if it gets a little boring, if I see people starting to sort of, maybe thinking about leaving, I can sort of tell the audience, I just say, ‘We will build the wall!’ and they go nuts””(New York Times Para 1).  I started to wonder if, of the candidates gunning for president and mentioned in the two New York Times articles, only Donald Trump used applause lines as a tactic, or did they all regardless of party affiliation? Before this class I had not watched but one presidential debate and was unfamiliar with what exactly an applause line was. Upon further investigation I concluded that an applause line, specifically one in a debate or campaign tour, is a statement that is sometimes related and sometimes unrelated to what is being discussed that the speaker will end with or interject with to get the crowd fired up for their cause. I took the authors placement of the statement in the article as their way of saying that applause lines were not well thought out statements, promises or facts on hot button issues that candidates, specifically Republican ones, say with little intention of follow through in order to rile up the crowd. Knowing that the New York Times tended to lean to the left, I tried to find candidates in the Democratic debates that had used applause lines distastefully, as Mr. Trump had done. I found that in October of 2015, Hillary Clinton had been asked which enemy she was most proud of making during the previous debate. She replied that, “Well, in addition to the NRA, the drug companies, the insurance companies, the Iranians, um, probably the Republicans” (Sexton Para 2). This line was followed by roars from the audience and the mention of last enemy, “the Republicans” was adored and discussed by popular democratic news host Rachel Maddow. Days later in an interview, Clinton redacted her applause line saying that the line was “a little tongue in cheek” and promising that after the election she would “start trying to bring people together” (Sexton Para 3). Having read two articles by the New York Times, one discussing the flaws with little to no mention of any redeeming qualities of the Republican candidates and the other glorifying the Democratic candidates, specifically Clinton, I was curious as to why Trump was called out for using applause lines and later retracting them but Clinton was not. Applause lines are certainly a tactic that candidates use and in my opinion should. However, when the candidates, no matter the side, use them only to excite the audience and viewers and later retract or worse fail to follow through with what they are promising the people, they should all be scrutinized and called out for it. Just like was unfair and dishonest to tease someone just because your friends were watching when you were younger or to tell little white lies to your significant other, I think that calling out a group of people only to please those around you on a public forum should be placed on the same level as those seemingly smaller but deceitful transgressions. I appreciated how the Times article drew attention to Trumps admitting to the use of applause lines as misconceptions, but wondered why in the article, “Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Nomination” written on the same day, they only discussed her superiority against republican candidate ideology and the other democratic candidates. The article failed to discuss the times she promoted untruths about the Republican party that she then had to take back. I concluded that all candidates, human as they are, are guilty of over promising and under delivering. What I cannot seem to figure out is why the American people allow themselves to fall for these applause lines? By standing up and cheering are we processing the weight of the words and what they would mean if they were put into action? Or are we just encouraging something because we were caught up in the heat of the moment?

Works Cited

The Editorial Board of the New York Times. “Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Nomination.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

The Editorial Board of the New York Times. “A Chance to Reset the Republican Race.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

Sexton, John. “Hillary Clinton Walks Back Applause Line About Republican Enemies – Breitbart.” Breitbart News. 2015. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.