TOW #14 - TrumpCare

There has been a lot of speculation over the successfulness of the new president elect’s presidency for the next four years. With a new president elect there comes a big promise of a revised health care plan for America. The text was written, in the Wall Street Journal, for Americans who are concerned with the president elect’s plan for our health care. The Wall Street Journal is an extremely credible journal as the editors stress having as little bias as possible. However this particular article is an opinion article, which seems to have liberal bias. This was written this week, as many texts are being published on the new president elect as his inauguration day gets closer.

The author uses sarcasm to show in an entertaining way the effects of Trump’s healthcare plan. He said that, “Mr. Trump campaigned on repeal but also left TrumpCare open to negotiation and, well, interpretation (‘something terrific’).” By including the “something terrific” quote, he is saying that having an open health care plan will backfire, and is not something terrific, but something that can harm many Americans.

Appealing to logos helps create a strong argument because it gives a lot of basis to back up one’s argument. The author says, “given the law’s large and ongoing failures on almost every measure: premium trends, enrollment, limited doctor and hospital networks, insurer participation. Affordability, choice and competition are due for another tumble next year under the status quo.” By including all of these different measures that need to be factored into health care, he uses facts to show the importance of the next few months.

The author also uses rhetorical questions. He says, “Does the President-elect have any better ideas on legislative strategy, or is he merely going to toss around the sayings of Chairman Donald from Trump Tower?” By asking this question, he shows that he doubts that Trump actually has an idea of what he is doing, but he will simply toss some sayings around to seem like he does.

Ultimately, this article shows the fear that many Americans have with Trump’s ability to follow through with his promises. He creates a case for the importance of having a proper health care plan and how it needs to be taken very seriously as it could create “creating chaos in our entire economy.” I think the author strongly established his purpose as he effectively used sarcasm, appeals to logos, and rhetorical questions to show the importance of Donald Trump’s health care plan. He ended his text with, “If [Republicans] muff this one, they’ll deserve to be run out of town,” showing how disastrous he feels the TrumpCare plan could be if it fails.