If Donald Trump didn't talk the way he talks, would he get the support he gets? Almost certainly not.
"He wants to sound macho," John Baugh, a linguistics professor at Washington University, told the Washington Post. "As part of his whole tough-guy persona, he adopts almost a working-class style of speech."
Nicole Holliday, a linguist studying at New York University, agrees. "Traditionally, the New York City accent has been stigmatized as rough and not necessarily intelligent," she explains. "But people do perceive it as authoritative. So he's got an accent that people don't like, but that they find credible. Trump sounds like he knows what he’s talking about, because of his accent."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But the best way to understand how Trump's accent affects his supporters is to hear his words without it, as in this video where comedian Peter Serafinowicz dubbed Trump with a formal, Transatlantic accent.
"What if Donald Trump had elocution lessons?" the video description asks. Well, probably he wouldn't have a campaign.
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
