If you were to ask some ancient Romans about US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rhetoric, they would probably say that what he lacks in eloquence, he makes up for with his command over his audience’s emotions.
Trump’s strategy throughout the 2024 campaign revolves around stoking voters’ anger, fears and insecurities. By all accounts, the strategy works: voters are expressing strong emotional reactions to Trump’s potential re-election, and, until the announcement of vice-president Kamala Harris’ candidacy, Trump led several national polls. Although Harris is now pulling ahead in some states.
These techniques would be all too familiar to those living under Roman control who regularly heard speeches from their leaders. Much of Trump’s rhetorical style is recommended in treatises written by the Roman statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero, over 2,000 years ago. In his treatise On The Ideal Orator, written in 55 BC, Cicero wrote that emotional arguments were especially effective for winning over a crowd, saying:
