How Trump's 'dark' rhetoric could motivate undecided voters

Donald Trump has always had a penchant for outsized rhetoric. But as the 2024 presidential campaign enters its final weeks, observers have detected a dark turn — and Trump himself seems to agree.

One recent speech featured a "string of personal barbs" against Kamala Harris, said Business Insider. "Joe Biden became mentally impaired," Trump told a Wisconsin crowd: "Kamala was born that way." Those words prompted criticism from disability advocates, and even Trump suggested he was breaking new ground after telling attendees that immigrants "walk into your kitchen, they'll cut your throat." "I'm just saying, this is a dark — this a dark speech," he told the Wisconsinites.

Trump believes it is Democrats who have the rhetoric problem, Michelle L. Price and Will Weissert said at The Associated Press. "Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at," Trump told Fox News, when the problem is that "they are the ones that are destroying the country." Similarly, his running mate J.D. Vance has argued that Democrats cannot argue that Trump is a "threat to democracy" without creating problems.

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'More incendiary, not less'

Trump's speeches really are "becoming more incendiary, not less," Paul Waldman said at MSNBC. Take, for example, recent comments on crime at a Pennsylvania rally. "One really violent day" of police retaliation by alleged offenders would solve the problem, Trump said. "One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately." The former president has also told crowds that a Harris election will result in World War III, and warned that Israel will cease to exist if he loses. That suggests Trump has decided that "fear and hate" are political winners, Waldman said, and that the only flaw in his messaging is to be "too restrained in fomenting both."

Trump's allies are pushing back against criticism of his rhetoric, said The Daily Wire. "The problems with the world are not Trump's rhetoric. They call him crazy," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Jake Tapper on CNN. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "wanted to invoke the 25th Amendment" during Trump's first term, Graham said — a reference to attempts to remove Trump from the Oval Office after the Jan. 6 insurrection. The media rarely focuses on the rhetoric used by Trump's critics, Graham said. "Why don't you ever talk about that?" he asked Tapper.

A pitch to 'irregular voters'

"Insults, threats and lies" have always been part of Trump's political arsenal, said NPR. But his recent verbiage is notable now that early voting has started in the swing state of Pennsylvania. Trump could choose to soften his language in an attempt to reach persuadable voters. Instead, he has "chosen to maintain his harsh rhetoric."

Trump's "increasingly dark rhetoric" could actually move undecided voters into his column, Jonah Goldberg said at the Los Angeles Times. Yes, Trump's commentary "probably turns off most persuadable voters." It could prove compelling to "irregular voters" — those folks who typically need an extra push to get off the couch or leave the office to go to the polls. Policy differences "aren't going to motivate" that group, Goldberg said. "But being told America's very existence depends on it might."