In 2020, Donald Trump proclaimed via Twitter (or X) that he was not “just smart, but genius. And a very stable genius at that!” Whether you call this ‘self-confidence’, or just plainly insufferable, it appears that a lot of his followers agree that Trump is, in fact, a political prodigy.

In light of his recent success in the 2024 presidential election, and his infamous ramblings about pet-eating migrants and “concepts of a plan”, his speeches have been a source of either great entertainment or frustration. Online, we’ve probably all watched some compilations of Trump making an incoherent argument or using some concerningly poor vocabulary as a potential presidential candidate. Especially in comparison to his opposition, Kamala Harris, Vice President and ex-attorney general, the language he has used throughout his political career has been ridiculed. And yet, he still maintains the self-proclamation that he is “genius”.

It is undeniable that language is a political weapon. ‘The pen is mightier than the sword,’ or whatever they say. This notion is still viable, even with the likes of Trump.

Language is a politician’s arsenal, and Trump’s lack of linguistic complexity is potentially his greatest weapon. His reading age, according to Factba.se, is that of an 8-year-old, and, as the cherry on top, is the president with the least diverse lexicon since 1929, truly embodying the ‘traditional America’ narrative. Funnily enough, there is a close correlation between Republican states and on-average lower education levels. You could say he is the perfect example of knowing your audience. Although he was consistently fact-checked during his debates, he does know one thing for certain: how to appeal to his demographic.

Compare the following maps, and I’m sure you’ll notice a pattern between the states with higher levels of education and political alignment. Now, this is opening a whole new can of worms, and we could dive into the impact of education on an individual’s political beliefs, but we are here to talk about language, and how, controversially, Trump is a linguistic mastermind (as much as it hurts to admit).

A politician like Trump, the self-appointed “man of the people”, knows his linguistic techniques. One of his preferred methods of spewing his rhetoric is repetition. You know, what we use when teaching infants how to talk? Next time you watch Trump deliver a speech, if you’re brave enough, take a mental note of how frequently he repeats himself. Initially, this spectacle may just appear as though he doesn’t quite know what to say next. Whilst this could be the truth, we could assume that Trump and his advisors take a great interest in behavioural psychology and therefore have perfected their rhetoric to appeal to the masses.

It’s unlikely that Trump has read Cacioppo & Petty’s (1979) study, but he embodies one of the underpinning theories: the “mere exposure effect”. By repeating certain phrases, especially “it’s true. It’s true” (a particular favourite of Trump’s), it has been found to promote positive attitudes towards arguments. It is a simple fact of life that the human brain is lazy, and we are more likely to accept information as the truth if it is already familiar. Trump profits off this cognitive idleness and constructs his speeches around drilling the same Republican ideology into his audience’s heads.

“The safest place to be ever is at a Trump rally. It’s true! It’s true,” stated Trump in 2018. Maybe the assassination attempt at his rally in Pennsylvania has since changed his mind, but the principle still stands. Repetition is persuasive, despite how outlandish his claims are, and how poorly he communicates them.

This “mere exposure effect”, paired with lower levels of education in certain states, makes the public particularly vulnerable to conservative doctrines. This phenomenon describes how one becomes more attracted to ideas that are frequently exposed to them. So, in Republican holding states where attitudes towards issues such as abortion or immigration have been historically, consistently negative, changing these attitudes is hard work. The citizens of red states have been exposed to the life-long repetition of these ideologies, so they’re already pretty comfortable with Trump’s speeches condemning “illegal aliens” and “post-birth executions”.

Alleged reports from Trump’s National Economic Council chief Gary Cohn, during his first presidency, stated that “Trump won’t read anything – not one-page memos, not the brief policy papers, nothing”. His allergy to literacy and inability to engage in written discourse, aside from that of Twitter, is evident in his speeches and during his presidential duties. An article published by Mother Jones indicated that the length of Trump’s briefings fell 75% short of that of Barack Obama’s, a true testament to the claims that he has the literacy proficiency of a 4^th grader. This is no concern to Trump supporters, who view him as the mouthpiece of their political and economic agendas. It’s reasonable to expect that that the language he uses will more likely resonate with the 62.3% of the population that are not college-educated. So, whilst it is easy to slate Trump for his poor communicative capability, he does cater to his audience, which is possibly the most important aspect of running for presidency.

So, the moral of the story is, you don’t have to do your pre-readings to succeed. In fact, you don’t have to read at all, especially if you fancy becoming president!